Alison Craig Coaching celebrates a decade of helping South Coast leaders reach their potential

Alison Craig Coaching Ltd is celebrating ten years of helping managers and leaders get the best out of themselves and those around them.

After a successful 26-year tenure with John Lewis, which saw the company’s eponymous Founder moving from sales and operational teams to leading people development, Alison decided to go out on her own when she realised her job role was going to change.

“I could see that I would be doing less of what I really loved – the one to one development work – and would be focused more on making sure my team were in the right place,” she explained.

“At the same time I recognised more and more people were bringing their whole self to work. I had started training as a counsellor so I could recognise better when it was time to signpost people towards counselling.

“I really enjoyed the training and thought that was the path I would go down, but it didn’t seem right to throw away a quarter of a century’s worth of commercial experience.”

With all these factors in mind, Alison embarked on a two year part time Masters degree in Executive Coaching, which saw her working with a range of different people and sectors.

“It gave me the confidence that I could go outside of John Lewis and help people. One week after leaving I started my business and I haven’t looked back since!”

Initially planning to go it alone, demand for both people management and leadership skills training, as well as team effectiveness workshops and customer service training, led her to bring on a hand-picked team of associates, drawing on her network of people she knew well and had worked with in the past.

Today, this team consists of eight skilled and experienced coaches/trainers who are able to work with businesses of any size and sector, with clients ranging from a hospice through to a FTSE 100 retailer. To date, the team has worked with businesses in more than 20 different sectors.

This growth has seen the company’s turnover nearly triple since launching.

Commenting on the journey so far, Alison said: “I’m proud to have a loyal base of clients who regularly return for people development support. Our client-base continues to grow, and we have some exciting new projects in the pipeline including some familiar and well-known brands”.

Of course, no business journey is without challenges and this has been no different for Alison Craig Coaching.

“Two big challenges come to mind.

“Brexit, which impacted clients’ operations and led to leaders being distracted from focusing on people development. This resolved itself over time but it did cause delays in rolling out some work.

“The other, perhaps unsurprisingly, was the pandemic.

“Where businesses were still able to operate, people managers needed more help than ever to cope with leading distressed teams remotely, and support therefore needed to be offered by virtual means.

“We’d delivered one to one coaching globally via Skype before, but facilitating online workshops was entirely new to us.

This led the team to quickly develop their skills and approach, with virtual workshops now an important and valued part of their offer.

“Some clients question whether virtual workshops can ever be as good, but plenty of feedback shows that they can.

“Success comes from the trainer or coach quickly building trust with the participants.

“The trainer also needs to be very well organised and to ensure the pace and interactive style are engaging.

“Virtual workshops can be a convenient and cost-effective way of supporting teams who would otherwise find it difficult to come together to learn.”

Guests meet at Alison Craig Coaching’s 10th anniversary afternoon tea at Kimbridge Barn

The ten-year anniversary offered an opportunity to meet with. and connect, clients both and past and present.

“It was so brilliant and rewarding to hear clients who had worked with us both recently and some while ago explaining the ongoing impact that our work has had.

“People said that it was never in doubt that the business would be a success, but that’s not how it felt to me back then.

“That’s probably why I jumped straight into it after leaving John Lewis, I was a little scared of losing momentum or courage – it’s not easy to go from selling products to selling yourself.”

Looking to the future, Alison said: “We want to continue to reach organisations who are keen to support their managers and teams in performing at their best.

“Aside from our Leadership Essentials virtual programme, all other projects are bespoke.

“We tailor the content and approach to the end outcomes they are looking to achieve.”

• https://www.alisoncraigcoaching.co.uk/

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