Executive Coaching for Women
Are your executive responsibilities overshadowed by
dissatisfaction, frustration, or a lack of confidence?
Dear Female Executive,
You are wired with an innate desire to achieve. You work hard, you sacrifice and you get recognition. But in the quiet moments you have this feeling… that you are not good enough, or that you don’t belong.
- Why do you feel powerless in your leadership role?
- What causes a lack of fulfilment, confidence and joy in your work?
- Why would you doubt your abilities, when you have earned your place?
In providing executive coaching to hundreds of women in challenging roles, I have discovered a set of beliefs and behaviours that can undermine the strongest and most capable of leaders.
Coincidentally, some of the traits that helped you rise to a leadership role in the first place are the very same ones that will undermine you as a leader. Your adaptability, your likeability, your willingness to say yes, to compromise and fit in.
And, despite earning your place, feelings of inauthenticity and/or imposter syndrome will suppress your ability to lead. Giving you a sense of imbalance, a lack of fulfilment and eventually – burnout.
Life without authenticity creates a multitude of low grade stressors that accumulate over time. It wears away at your confidence. You ignore your personal needs and values. You care too much about what other people think. You hyper-focus on your failures or weaknesses. You feel like a fraud.
It’s time to rise.
It’s time to stand out.
It’s time to claim your authentic voice.
My name is Vanessa May and
my mission is that you find courage and authenticity,
unleash your authentic self and experience
the joy and power
of living your full leadership potential.
I know how it feels to be trying to do life the “right” way. For years (decades) I worked hard to belong, achieve & succeed. But I wasn’t being honest with myself.
I was stuck. As I got more responsibility and money, I also got more frustration and guilt. The harder I worked to push through the limits the more stuck I felt.
One day I realised that I had to choose. I could either continue to compromise, conform, live and work with familiar frustrations and limits, or I could set myself free…
I chose courage.
I chose myself.
I chose to be my whole self.
I discovered how to be with myself.
It was a revelation.
Instead of traditional outside-in learning, my journey to freedom was learning from the inside-out – an unfolding of courage. It was truly, deeply transformational and I found my calling to guide other women looking for their own authentic voice and power.
Are you ready to lead courageously?
Where will the truth take you?
I specialise in helping women in leadership live their authentic truths. Women who are ready to unravel their suppressed, forgotten self and step into the power of living and leading with authenticity.
In the quest for authenticity, you will discover that you can:
- operate at a higher level,
- find strength in being a woman in leadership,
- reclaim your power without a struggle,
- use intuition and heart based leadership as a gift,
- lead without chronic guilt, anxiety, exhaustion and/or burnout.
My goal is to help you recognise these simple truths…
… to experience them, live them and feel them in your bones. To exude confidence. To live and lead with a freedom that once may have seemed impossible.
Leadership with courage and heart.
Does this call to you?
If you think executive coaching is for you please contact me for a discovery call,
let’s see if we are a good fit!
My Clients Say...
Having now had all of my senior managers exposed to Vanessa and the programme she has created, the results are palpable.
I can see a new found adventurism in my senior management team and we have started shifting the focus of this team in a very positive way.
Vanessa challenges me and my people to have the difficult conversations you don’t always want to have as CEO.
Michael, CEO
F.A.Q
My style of executive coaching could also be referred to as leadership coaching for women, I offer online coaching and in-person coaching in Surrey, and London in the UK.
Executive coaching is a series of conversations which are solutions focused. We start with what it is you want to be different, the change you want to make or the challenge you are facing. We explore what it is about your situation that is creating difficulty. It could be things like limiting beliefs, unresolved, past-based emotions or disempowering habits.
Together we identify your challenges, then define your vision for the future, really getting present to the depth of what you want. Illuminating your “why” in this way will give you confidence when you face challenges in life. We journey together towards your vision and release blocks as they arise and track the progress you make. You get an inside-out learning and a map for how you make successful change happen.
I offer women two executive coaching packages, available worldwide.
Executive Coaching: 3 months £1800
Executive Coaching: 6 months £3500
Executive coaching inclusions:
- 2 x 60-minute Zoom coaching sessions each month.
- Unlimited Email - Access to support via email within 24 hours of a business day.
- Laser Sessions - Sometimes you need a short call to be seen in the face of fear. If you text me, I call my clients at my first availability within the business week.
Benefits of Executive Coaching for Women
Get clear on your priorities, how to overcome your obstacles and the tools and accountability to build confidence and achieve your goals.
HeartMath tools, how to anchor and ground yourself, raise your EQ, and get out of overwhelm in the moment. This allows you to get out of overthinking and find a clear path forward.
Language mapping habits - situation + chosen response = outcome. When you find your habitual response loop, you can make positive changes. You can find the precursor to your thought process and make changes that ultimately have you overcome your obstacles.
Tame your inner critic - identify and learn new tools to handle and overcome your imposter phenomenon. You can find simple and easy access to the wisest part of you and create a safe place for the inner critic as you engage with bold and courageous changes in your life.
I work with women in a variety of leadership and executive roles, here are some of the more common challenges they face:
- Struggling with a major career choice. For example: Should I take a promotion? What will it mean for me and my family? Can I cope with the pressure? Do I want the additional responsibility?
- Negative feedback from the team. How to I move on from this? It feels personal, how do I create a positive outcome? How do I find a way through?
- A new more senior position. How do I operate at a higher level?
- A undermining, passive aggressive colleague or boss etc. How do I confidently overcome these personal challenges?
- Lack of motivation and energy. How do I improve myself? I am always trying and it is exhausting.
- How do I put myself first without feeling guilty?
- Anxiety & procrastination. How do I get peace and reclaim the power in my role?
We meet fortnightly either online via zoom or in-person (depending on location) for six months. I use a strength based, positive approach to working with yourself and your leadership development. This involves identifying your unique strengths and talents and learning new ways to lean-in to them as foundations.
We will clear emotional toxins and blocks and identify any unconscious beliefs that are preventing you from moving forward. The work in between will vary depending on what you’re working on – there is no one-size-fits-all approach to this work. It might be that you watch some videos, adopt some new practices or explore some practical exercises. The intention is to embed new empowering beliefs.
As part of this work you will create clarity about your leadership – particularly what’s calling your heart. You will clarify your dreams and create a clear vision, and practical plans and practices to prioritise this and stay focused and sustained in your own lane.
You will reclaim your courage to explore your fear and vulnerability, what triggers it and how you unintentionally armour up to protect yourself. This often involves a process of unlearning and being willing to be with the discomfort of uncertainty as you learn new, more productive ways of being and doing.
Be open minded and open hearted with yourself. The reason people come to coaching is that they’re struggling to get results on their own. They desperately want change but the results seem elusive.
Sometimes when we’re in this place we can feel disappointed and frustrated with ourselves and this in turn can mean we’re defensive. Just being aware of this and keeping your mind and heart open will give you curiosity to explore new mental maps and ways of being that will support the shift you want to make.
Everyone’s measure of success is different, but usually the magic happens over time and in-between the sessions, when you put the learning into action. When clients work with me they describe feeling better within themselves – happier, more at ease, calmer.
They also achieve things e.g. gain a promotion, take back control of their work day, quit their job and start something new, have difficult conversations they were avoiding or speak up and become an influencer at work.
All clients describe understanding themselves more and feeling authentic, congruent and grounded in their truth.
Words that describe my style are: warm, open, direct, honest, intuitive, playful, light and creative.
You have two coaching options depending on your location.
- I offer executive coaching for women in Surrey, London or within a 30 minute radius of Surrey in the UK. For my in-person clients, I can visit you at your place of work.
- I also offer my full services of coaching online via Zoom for the rest of the UK or for executive women and leaders worldwide. Coaching online may also suit my local Surrey or London coaching clients – the choice is up to you.