John Wilderspin

I’m a leadership coach and facilitator with a background as an NHS Chief Executive. I was fortunate to have great coaching and development through my own leadership career, and I love helping leaders to fulfil their potential and make a positive difference to the communities they serve. I have seen the benefits of service integration both personally and professionally so I am also passionate about “systems leadership”; enabling leaders at all levels across organisations to work better together.    

I coach individual leaders and leadership teams and have particular experience working with leaders from a professional background who have taken on leadership roles. As an example I’ve recently coached Clinical Directors of newly formed Primary Care Networks; all of them were GPs who didn’t have substantial leadership experience but did have innate skills and huge commitment and energy. I work with all types of leaders; front-line team leaders through to Executive Directors.

I ensure that coaching provides a “safe space” in which people can reflect, build confidence and experiment with new approaches. In parallel, I encourage clients to challenge their “status quo” and look at the world from different perspectives. My aim is for coaching to be practical as well as interesting and insightful. I encourage people to notice the progress they are making through coaching so they can maintain their own progress after coaching has concluded.  Clients say that they look forward to the work we do together; we make sure it is enjoyable as well as productive! I’m experienced in coaching on-line and by phone as well as face-to-face.

I facilitate small and large groups to achieve specific goals or to develop new skills and approaches. As an example, I am currently co-facilitating a multi-disciplinary leadership development programme for around 100 leaders from across England, drawn from the NHS, local government and the voluntary sector. We have delivered a blend of action learning, inspiring reflections from senior leaders, and good practice in leading in complexity, with excellent feedback from participants as well as the programme sponsors. We’ve delivered the latest programme workshop on-line through Zoom, ensuring that the interactive element of the programme that has been so valued by participants was fully replicated in the “virtual” space.