Clare Withycombe

Education and Experience: Clare has over 25 years experience working in the field of international cultural relations. She has senior management experience in the Africa and the Middle East regions with the British Council, and an extensive background in different aspects of Human Resources where she has led Employee Relations and was also the Council’s Global Coaching Lead. Degree: BSc (Imperial College).

Professional Skills and Expertise: Member of the International Coach Federation, (ICF) and ACC (Accredited Certified Coach), 2017, post graduate Coaching diploma, 2004, Certified Career Counselling Services Accredited Coach 2006. Expertise in leadership development, women in leadership and career coaching with a focus on Equality Diversity and Inclusion as a theme to all coaching. Adherence to ICF Code of Ethics.

International Experience: Clare has worked internationally with key assignments in Africa (Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa) and the Middle East (Egypt, Gulf countries and Syria) She has wide experience and interest in cross cultural coaching, she introduced a global executive coaching offer in the British Council to support leadership across regions and nationalities to promote national talent development.

Indicative Clients: Broad sector experience with executive coaching clients from the Education, (British Council) Arts, (International art gallery and culture) non Governmental Organisations, (Every Child, World Vision), Cabinet Office, DfT, and also fintech start ups. Higher Education experience includes coaching clients from academic institutions (Southampton, Imperial)

Coaching Style and Approach: Colleagues comment on Clare’s exceptional listening skills and that she has an empathetic, engaging but grounded and pragmatic approach to coaching. Coaching models include ‘Oscar’ and are solution focused shaped to the client and the presenting issue. There will always be a clear momentum with coaching, which is goal focused with ‘take-away’ action. Clare is a highly experienced 1:1 executive coach (3,000+ hours), focused on early/mid/later career coaching, women in leadership, work/life balance to optimise the working environment