Who Simone Worked with
A well-established occupational therapy business with more than 10 years of experience and a team of approximately 25 employees.
As the business continued to grow, three senior occupational therapists were stepping into greater leadership responsibilities. While they were highly skilled clinicians, they were navigating the transition from technical experts to people leaders — developing confidence in managing teams, supporting others and leading effectively.
The organisation recognised the importance of investing in their leaders early to create the foundations for confident leadership as their roles and responsibilities continued to evolve.
The Challenge
Stepping into leadership can be challenging, especially when people are promoted because of their technical expertise and suddenly find themselves responsible for supporting, guiding and influencing others.
Each leader came to coaching with their own goals and challenges, including:
- Building confidence in their leadership identity
- Developing stronger communication approaches with their teams
- Navigating difficult conversations
- Managing competing demands and interruptions
- Setting boundaries and balancing work and life
- Empowering others to solve problems rather than carrying everything themselves
- Managing self-doubt, high expectations and negative self-talk
While each leader was committed to supporting their teams, they were often questioning themselves and second-guessing their decisions.
Without support, these challenges risked contributing to burnout, reduced confidence, strained team dynamics and leaders not fully stepping into their potential.
Simone’s Approach
Simone provided individual coaching sessions tailored to each leader’s unique goals, experiences and challenges.
The sessions focused on:
- Creating a safe space for honest reflection
- Challenging assumptions and thought patterns
- Helping leaders see situations from different perspectives
- Identifying the answers they already had within themselves
- Providing practical strategies they could apply in real workplace situations
A key part of the process was helping leaders slow down and hear their own thinking. Through reflection and thoughtful questioning, they experienced “light bulb” moments that helped them approach challenges with greater clarity and confidence.
As one leader shared:
“I felt like I did all the talking but had so much clarity at the end.”
The Outcome
Tangible results:
- Greater clarity around leadership responsibilities
- Increased confidence in decision-making
- Improved communication approaches
- More effective conversations with team members
- Clearer boundaries and priorities
- Greater ability to support and empower others
Intangible results:
- Increased self-awareness and understanding of their own leadership style
- Greater confidence stepping into leadership roles
- Stronger belief in their own capability
- Reduced overwhelm and stress
- A renewed sense of purpose and excitement about the future
The leaders moved from questioning whether they were capable of leading effectively to recognising the strengths, skills and perspectives they already brought to their roles.
They developed a greater understanding of their own impact, learned to celebrate their successes and created a more sustainable approach to leadership.
Reflection
Through coaching, these emerging leaders moved from feeling overwhelmed and uncertain to leading with greater confidence, clarity and self-awareness — strengthening both their own leadership journey and the teams they support.
“Thank you from the bottom of my heart for the space you create — a space of true acceptance, growth, and reflection. You’ve helped me to live more freely, authentically, and with greater grace for myself, a truly priceless gift.”
“The most thoughtful, supportive coaching experience that helped me gain clarity, authenticity, and confidence. Simone asks powerful questions in a calm, safe space. Highly recommend.”
“I discovered a lot about myself through the coaching. I have been able to be more gentle in my expectations and reframe situations into more realistic outcomes. I have also received feedback that I am able to see things from different perspectives — the whole reason I began to seek out support!”
By investing in their leaders, this occupational therapy business strengthened their leadership capability, created more confident managers and supported a culture where people feel empowered to grow.