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Vera Woodhead
Introduction
Summary
Coach, facilitator, learning & development specialist working with women, leaders, teams, business owners, start-ups, those returning to work …to progress, make successful changes, be authentic leaders, effective communicators, improve performance, team working…. through:
• Coaching: Career, leadership, confidence, personal development
• Team coaching, development and facilitation
• Organisational development and learning
• Bespoke workshops and programmes to develop coaching, leadership and mentoring skills
• Design and implement mentoring schemes and mentor training and development workshops
I specialise in working with women who are :
◾Progressing their careers and their leadership
◾Developing their leadership brand, confidence, impact, gravitas, presence
◾Returning to work after an extended break
• Coaching: Career, leadership, confidence, personal development
• Team coaching, development and facilitation
• Organisational development and learning
• Bespoke workshops and programmes to develop coaching, leadership and mentoring skills
• Design and implement mentoring schemes and mentor training and development workshops
I specialise in working with women who are :
◾Progressing their careers and their leadership
◾Developing their leadership brand, confidence, impact, gravitas, presence
◾Returning to work after an extended break
Education
Experience
I have over 20 years experience in developing talent and leadership, managing change, improving performance, business transformation and growth. You can read more on my LinkedIn profile http://uk.linkedin.com/in/verawoodhead
I deliberately work across all sectors: corporate, entrepreneurial, public and the third sectors to aid an open and enquiring mindset, be fresh in my thinking, have an expanded worldview and bring a rich and deep understanding of people and organisations to the table. Some of these include:
• 20 years as a mentor stretching and supporting professionals
• 18 years experience leading people and teams
• 11 years as a change management specialist
• 10 years developing transformational leaders through coaching, action learning, workshops
• 7 years working within Higher Education
• 6 years running my own consulting practice working with individuals, teams and organisations such as Merlin Entertainments, NHS, Crown Prosecution Service, Deloitte, B. Braun Ltd
• 5 years helping businesses to start up and establish businesses to grow
• 3 years as a Lecturer in Leadership
• 2 years with the Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM) designing and facilitating Leadership and Management programmes
• 1.5 years as a programme tutor on the Goldman Sachs 10K programme with Leeds University Business School
• 2 years as a l facilitator on the Leadership, Innovation and Enterprise programme at Leeds Institute Medical Education
•1 year Business Coach at Growth Accelerator working with senior management teams
Qualifications:
Having letters after your name does not make you a good coach. What it has enabled me to do is to assimilate all the learning and translate it into practice so that it makes a difference to the people that I work with. Here are some of my main ones and what it enables me to do:
Masters Degree in Coaching and Mentoring
People are complex human beings. I have studied that complexity and learnt the tools, techniques and approaches to deal with it. This allows me to flexible and holistic in my approach enabling me to work with a range of people, context and situations. Just as you and your business are unique so is my style and approach to working with you.
Post Graduate Diploma in Managing Performance and Change
Organisations are just as complex as people. The ability to understand how culture, strategy, finance and accounting, markets, operations, and people contribute to issues ensures a systems approach to my work. It has also resulted in advanced skills in change management and the measurement and improvement of individual and organisational performance
Post Graduate Certificate in Education (post 16)
As a professional adult educator I work within recognised professional standards in teaching. It has enhanced my ability to construct stimulating, varied and creative approaches to engage adults in learning and development. I am skilled in using a transformative approach to enable second order learning to take place so that beliefs and attitudes that underpin current ways of behaving are shifted.
I deliberately work across all sectors: corporate, entrepreneurial, public and the third sectors to aid an open and enquiring mindset, be fresh in my thinking, have an expanded worldview and bring a rich and deep understanding of people and organisations to the table. Some of these include:
• 20 years as a mentor stretching and supporting professionals
• 18 years experience leading people and teams
• 11 years as a change management specialist
• 10 years developing transformational leaders through coaching, action learning, workshops
• 7 years working within Higher Education
• 6 years running my own consulting practice working with individuals, teams and organisations such as Merlin Entertainments, NHS, Crown Prosecution Service, Deloitte, B. Braun Ltd
• 5 years helping businesses to start up and establish businesses to grow
• 3 years as a Lecturer in Leadership
• 2 years with the Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM) designing and facilitating Leadership and Management programmes
• 1.5 years as a programme tutor on the Goldman Sachs 10K programme with Leeds University Business School
• 2 years as a l facilitator on the Leadership, Innovation and Enterprise programme at Leeds Institute Medical Education
•1 year Business Coach at Growth Accelerator working with senior management teams
Qualifications:
Having letters after your name does not make you a good coach. What it has enabled me to do is to assimilate all the learning and translate it into practice so that it makes a difference to the people that I work with. Here are some of my main ones and what it enables me to do:
Masters Degree in Coaching and Mentoring
People are complex human beings. I have studied that complexity and learnt the tools, techniques and approaches to deal with it. This allows me to flexible and holistic in my approach enabling me to work with a range of people, context and situations. Just as you and your business are unique so is my style and approach to working with you.
Post Graduate Diploma in Managing Performance and Change
Organisations are just as complex as people. The ability to understand how culture, strategy, finance and accounting, markets, operations, and people contribute to issues ensures a systems approach to my work. It has also resulted in advanced skills in change management and the measurement and improvement of individual and organisational performance
Post Graduate Certificate in Education (post 16)
As a professional adult educator I work within recognised professional standards in teaching. It has enhanced my ability to construct stimulating, varied and creative approaches to engage adults in learning and development. I am skilled in using a transformative approach to enable second order learning to take place so that beliefs and attitudes that underpin current ways of behaving are shifted.
Interests
Recommendations
‘I was looking for something of a ‘sounding board’ / guide to help me work out where I could go next in my working life. Previously I’d had a somewhat traditional career history of successive promotions to a senior level and felt lost when it came to how to consider, scope and plan where I should go next.
Vera helped me express what I wanted to do and what I didn’t want to do.
She helped me critically examine whether my vague ideas were realistic or contradictory given my previously explored likes, dislikes and preferred style. The truths, when I reached them, were enlightening but also felt achievable.
Vera’s style – facilitative, open and honest – suited to me and how I wanted to work. She wasn’t afraid to probe and challenge areas I was contradicting myself in and also push for responses where appropriate. Equally she knew when to step back and accept if the considered response was ‘no, I don’t want to do that’.
I feel clearer about what I want to do next, it’s not what I thought it would be going into the process but I’m encouraged by that in that I really feel Vera helped me sort out the conflict between my dreams and my option realities and that has left me clearer about the future.
I would recommend Vera to people looking for a clear, constructive and realistic exploration of their working life to do and their working options for the future.
Rachel Davies HR Director
“Vera has provided training for our mentors for our professional mentoring scheme at Leeds University Business School. The results have been fantastic – both in terms of the mentoring that our students have benefited from and the feedback from participants in Vera’s workshops
Julia Clarke, Pro Dean, Leeds University Business School
Vera really helped me come to a decision about the way forward in my career when I found myself stuck in a rut. She is very supportive, encouraging and full of practical advice and ideas.
Charlotte Montague, Solicitor
Vera is an experienced and self aware executive and business coach with good reflective abilities. She prefers a transformational coaching model and is particularly well suited to working with senior leaders and entrepreneurial business leaders.
She has worked with both individuals and teams.
She uses supervision effectively, investing time in preparation and using the space to check out questions and concerns about her practice. She has a strong ethical code.
Vera is one of our Regional NHS accredited coaches so have been through our own quality assurance process. I am confident in her abilities as an executive coach and would have no hesitation in recommending her”.
Jo Valentine, Senior OD & Leadership Manager, Yorkshire & the Humber Strategic Health Authority
“Hi Vera, I just wanted to say Thank You for the excellent presentation in London with the EMCC you did on Team Coaching. You managed to portray both the science and art of working with teams. I was really inspired by your philosophy, and innovative ideas.
I would definitely come to listen to you again, having worked as a Team Coach for 12 years myself. The big reminder was the importance of getting the basis right and not getting hung up on terminologies, but be true to the intent of ethical coaching.”
Sue Mellor, Director & Coach Supervisor, SMM Coaching & Consultancy
“Vera is a highly knowledgeable expert in the field of mentoring and coaching. When we were setting up a new mentor scheme at Leeds City College she provided invaluable advice from her own background of devising and establishing mentoring schemes.
She developed some excellent guides and online resources for the process of selecting a mentor. She also has a lovely personable manner – she clearly cares about the clients she works with. It was a pleasure working with Vera and I would highly recommend her work.”
Fran Parkinson, Leeds City College
“Vera has 20 years of mentoring experience which is evident in her delivery and group leadership”
Patrick Walton, Managing Partner, Yorkshire Bank
I have attended many of the coaching events organised by Vera, the most recent being the Aspiring Women's Network which was set up and organised by Vera.
I have also had the opportunity to hear first hand about Vera's excellent work in the Life coaching arena and as I have become familiar with her ideas and solutions for business and individuals, I have been impressed by her knowledge, professional approach and commitment to the subject.
I would have no hesitation in recommending Vera to any business, keen to establish a relevant and useful programme of coaching for staff at all levels
Liz Scott, Director at Life & Legal Limited
Vera helped me express what I wanted to do and what I didn’t want to do.
She helped me critically examine whether my vague ideas were realistic or contradictory given my previously explored likes, dislikes and preferred style. The truths, when I reached them, were enlightening but also felt achievable.
Vera’s style – facilitative, open and honest – suited to me and how I wanted to work. She wasn’t afraid to probe and challenge areas I was contradicting myself in and also push for responses where appropriate. Equally she knew when to step back and accept if the considered response was ‘no, I don’t want to do that’.
I feel clearer about what I want to do next, it’s not what I thought it would be going into the process but I’m encouraged by that in that I really feel Vera helped me sort out the conflict between my dreams and my option realities and that has left me clearer about the future.
I would recommend Vera to people looking for a clear, constructive and realistic exploration of their working life to do and their working options for the future.
Rachel Davies HR Director
“Vera has provided training for our mentors for our professional mentoring scheme at Leeds University Business School. The results have been fantastic – both in terms of the mentoring that our students have benefited from and the feedback from participants in Vera’s workshops
Julia Clarke, Pro Dean, Leeds University Business School
Vera really helped me come to a decision about the way forward in my career when I found myself stuck in a rut. She is very supportive, encouraging and full of practical advice and ideas.
Charlotte Montague, Solicitor
Vera is an experienced and self aware executive and business coach with good reflective abilities. She prefers a transformational coaching model and is particularly well suited to working with senior leaders and entrepreneurial business leaders.
She has worked with both individuals and teams.
She uses supervision effectively, investing time in preparation and using the space to check out questions and concerns about her practice. She has a strong ethical code.
Vera is one of our Regional NHS accredited coaches so have been through our own quality assurance process. I am confident in her abilities as an executive coach and would have no hesitation in recommending her”.
Jo Valentine, Senior OD & Leadership Manager, Yorkshire & the Humber Strategic Health Authority
“Hi Vera, I just wanted to say Thank You for the excellent presentation in London with the EMCC you did on Team Coaching. You managed to portray both the science and art of working with teams. I was really inspired by your philosophy, and innovative ideas.
I would definitely come to listen to you again, having worked as a Team Coach for 12 years myself. The big reminder was the importance of getting the basis right and not getting hung up on terminologies, but be true to the intent of ethical coaching.”
Sue Mellor, Director & Coach Supervisor, SMM Coaching & Consultancy
“Vera is a highly knowledgeable expert in the field of mentoring and coaching. When we were setting up a new mentor scheme at Leeds City College she provided invaluable advice from her own background of devising and establishing mentoring schemes.
She developed some excellent guides and online resources for the process of selecting a mentor. She also has a lovely personable manner – she clearly cares about the clients she works with. It was a pleasure working with Vera and I would highly recommend her work.”
Fran Parkinson, Leeds City College
“Vera has 20 years of mentoring experience which is evident in her delivery and group leadership”
Patrick Walton, Managing Partner, Yorkshire Bank
I have attended many of the coaching events organised by Vera, the most recent being the Aspiring Women's Network which was set up and organised by Vera.
I have also had the opportunity to hear first hand about Vera's excellent work in the Life coaching arena and as I have become familiar with her ideas and solutions for business and individuals, I have been impressed by her knowledge, professional approach and commitment to the subject.
I would have no hesitation in recommending Vera to any business, keen to establish a relevant and useful programme of coaching for staff at all levels
Liz Scott, Director at Life & Legal Limited
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