Trans4me – Executive coaching and career development

FAURE & ASSOCIATES

personal empowerment, business transformation

“What makes new behaviors possible is not simply trying to act differently. New behaviors that last come from new ways of seeing, from new awarenesses and sensibilities.”
~ Peter Senge

OUR PHYLOSOPHY

“I am, then, not at all a wise person myself, nor have I any wise invention, the offspring born of my own soul; but those who associate with me, although at first some of them seem very ignorant, yet, as our acquaintance advances, all of them to whom the god is gracious make wonderful progress, not only in their own opinion, but in that of others as well. And it is clear that they do this, not because they have ever learned anything from me, but because they have found in themselves many fair things and have brought them forth. But the delivery is due to the god and me.”

Socrates – from Plato, Theaetetus

In this quote, Socrates describes how he, like a midwife of the soul, assists in the bringing forth of “offsprings of the mind”. Providing no new knowledge as such but proceeding through carefully crafted questions, Socrates helps deliver the “many fair things” that inhabit our minds, dormant until the insightful question reveals them to our awareness, triggering new understanding and enabling us to act with renewed focus and energy, to “make wonderful progress”.

This passage illustrates our approach to our work: we believe, like Socrates, that each of us has a fundamental wealth of knowledge as well as innate energy and desire to grow and realise the best possible future for ourselves in all aspects of our lives. We sometimes get stuck in our pursuits, caught up in mental attitudes that perpetuate old patterns and withhold the emergence of breakthrough insights. Our work is essentially to create the conditions for the emergence of new, actionable insights that will ultimately result in transformation of the person, the team, the organisation.

SERVICES

EXECUTIVE COACHING

Leadership has many facets, one of which perhaps under-valued for executives: the ability to lead execution towards the delivery of outcomes, especially when strategic initiatives are concerned. Leading execution effectively requires the ability to design and implement systems and processes that contribute to the following:

creating a clear, shared vision of goals and objectives, and how the goals and objectives of a specific team relate to the broader objectives of the organisation;
prioritising activities to match the available capacity of teams or organisations at any one time: this is often neglected, as organisations tend to add to their lists of initiatives without ever removing work that has decreased in priority – this creates distraction at best and frustration at worst, when there is insufficient clarity about where to focus efforts;
monitoring progress and making it visible to everyone: this enables individuals to harness their own energies and motivation towards the work. In a recent book, The Progress Principle, the authors describe how the strongest contributor to work satisfaction was the sense of making progress in meaningful work.

Designing and implementing such systems and processes requires awareness of modern work management methods (e.g. Agile) and motivation theory. Executives capable of enabling their people to explicitly make progress on meaningful work on a consistent basis achieve much more than delivery: they also create workplaces where meaning and well-being through work is at the centre.

TEAM COACHING

Executives today are increasing working collaboratively, either in ad-hoc groups that exist temporarily to perform specific tasks, or in teams that have a more permanent constitution. These executive teams are navigating uncertain and volatile contexts and the strategic decisions they make can generate long term organisational impacts. To chart a course they rely on their collective experience and intelligence and in doing so must avoid two extremes: first, groupthink, where a team has developed entrenched practices to quickly agree a course of action, without having sufficiently cross-examined their assumptions and conclusions; second, in-fighting, where confrontation and challenge run so rampant that only superficial agreements are ever reached, without deeper and creative exploration of possibility. For a team to avoid these extremes they must cultivate healthy dynamics: effective decision-making processes, individual and collective accountability, respectful and tolerant yet challenging interpersonal relationships.

A team coach can help create a space where those healthy dynamics can unfold. By attentively observing how the team interacts and offering those observations to the critical reflection of the team, the coach can encourage constructive inquiry, support creative exploration, expose counter-productive dynamics, and generally contribute to a safe yet challenging context where high quality decisions can emerge.

EXECUTION MANAGEMENT

Executives today are increasingly working collaboratively, either in ad-hoc groups that exist temporarily to perform specific tasks, or in teams that have a more permanent constitution. These executive teams are navigating uncertain and volatile contexts and the strategic decisions they make can generate long term organisational impacts. To chart a course they rely on their collective experience and intelligence and in doing so must avoid two extremes: first, groupthink, where a team has developed entrenched practices to quickly agree a course of action, without having sufficiently cross-examined their assumptions and conclusions; second, in-fighting, where confrontation and challenge run so rampant that only superficial agreements are ever reached, without deeper and creative exploration of possibility. For a team to avoid these extremes they must cultivate healthy dynamics: effective decision-making processes, individual and collective accountability, respectful and tolerant yet challenging interpersonal relationships.

CAREER DEVELOPMENT

Career development enables professionals to make the most career impact they are capable of, in a purpose-driven and informed way.

The key outcome is to determine a career path best aligned with professional and personal aspirations. The coaching process will uncover values, skills, interests, natural talents and drivers, and make them available to scrutiny, evaluation and leverage. This reflective work is summarised in the form of a value proposition, which underpins the way an individual understands and presents their professional focus. It provides the key message in a resume, helps with productive, focused networking conversations and interviews, and reminds individuals that their success is transferable to different roles and organisations. It also provides individuals with a range of possibilities to explore where they are most likely to thrive.

Career development coaching is beneficial to individuals and organisations in the following contexts:

When reaching an inflection point which can be triggered by age/stage, aspirations or organisational environment,
When growth opportunities depend on proactively seeking out new and unimagined possibilities,
When and organisation seeks to retain talent, improve employee job satisfaction or reduce the non-productive attitudes and behaviour of unhappy employees,
When an organisation needs to support individuals moving into different roles by improving their career clarity and drivers.

Meet the team

the people guiding you

François Faure

I coach leaders and their teams to learn, adapt and innovate faster than their environment changes. My favourite space is the crossroads where logic and rigorous implementation meet empathy and personal transformation, enabling clients to explore their context, then execute on their initiatives with clarity, focus and momentum.

I bring to my practice a variety of perspectives and experience from my own diverse professional background: executive leadership roles; consulting roles in strategy and leadership development; implementation of large, complex transformation projects; coaching and mentoring from emerging young leaders to seasoned executives; even pastoral care from my early days as a minister.

As my own development progresses, I leverage a range of proven methods (old and new) to support leaders and teams as they identify, design, plan and execute their projects: from Appreciative Inquiry and Theory U in the world of transformation to Agile Project Management and Theory of Constraints in the world of implementation, and sometimes even plain old human wisdom. My formal education reflects the dual nature of my interests: Master of Engineering (Robotics) and Master of Management (Human Resources & Coaching).

My capabilities include: Executive Coaching, Team Coaching, Leadership Development, Workshop Facilitation, Business Strategy, Transformation, Execution Management, Process Improvement, Change Management, Project Management.

Penelope Faure

At its core, executive coaching is a conversation between a client who is seeking to improve some aspect of their work life and a coach who provides a space for the client to explore and review their beliefs, feelings and behaviours. I help my clients visualise, map and move towards being their best selves in life and work.

An effective coach requires deep listening skills, empathy, strong interpersonal insight, the ability to ask powerful questions and the thoughtful application of psychological theories. Drawing upon these skills, I encourage clients to examine their goals and behaviour from multiple and fresh perspectives allowing them to see new possibilities and alternate action pathways to achieve their outcomes.

During my time in France I spent 12 years as Director of an international NGO based in Paris. Since returning to Australia, I have completed a Doctorate in Organisational Psychology on the Key Factors of Successful Career Transitions. In 2014, I was awarded the Career Development Association of Australia’s Researcher of the Year award for this research. For several years, I have been the Director of Executive Services at career management firm Audrey Page & Associates while in parallel running my own consultancy.

I have coached across a wide range of industries and organisations in Australia, Europe and the US and my practice areas include: executive coaching, executive career transitions, interpersonal and communication skills and leadership development.

Professional Memberships

• Professional Member, Australian Psychological Society (APS), Australian Human Resources Institute, Australian College of Organisational Psychologists, Career Development Association of Australia
• Adjunct Academic & APS Board accredited Supervisor, Department of Psychology, Macquarie University
• Fellow, Royal Society of the Arts (RSA)