Siobhan | Active Insight

How to get the best from a coach

Siobhan — Mon, 16 Jun 2025 16:18:14 +0000

Coaching has been proven to be more cost effective at developing senior executives than sending them away on expensive training courses. It’s now a highly respected methodology for accelerating a leader’s growth and effectiveness. But there are important things you must be prepared to do as a coachee in order to get the most from […]

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What’s your Unique Selling Proposition?

Siobhan — Mon, 16 Jun 2025 16:04:23 +0000

Need to make an impact quickly with ease and brevity? Perhaps you are heading for an interview, or want to write a compelling CV, and need to give someone words to use to introduce you if you’re giving a talk. Here’s a powerful formula I have used many times in workshops and in my coaching […]

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One of our engineers is missing…

Siobhan — Tue, 13 May 2025 15:19:00 +0000

An engineering manager I once worked with noticed his best team member was slipping into silence. Smart, loyal, but clearly “checked out”. We unpacked it in our coaching programme, like sleuths keen to get under the skin of what was going on. A slightly adapted version of Ken Blanchard’s situational leadership provided a valuable lens. […]

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Engineers can be leaders – can’t they?

Siobhan — Thu, 13 Feb 2025 14:18:48 +0000

Many senior engineers are promoted because of their technical mastery — but then find themselves managing projects, resolving conflict, and influencing others without any formal leadership development. One technical director recently told me, “I was trained to design and build very specialised components with precision. But now I’m dealing with shifting priorities, emotional individuals, and […]

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Snowdrops and bigger boots

Siobhan — Mon, 27 Mar 2023 18:30:37 +0000

Spring is on its way. For many this is a time of great celebration, symbolizing spiritual rebirth. This makes me think of the mini-cycles of dying and rebirth throughout our careers and lives. The lumpy, unpredictable process of growing up and maturing where we gradually evolve into one of the “someones” we had the potential […]

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A brief guide to leading an innovative team

Siobhan — Wed, 16 Mar 2022 15:20:47 +0000

Behind successful innovations are great teams. Here’s a very brief guide to help you develop your team be their best, especially in these times. The dreaded drift Innovation is about solving problems. Specifically, finding better ways to meet needs in the context of a changing environment. Without innovation, any organisation is subject to strategic drift […]

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The “extraverting” of innovation

Siobhan — Mon, 10 Feb 2020 16:26:03 +0000

We all know that old black-and-white movie stereotype, the solitary mad professor hunched over his test tubes and complex equipment behind closed doors, where strange things inexplicably go bump in the night. Mysterious and unpredictable, scientists and inventors were then allowed their eccentricities. We expected them to be reclusive and to differ from the norm […]

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