Coaching Professionals has, since 2004, been providing leadership support for hundreds of people and teams, internationally. It has throughout been led by international award-winning coach, Neil Scotton. It provides world class level coaching, training and facilitation. And recently, by invitation, it has the added capability of providing a faculty of coaches to support training programmes and organisations.
Coaching - The space to find your answers
With world class coaching, getting results flows naturally. Because it focuses on you - and you discovering all that is within you. It’s about unlocking all the thoughts, creativity, hopes, dreams, passions and energies you have, even though you may not currently realise it. It’s about dealing with the fears, frustrations and blocks. It’s about tackling the big, scary and complicated. It’s about learning, growth and stretch. It’s about the big decisions. And the small ones. It’s about creating the impact, experiences and memories that you love to talk about. It’s about finding a way for all of you, and all you care about, and all your life, to fit together and make sense. It’s about doing something special.
It’s about real conversations with someone who hears you, who listens at a deeper level, understands, and works with you to find elegant ways to unlock what you are looking for. Someone who is your sounding board, your challenger, your supporter: someone with whom you feel truly heard and understood.
What people say about the coaching experience
These are real quotes from CEO’s, directors, business owners, leaders in the coaching profession itself and more:
“Questions that probe deeper than I’d get with others or on my own.”
“The perceptiveness makes a connection I’d never spotted.”
“An honesty and openness which enables our discussions to go wider and deeper than would normally”
“I always come away calmer, happier and with a better sense of direction.”
“No matter how dedicated I am to my own inner work, it cannot replace the value of a partner who is able to see my blind spots, to celebrate what I take for granted, to challenge what I assume mistakenly matters or doesn’t.”
“You make our time together all about me. Compassionate, accepting, safe and inspiring.”
“This journey of discovery helped me find the real issue.”
“By gradually separating the conflicting pressures I was facing I’m now clearer, more relaxed and more decisive.”
“What I came to value most was the opportunity to state ideas and thoughts out loud to someone that was really listening and not judging or evaluating.”
“I learned a self-coaching process that has been very helpful to me. This includes making time for quiet reflection, making a conscious effort to reframe and recycle ideas by trying to look at things from multiple perspectives, recognising the importance of the quality of my relationships with others, and focusing on the positive.”
“Taking time to slow down, reflect, and think more deeply about things has been a significant benefit for me.”
“I often started a session with one idea in mind, but by the end had moved to a much deeper and more useful level of thought.”
“Amazing. Genuinely transformational. I have made a great deal of progress in integrating the different parts of my professional life.”
“Honest, non-judgemental, engaging, calming. Excellent!”
“One of the best one hour and 25 minutes of my life.”
“It always opens up a great sense of possibility, opportunity and excitement.”
“Every time we work together I leave with a new sense of calm.”
Training & Facilitation
Doing something big means doing it together. And that can get complicated. For many, the task or change can be complex, the team dynamics can be complex and the needs of everyone in the room have to be met if they are to be fully engaged and taking a positive role in making things happen.
What would it be like if there was some way to get clear on what it is you are doing together, to tackle the important, exciting and challenging issues with openness and courage, to hear fully and understand fully the different perspectives, bringing all the skills, wisdoms and experiences to bear? And to have fun doing it?
Training
I put together coaching skills-based training for organisations so that they can transform the way they work together.
From half-day workshops to 6-month programmes, it brings together all I have learnt from years in the profession working with some of the world’s best, as well as personal experiences leading and being part of a team as director, president, project leader and so on.
Together we build the content and learning environment for your people to learn how to bring coaching skills into their daily working life, improve teamworking, find new solutions, have more honest, powerful and compassionate conversations, and create supportive and productive business relationships on a wholly new level of understanding.
I also work for international coaching businesses, providing specialist training that enables leaders and managers to use coaching skills to help them discover strengths, values, mission, meaning and purpose. And then create the plans, build the habits and take the actions that turn ideas into reality.
Facilitation
Team days. Strategy days. Difficult board and team conversations. Partnership events. Complicated stakeholder discussions. Community days. Forums.
Facilitation for me is all about helping make things easier for you. I love helping people have a useful, powerful, engaging experience from their time together.
Having built award-winning teams over the years, and whilst I bring a wealth of leadership and change experience, I believe the most important part is that I create the environment and opportunity that is so open and engaging for the people they hardly know I’m there.
They simply have a great time getting a lot done and discovering just how good they are.
Clients have said…
“Knowing how to build trust is an extremely important capability, especially in our region where people have become very cynical and suspicious. Neil always manages to earn that trust and empower people for personal transformation, fulfil their role and develop potential, ultimately contributing to a positive change in the society as a whole.”
Tatiana Dremlyuga, MBA, Founder of ICF Latvia
“I want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart for your professional work, patience with me and humanity with every person you meet. You hear behind the story. See things in positive. I can only imagine how much you have done to get this, but all my respect to whom you are now. There is what to learn from you not only professionally, but on human heart level.”
Laura Kursite, Latvia
“Very professional support. The company has confidence that this role is in the hands of a respected and experienced individual who understands the needs of the business and is committed to delivering results.”
Martin Lucas, Managing Director, Kittiwake Ltd
“His talk absolutely fascinated me with its simplicity, sincerity and words coming straight from his heart.”
Tiina Harmaja, Founder, Business Coaching Centre, Finland
“I just received first feedbacks from our group. It really gave transformation to all of them.”
Natalia Dolina, Ph.D. General Director of European Business Coaching Center, Moscow
“Your openness and honesty enabled a depth in their coaching we hadn’t seen before.”
Julie Bell, Director, Business Coaching Centre, UK
“You have a talent to bring different people to the same place and they actually want to go there. And everyone finds something of great personal value.”
“It was like a journey to the deepest corners of me. I feel like I’ve stepped out with my old shoes and come back with more comfortable ones. Thank you.”
“Thank you for your supportive style, your sincere feedback and willingness to help.”
Business is changing…
Results and more
You need to deliver performance and results. Perhaps now more than ever. But there’s more to it than that.
You want clear thinking, a sense of direction and strong purpose. You want to turn ideas into action. You want to enjoy what you do. And the team needs to work together beautifully.
Embodying values
You want to be comfortable with who you are as leader, embodying your values. You want to inspire and support people through turbulent times. You want to make decisions in unpredictable situations. You want to let go of what holds you back. You want relationships to be supportive and healthy.
A meaningful life
And you want to live a life - because some things really matter: family and friends, your health, your personal growth, enjoying what you do, doing something that you truly believe in, a sense of fulfilment and inner peace, and creating a legacy of which you can be proud.
I can help
And you want all these pieces to fit together, working in harmony. Sometimes, all this can be complicated… and that’s why I’m here.
Meet Neil
I love this work. Whether it’s coaching, training or facilitation, every conversation is different. Fresh. Inspirational. Deeply human. Real. Sometimes very challenging. Normally there’s laughter. Occasionally tears. And more often than not, big shifts for the client. And that moves me.
Who I work with
I’m based in Surrey, near London in the UK, and clients currently range from the US to Eastern Europe. I work with leaders, often CEOs, Presidents, Managing or Senior Directors, Founders, and teams in organisations from small start-ups to complex multinationals.
It’s not the size that matters, it’s the people. They care about what they do, the impact their work has on others and the world. They want to do great things, and have a great time doing it.
How the coaching began
It was a major illness in 2002 that stopped me in my tracks and forced me to think, “What do I want to do with my life? What do I want to help others do with theirs?”
A deep care for people and the work they do has always been with me, so over the next year or so the answer became very clear: coaching.
So in 2004 I left what was a highly successful career, moving through engineering, management and consultancy roles to become a Director in a trade body, and set up Coaching Professionals.
At its heart is the desire to help people transform the way they work, create great relationships and discover a deep sense of purpose, so that they could make a real difference, leave a positive legacy, and in the meantime all the important parts of their work and life could fit together healthily.
I re-trained, including becoming an NLP Master Practitioner and coach, and began working with business leaders and people who were up to good things.
Supporting and leading in the coaching profession in the UK
I joined the International Coach Federation and got involved. They invited me to play a larger role, and moving through two directorships I became President in the UK in 2007.
This was joyous work. I couldn’t change the world, but I could support hundreds of coaches and a wider profession in doing good things. We built a team, a shared sense of purpose and found ways that were highly creative, productive and effective. As a result, membership grew so that we became the biggest chapter in the world.
As a result of this work I received the ICF President’s Award and was nominated Coaching at Work Magazine Coaching/Mentoring Person of the Year.
Supporting the profession internationally
Stepping back from this role, I continued to be involved in a wealth of other projects with the ICF.
As part of the global ethics committee I co-wrote the latest Code of Ethics used by all members. I judged on international awards for best practice in coaching, and I supported other leaders and teams in the coaching world.
And when I’m not working with Coaching Professionals…
In 2011 I co-founded The One Leadership Project with a wonderful man, Alister Scott. This supports organisations that care for people and planet as well as profit. They are game-changers, catalysts, creating a positive legacy.
The project provides a blend of coaching, facilitation, mentoring and training support. It has two key philosophies: Think Beyond. And Act as One.
To read more about this work, visit enablingcatalysts.com.
Outside of work
I’ve been married for over 20 years, and we have three children, two of whom have had to deal with disabilities.
I love the countryside, reading, and am currently brushing up my guitar skills to start gigging. I have daily Tai Chi and mindfulness practices, and recently canoed across England from Bath to Godalming, having a great time and raising money for the charity my wife runs, providing theatre performance workshops for able and disabled children.
All the medical worries that started this stage of my life are now sorted. Life is evolving.
Currently reading…
- Synchronicity: The Inner Path of Leadership
- Fear
- History of the Countryside
- Starbook
(Yes, I have the joyful habit of reading several books at once, choosing the book that suits the moment.)
Recently read…
- Half a Life
- Night Circus
- The Snow Child
- The Examined Life
- Mussolini: His Part in My Downfall
- East of Eden
- The Nature of Business
- So Many Ways to Begin
Get in touch
If you’d like help with training or facilitation, please call me on +44 (0)1737 243589, or email neil@coachingprofessionals.com.