Elspeth May

Coaching frees the mind to take stock; of issues, situations, career, even your life. I enjoy creating an environment in which clients can think. And I help them formulate decisions and gain clarity about what they are trying to achieve.

Experience

With over 30 years experience in business, and an ability to gain others’ trust quickly, I combine both my analytical skills with creativity and curiosity in a way which clients appreciate. I am an accredited Master Coach, and my most important benchmark for success is seeing clients succeed in their aims and grow in confidence. Recent feedback from them has emphasised my ability to challenge and support them at the same time. I am told I am good at asking questions which make people think. The improvement in their performance has had noticeable benefits for the organisations of which they are a part.

Initially, my coaching style was to focus on understanding the client’s issues and working with them to find a solution. Over the years, my coaching has evolved to a much more holistic approach in which I see not only the issue but also the person behind it and the people who are affected by it. I use cognitive techniques and draw on ideas from positive psychology, solution-focused therapy and transactional analysis. With my passion for arts and crafts, I aim to knit all these techniques together with imagination, lightness and trust.

I read extensively about leadership and personal growth. I am struck by the research which shows that the most effective leaders are those who allow the world to see something of their true selves – to be authentic. I am interested in working with clients who want to explore how to be their own version of an effective leader in the organisations with which they are involved. Like all of coaching, this is a journey: we can all continue to grow and find better ways of doing what we do.

The clients I like to work with are those who:

• Need space to reflect and think through how to be more effective, for example, at getting the best out of the people who work for them, or in terms of their own impact and influence
• Want to change and are brave enough to try something new
• Are in some kind of transition whether to a new role, promotion, new boss etc
• Are at a point in their lives when they want to take stock and think about ‘what next?’
• Need to feel more confident about themselves or who have lost touch with their strengths - even questioning "when am I going to be found out"

Professional Expertise

As a partner in KPMG, Elspeth headed the firm’s Personal Financial Services practice in the UK, and worked with many senior directors and business owners on strategy, succession planning and financial planning. At various times she had responsibility for marketing, human resources and assessing potential partners’ capability. During this time, she became a non-executive director of a promotional company, gaining first-hand experience of strategy development and managing the board’s performance. After KPMG and then a brief period as a consultant, she joined The Change Partnership as a director and coach in 2001. She became a Founder Partner of Praesta in 2005.

Elspeth has worked with organisations of all shapes and sizes including retail, manufacturing, transport, health, utilities, professional and financial services as well as Government at national and local level, and various public sector bodies.

A Founder Partner of Praesta, she chairs the Quality Group and represents the UK on Praesta’s International Standards Committee. She has responsibility for continuous professional development of the UK firm and takes a keen interest in all aspects of accreditation and coach training.

Education, Qualifications, Professional Positions

Master Coach (Middlesex University)
FCA
MBA
Level ‘B’ British Psychological Society (qualified in Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Step 2)
NLP Practitioner
Former ATII – Associate of Chartered Institute of Taxation
Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts
Governor of University of Northampton (2000-09)
Former Non-Executive Director of Leicester Promotions Limited
Former Chairman of the Qualifying Employee Share Trusts of two plc’s

Selected Client Companies

Accenture
Crown Prosecution Service
E.On
HM Revenue & Customs
HSBC
John Lewis
Ministry of Justice
National Grid
Sainsburys
Smiths News
Transport for London
Yorkshire Building Society