Philosophy and approach to coaching and mentoring

People have unlimited potential and are capable of achieving extraordinary things. There has never been a more exciting time to be alive than now. We live in an era of rapid global transformation in politics, in business, in science and technology, in warfare, in the ecology the planet and in demographics. There are many serious challenges and some golden opportunities.

Today’s leaders need to spend time thinking about the future and to respond quickly to changing circumstances. They need to work out clearly where they and their organisations stand, what their values are and where they fit into a complex picture and to define a vision for the future. Leaders need to map out and execute their plans and to communicate coherently about them, to achieve success. New thinking and big ideas are needed. Steve McCauley helps clients with this, consistent with their roles. Steve helps people to see more clearly and to make better decisions.

At the highest level, Steve’s work is about helping clients to become better leaders: to help them to transform their performance and that of their organisation. Where appropriate, he gives himself licence to stretch and to challenge his clients in a supportive way, to get them to the point of discovery. He finds “future focus” to be powerful. This helps people become unstuck, especially at times of stress.

Steve has dynamic conversations with leaders about leadership and management, and how they need to be integrated. When this “lens” is applied to the client’s situation, people are better able to articulate the story of their own business and values, and to become clearer about what needs to change. After all, it is necessary to work out a coherent story before communicating with people.

Steve’s experience in public speaking and broadcasting allows him to help people with the “craft” aspects of how to communicate clearly

Sometimes people debate the pros and cons of “non-directive” and “directive” coaching and mentoring, but experience tells Steve that what matters is to ask effective questions, to listen carefully and to get the client into a state of “flow”, where they start to picture future possibilities, and then to go deeper.

Steve often acts as what someone described as a “thinking partner”. This goes beyond the sounding board or consultant role towards the creation of new ideas and new solutions to problems, with the emphasis on building the capability within the client.