About your coach
Hello, I am Susana, founder of Meaningful Opportunities. I provide executive and career coaching to individuals and organisations as I passionately believe in the positive effects that coaching at work can have in promoting self-improvement, intrinsic potential, confidence, mental health and wellbeing.
My approach
I am empathetic and sensitive to clients’ needs and my style is characterised by a calm, approachable and open manner. My background and experience have greatly contributed to this, having worked in various environments, with different working patterns, across job levels and with people from all walks of life. This does not mean I have lived your experiences, but I can guarantee to respect what you bring to the sessions. I have also changed careers and roles thus I understand the hardships, the struggles and the rewards that come with this.
My experience in the lifelong learning sector comes across strongly throughout the entire coaching journey as a means for self-development, linking insights from one session to another to reach maximum benefit. I tend to use a non-directive style of questioning and do not restrict myself to one coaching model; to offer more flexibility in my intervention. I promote reflection during and in between sessions to attain greater impact for the individual and for the organisation and use client’s feedback to ascertain what works best for them, as no two individuals are the same. I bring structure via my contracting process.
Ultimately, through coaching, I work with clients to reach an outcome that speaks to them, enabling individuals to meet their goals in a way that encourages transformational and long-lasting effects, not just for the duration of the coaching.
I first developed my coaching skills as an internal coach and as a manager at a Local Authority in London, working with a diverse client group. Prior to becoming a coach, I first worked in engineering and then in adult and community learning.
I have extensive experience of working in private, public, non-for profit and charity sectors and have also worked in adult and community learning for many years, establishing strong partnerships with staff working in voluntary organisations, community groups and SME’s.
Have experienced different working patterns (full time, part-time, job share, remote work, flexible time, and compressed hours) which allows me to understand better the challenges, pressures and benefits that come with these, both for organisations as well as individuals.
Over the years my work has taken me to male and female majority environments as well as multicultural organisations, allowing me to appreciate the importance of the makeup of the workforce within organisations and to recognise the effects of these in the workplace.
I believe that all the above has shaped my persona to become more open and flexible. It has also helped me to understand the importance of diversity in skills, backgrounds and goals and take this into account when working with each with unique coaching request.
I strongly believe in lifelong learning to keep my skills relevant and to provide better support. I strive to raise the quality of the services I offer and as such attend regular supervision, I am a member of the Association for Coaching and regularly invest in my professional development.
Qualifications: ILM Level 7 in Executive Coaching and mentoring, Five minute coach, PGCE in Adult and Community Education, other qualifications in Engineering and education.
Workshops and webinars: Resilience Coaching, Clean Language, Career Coaching, Career versus Change, Coaching Skills for Managers, Creating a Thinking Environment, Advanced Coaching Skills, Positive Psychology for Coaching, Intercultural Coaching, The Joy of Mindful Coaching, Coaching across Diversity and Making Inclusion a Priority, Empowering the Motherhood Transition, Sustainability challenges in businesses, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Impostor or talented over-achiever, Diversity Inclusion and Belonging in coaching, Anxiety a creative approach, With Earth in Mind.
