Gill Martin

About my practice

The foundation of my practice is to work with simplicity and courage and a deep respect for people. Clients describe me as warm and open with a laser sharp ability to pick up on the stuff behind the surface that can hold them back from reaching their true potential. I work intuitively with a strengths-based bias and draw from a wide range of psychological approaches including transactional analysis and gestalt through to more solutions focused techniques.
I work best with people who are interested in taking the time for personal reflection and willing to explore and experiment with new ways of thinking and being, especially if old ones are no longer serving them. This often includes people considering career moves, either upwards, sideways or in another direction altogether. It also attracts leaders in the midst of organisational transformation or challenging circumstances.

In addition to one-to-one work, I love to run group coaching programmes where individuals focus on their own personal and professional development in a small peer group. My strengths are in creating a supportive environment for open and honest exploration. By role modelling and encouraging reflective inquiry as a coaching style, people build confidence and capability in their own coaching, a core skill for today’s leaders. Group members build strong bonds and frequently continue to support each other as advocates and accountability partners well after the programme has finished.

My main service

• One to one coaching

• Group coaching and coaching circles

• Design and delivery of leadership development programmes

I’m based in north London and will travel within the UK where appropriate. I work virtually with individuals and groups on Zoom or your platform of choice.

Coaching experience

I have worked with leaders in the UK and Europe, and from a range of market sectors that includes organisations such as Roche, J Sainsbury, IMG, Innocent, National Highways; Imperial College London and Macmillan Cancer Support.
Recent coaching assignments include:
A newly appointed director setting up a new division in a new location with a remit to significantly change the culture from the main organisation site
A director identified as a successor to the CIO
A Head of HR looking to work more strategically and create a seat for HR on the board of a growing scale up business
Group coaching with female leaders in a global pharmaceutical company as part of a programme to address gender disparity in senior roles

My qualifications include, Level 7 ILM Executive Coaching qualification, Systemic Team Coaching Master Practitioner (Academy of Executive Coaching), Organisational Development Practitioner (Roffey Park). I’m constantly curious about new ways of working and recent areas of study and exploration have included trauma informed coaching, adult development theories (constructive-developmental) and neuroscience-informed coaching.

Career summary

I started my career in retail, including working with Anita Roddick at the height of The Body Shop’s growth and success where I moved from operational management to head up the Product and Sales Training team. After a move into management and leadership development and a period of freelance work, I joined a successful boutique learning consultancy as part of the senior leadership team and worked with clients including O2, EE, SSE, Co-op Insurance Services, The Arts Council and Nationwide. I then spent 5 years as Head of OD at PRS for Music supporting the exec through a period of organisation wide transformation.
Returning to freelance work in 2015, I now provide coaching services directly and as an associate with other small, like-minded organisations to offer a variety of coaching and other services.