The CEO and People Director of Pukka Herbs Ltd wished to support the Leadership Team in unlocking the next level of team working. They wanted to take the team from ‘Good’ to ‘Great’, so giving them the ability to lead the best possibilities for Pukka.
They knew the team was already strong and that one to one and team coaching would be the route to unlocking what was already within - supercharging their self awareness and strategies for working with each other, for their best.
They approached Nicola – a Master Coach (MSc) and specialist in Mindset and Communication (ANLP) to design a bespoke solution that would unlock the most productive team culture and their potential for high team performance.
Spanning six Executive Coaching sessions and one ‘virtual away day’, each of the 9 of the Leadership Team worked with Nicola to:
• Deepen their self awareness, gaining clarity on the unconscious motivators behind their personality, behaviour and communication; exploring how these drivers influenced the way they interacted with, and impacted the team.
• Discover and tune in to their best, most high performing version of themselves – exploring how that version truly unlocked the ability to achieve their best outcomes and successes.
• Build strong, self-owned strategies that helped them be their best, overcoming any unproductive characteristics they displayed in the team. These strategies changed limiting beliefs and behaviours, helping them to live and breathe the version of themselves they knew was their best.
• Define as a team how their mutual best selves enabled them as a team to thrive and lead the organisation towards their common purpose.
The coaching sessions, which were all delivered online combined Master level coaching skill and Master NLP technique and insight. The coaching sessions were also underpinned by the next generation personal insights tool PRINT®. PRINT® goes further than personality or behavioural profiling, by unveiling the deep unconscious drivers behind our thoughts, emotions, behaviour and communication. A change tool in itself, it deepens self-awareness, helping people overcome their unproductive ‘Shadow’ and develop strategies to be their productive ‘Best Self’.
Alongside transforming themselves, PRINT® helped the leadership team create a deeper understanding of each other. They created a common language, an ability to have clear candid communication, and developed the ability flex to each others’ ways of working.
The team became clear on what ‘great’ is for them, and fully of aware of the part individually they played in being part of a high performing, winning leadership team.
Client Perspective
“Starting from a well-functioning team already, with a transparent and supportive culture, we saw the opportunity to lift the team performance and collaboration from ‘good to great’. Nicola has guided the Pukka Leadership Team on a journey of achieving just that, both through individual coaching and collective group-sessions. With a focus on gaining better insight in when we operate at ‘best self’ and what triggers us into ‘shadow behaviour’ has sparked a lot of enthusiasm in the team, who could now better articulate what is needed to support them and what triggers them. We have already seen examples where being more self-aware and being better able to spot triggers have unlocked conversations. Nicola’s approach has given us a language to easily talk about this, in an inclusive non-judgemental way. I trust we have achieved the objective set at the start of the process and look forward in keeping this momentum with the team. Many thanks Nicola!”
Karel Vandamme, CEO. Pukka Herbs
“Having worked together as a Leadership Team on our effectiveness we recognised that, to truly unlock our team performance from ‘good’ to ‘great,’ we needed to work both individually and collectively to reveal and release this. Nicola listened carefully to our objective which involved a collective mindset shift complimented by individual accountability with awareness. The programme which resulted (all delivered virtually) has enabled a profound shift for our team in awareness of self and how to access the best version of each other in pursuit of our collective team agenda. Nicola uses a combination of support and challenge to push us to be our best whilst also ensuring a safe space to allow for vulnerability to emerge. The result – a more aware, effective, and high performing team.”
Suzy Stollery, People Director. Pukka Herbs
Leadership Team Perspective
“Working with Nicola has been an enriching and nourishing experience that really has made a difference. With gentle and empathic guidance, Nicola has left me better armed to recognise my true motivations and the influence they have upon my actions. This has in turn provided greater self-awareness and shown me that I really can choose how I react and behave. It’s a fascinating discovery!”
Euan MacLennan. Herbal & Sustainability Director
“Having worked with Nicola previously, I was excited to be doing coaching together again, but wow didn’t expect it to be so transformational! PRINT is such an insightful tool for understanding your best- and shadow-self and also of those around you. It gives a language to being able to talk about triggers and how to help enable best-self behaviours. Nicola has a friendly, open, fun and encouraging approach, which made me look forward to sessions even more! I feel a more conscious leader with a renewed and clearer focus on bringing my best-self to my work, for myself and others. Become an authentic version of your best self, with Nicola and PRINT.”
Emma Colwill. Pukka Living Lead
“Working with Nicola and the PRINT framework was a genuine revelation in both my personal and professional life. Nicola brought to life my PRINT profile with real insight and I now have a powerful understanding of what really makes me "tick". Unlike other professional coaching programmes I've experienced, my sessions with Nicola were hugely practical and I feel they'll have an enduringly positive impact on how I show up at work and at home. Nicola brought a lovely blend of both following the PRINT programme but also allowing our explorations to evolve organically. The best facilitators recognise that you already have the answers you need within you and they create the space to let these insights emerge through a balance of probing, empathy and wisdom - this is a real strength of Nicola's. As a Leadership Team we now have a common language and insight to support each other in bringing the very best version of ourselves individually and as a team.”
John Collins. Finance Director
“Working with Nicola has been genuinely insightful. In her unique way, she has helped navigate a path to better understanding – not just of the role I have within the business but much more importantly, me as a person. After all, the fundamentals of all our behaviour rests in understanding more about who we are and how we can bring out the best of ourselves. Leading without being led - to enable me to get to the right place and know how I got there. I think that is the essence of great leadership. Thanks Nicola.”
Fox. Creative and Marketing Director
“This was a hugely valuable experience for me. Especially given the timing and my recent introduction to the LT, but regardless of this the opportunity this presented to better understand myself and all members of the LT was massively beneficial.
- The PRINT framework was very insightful. I was surprised by just how appropriate both my Best Self and shadow descriptions were;
- The opportunity to have one on ones with you over such a long period of time and put what we discussed into action in between worked excellently;
- I really enjoyed working with you personally. You are obviously great at what you do, are very insightful but also tactful when dealing with people opening up areas where they feel vulnerable / sharing where they don’t do things well. I was worried about this at the outset but this quickly went away;
- Your NLP background and approach to tackling issues (e.g. visualising the “feeling”) is not something I would have encountered without these sessions and is something I took lots of value from and still use regularly.
- It has introduced a language within the LT that has really helped us resolve issues
- It has really increased my understanding of why people behave the way they do and why this is often very differently to how I would behave, which regularly helps me in the LT and outside this
Overall I just want to say thank you. I really enjoyed the experience and feel very lucky to have been able to take part.”
Luke Ashman. Head of Commercial Finance
“I enjoyed the project with Nicola. PRINT really creates a good language to talk and better understand each member of the LT. Personally I got a lot out of the conversations with Nicola, Always supportive and challenging to get to a real understanding of yourself, including tangible actions that brought either insight or solutions to the situation!”
Tijs van Olffen. International Business Development Director
