I have a real pleasure to provide Mike Clark from Coaching Bridge with a coaching reference.
Mike has been working with me in his capacity of the Leadership Development Coach for the period of 12 months from December 2017 to December 2018. We have been meeting every 4-6 weeks in person and in between those sessions continued our dialog via e-mails.
Mike’s approach to coaching is very outcome related and focused, which is exactly what I was looking for. At the beginning we agreed specific intended outcomes and were jointly working towards them. Mike also made sure that he established an effective direct dialog with my line manager and linked our coaching outcomes with my personal development plan and objectives. Having a dialog between my line manager and the coach while maintaining the confidentiality of our discussions was very productive and really helped to progress with my personal and work-related objectives.
Mike’s coaching style is very creative, personable and memorable- which was the perfect fit for my personality and preferences. Mike has been using art, coaching sessions in art galleries and museums to help me to discover new ideas, make new connections, deeply understand myself and was providing plentiful opportunities to think things through.
Each of our sessions was totally unique and insightful. Few examples that particularly stand out for me are: Inspirational leadership session in the National Portrait Gallery, overcoming personal challenges in Tate Modern linked to Picasso exhibition, re-imagining the future in the Hayward Gallery and managing conflict in the War memorial park. Each location was thoughtfully linked to the topic of our discussion and made an enormous difference in the resulted scope and depth of the conversation.
Mike has been very supportive, personable, optimistic, open, honest and engaging and I personally made a very significant progress during the year he was coaching me.
I would strongly recommend Mike to any current or potential Leader who wants to make real progress in their Leadership journey, who seeks to discover new sides to their leadership approach as well as finding novel solutions to the problems that Leaders often struggle to resolve.
Dr Olga Jones
Senior Transformation Lead
NHS England
