Getting Ready for 
Leadership

This is a 12 month long coaching programme for thoughtful HE managers who want to progress into a leadership position without burning out or becoming someone they’re not. Or maybe you recently landed the role but you don’t feel like a leader yet. 

Either way, you know you need to figure this leadership thing out and you're yearning for a different way to do it.  

You’re pretty comfortable in your capacity as a manager but you know you need to do things differently if you’re going to make it as a leader.

You’re already exhausted and you can’t contemplate doing more or working harder. You’ve probably been told you need to let go of the detail of day to day operations and ‘be more strategic’ but you can’t seem to find the headspace for that.

You want:

• to do work that feels satisfying,
• gives you more recognition and responsibility
• AND that feels sustainable and leaves you with enough energy to actually enjoy yourself and be present with family and friends come the weekend
• most of all, you want to feel like a leader without losing parts of yourself in the process.

And do you know what? It's totally possible

It's exactly what we work on inside this programme. 

Practically speaking we'll get you ready for your next grade and emotionally speaking we'll get you ready for leadership that feels like you. 

In this programme we focus on you.

This isn’t generic training. It’s coaching. It’s personal and it meets you exactly where you are.

Over the arc of the programme I’ll gently steward you through the 4 Cs to hone your leadership, build your self-assurance and get you ready to take on a role at the next level.

The 4Cs are:

Clarity - you need to know what you’re aiming for. Using the job descriptions for the types of roles you’re looking at, my Hidden Curriculum framework and a little Ai wizardry, we’ll create a bespoke guide that shows you where to focus your professional development efforts. No more writing “I want to develop leadership and management skills” on your appraisal/PDR paperwork. This will give you specific areas to focus on.

Competence - this is where we’ll spend most of our time as we focus on those areas we just identified in the clarity phase. This is where you actually make the shifts by implementing boundaries, learning to delegate really cleanly, holding accountability appropriately, advocating for your service with senior colleagues etc. This is the phase where you’ll experiment with doing things differently and reflecting on what’s working for you. 

Credibility - this is when others start to notice the impact of you doing things differently. You start to get the attention of senior leaders who are seeing you making different decisions, tackling things that you might have once avoided and contributing in more strategic ways. Doors will start to open and you’ll be invited to new opportunities. 

Conviction - this phase is when you begin to believe in yourself as a sturdy leader. Now when you go to job interviews you’re not trying to convince anyone to give you the job because your competence and credibility are so self evident that you become the obvious right choice for the role. 

Each week I’ll create space for you to think, plan, explore what’s causing you friction and what’s working really well. We’ll untangle your thinking and create some experiments for you to take back into your week as you explore doing things differently, all while keeping in mind the nuances of your context, your team, your institution, your objectives and your aspirations. I operate on the assumption that you know best because what we’re building here is self-trust. 

We do it as a group because you’ll learn from each other and cheer each other on. 

We’re not trying to turn you into someone you’re not. We’re helping you appreciate what’s already working really well for you and see that by changing your approaches in certain situations, you can become the kind of leader you aspire to be. 

By the end of the programme

You’ll become the leader you secretly suspect might be there under the surface somewhere already.

You’ll be feeling brave, self-assured and accomplished. 

You will have stepped out of the detail by delegating well and holding accountability appropriately.

You’ll be taking up space by setting and holding boundaries that support you.

You’ll be leading yourself and your teams in ways that feel good and are noticed by others for being firm but fair. 

You’ll be able to rest and feel satisfied without all that overworking and cyclonic thinking going on in the background.

You will move forward in your career, be a sturdy, calm leader and feel really fucking good about it. 

And importantly, you’ll know that whatever crops up in future, you’ll be ok because you know how to encourage and support yourself.

Plus you'll have a gang of likeminded HE professionals in your corner cheering you on every step of the way.

About me as your guide

I’m the founder of The Hidden Curriculum of Progression for HE Professional Services and a specialist self-belief coach.

I worked in HE professional services for 13 years before I started this coaching business and was repeatedly struck by how under supported HE professionals are. Since then I've coached over 280 HE professional from all over the sector.

And I want you to know that we need more thoughtful people like you in positions of leadership across this sector so that we can be doing things differently. You're not delusional in wanting that and I’m here to support you. 

I’m a specialist self-belief coach and I work at the middle of the venn diagram that contains self-belief, robust management and leadership practice and the HE context. I also have a Sociology degree and I’m completely fascinated by the cultural differences between academia and professional services and the power dynamics within and between different HEIs.

I created this programme because I know there's a lot of envy within Professional Services as you look over the fence at the Academic Promotions Pathways. I also know that you’re standing at the threshold of leadership and that can feel scary. So this programme is about supporting you to cross that threshold and progress in your career in ways that feel satisfying and sustainable without turning into one of those terrible HE politician types - you know the ones.

If that sounds good then I'd love to support you. Come on in.

The Investment

This work is intentionally slow, relational, and small-group. The price reflects the depth of the coaching, the year-long container, and the level of attention and presence involved.

You pay £200/month or £2,400 total

You can pay by monthly instalments or I can send you a quotation if your institution is paying by Purchase Order. The pricing is the same regardless - there's no penalty for paying monthly.

How to Join

If this is a 'hell yes' for you, sign yourself up.

There’s no need for a call - remember we’re building your self-trust here. You can sign up now and get immediate access to the Getting Ready community. 

Once you sign up you’ll get a juicy enrolment questionnaire to start you thinking about what you want and how I can support you best. 

Then you’ll join the kick off call at 2-3pm on Thursday 19 March 2026 to meet the rest of your group and get started.

If anything unexpected happens or you’re not sure about something drop me an email at [email protected].

If you’re not sure then let’s jump on a call.

You can tell me a bit more about what you’re experiencing and I’ll help you come to a clear “hell yes” or a “not right now”. Either is fine but let’s not leave you sitting on the fence.

Ready?

If you want to progress in your career and feel like a really sturdy, grounded leader then you don’t have to turn into someone you're not. You just need to make some simple changes to how you’re doing things. But if those changes feel hard, there’s probably a really good reason for that. When you join the programme we’ll figure out what feels hard and why so that you can get unstuck and move forward in a way that feels good for you. 

I can’t wait to support you