Executive Coaching for Creatives
My Approach
When did you last have an hour of uninterrupted time to think?
Not to be told what to do. Not to be fixed or advised. Just to work it out, out loud, with someone truly listening.
That's what I offer.
In my coaching sessions, I give you the space to think, to download your thoughts, often for the first time. I will listen, for an hour, sometimes an hour and a half, to you working it all out. I will not interrupt, advise, or lead you down my path.
What I will do is help you articulate what you already know. I may offer you a different perspective, reframe a narrative you’ve been carrying for too long, ask the question you haven’t let yourself ask. The road map to making this happen already exists, but you’ve yet to give it the light of day, you’ve yet to sit with someone who can help give it the shape, colour, and context it deserves.
Why trust this approach?
I bring thirty-five years in the creative industries — as a TV commissioning editor at Sky and the BBC, as a freelance executive producer, and as a Henley Business School trained coach. After decades leading and nurturing teams and being a mentor and coach to many, I've seen we are all capable of reaching our potential - whether that’s a promotion, a pivot out of the industry or knowing which way to turn - with the right support.
What is Coaching?
It starts with a conversation and the right sort of questions to help you articulate – perhaps for the first time – what you want. What outcome you are aiming for. I ask the questions. You do most of the talking.
Then we look at what’s in the way. It’s usually you: the internal chatter running its familiar commentary, the self-limiting beliefs you've carried for so long that you've stopped noticing them. Coaching works on that.
It isn't therapy. We won't excavate trauma or dwell on the past. It isn't mentoring either, I won’t advise you what to do. What I will do is work alongside you, as a thinking partner, to give you clarity, direction and a plan.
The approach has deep roots. You could trace it back to the Socratic method of question based dialogue. But modern coaching grew from the world of sport: the recognition that your greatest opponent isn't across the net. It's the one in your head.
"What I battle hardest to do in a tennis match is to quiet the voices in my head." — Rafael Nadal
That's what we work on together. Quietening the interference.
How it Works
We start with a free 'chemistry' call to establish if coaching is right for you, if you want to work with me, and if I can help.
During this call we will cover:
Confidentiality and contracting
Areas you want to focus on
Whether 1-2-1 sessions work better for you in person or online
Duration of each session and how many (we aim for between three to six sessions)
The cost of the sessions
Testimonials
I have found Siobhan's coaching incredibly helpful in keeping me focussed and nimble. She was a brilliant sounding board. It's helped me embrace and use change to my advantage. I couldn't recommend her more.
Benedetta Pinelli, Commissioning Editor, Sky Arts
Siobhan is an exceptional coach. She combines insight, empathy and strategic thinking in a way that helps you gain clarity and take meaningful action. Her support gave me the confidence and structure I needed to move forward with a significant professional goal. I would recommend her without hesitation.
FS, Creative Director
Many sessions began with me talking about leaving the industry, and ended with me talking myself back from the precipice. What the coaching helped me do wasn’t just cling on, but change course. In our first session, Siobhan said something that stuck with me; despite everything feeling precarious, I was actually closer to my dream job than I’d ever been.
I can’t recommend coaching highly enough; particularly in an industry where most of us are effectively running small businesses without ever being taught how.
Callum McCulloch-Norton
Producer & Creative Director St Cyrus Studios
About me
I am an Executive Coach working with some of the industry’s leading training organisations, including ScreenSkills, the NFTS, and Amazon Prime Video Pathway, as well as senior individuals navigating careers in and around television.
What I bring to that work is thirty-five years inside the industry itself. I'm an International Emmy-winning, BAFTA-nominated TV commissioner and executive producer who has commissioned and produced thousands of hours of programming, including landmark natural history series, factual entertainment, news, live events, and documentaries. I have worked with some of the industry's most recognisable names while championing emerging talent.
I know what it takes to pitch, to win recommissions, to manage up and down simultaneously, to protect your creative vision while delivering commercially, and to navigate an industry that can be as brutal as it is exhilarating.
But increasingly, I found myself as interested in what was happening to the people around me as in the content itself. Mentoring and coaching became a central part of how I worked, and eventually, the thing I most wanted to do. Post-COVID, I formalised that shift, training as an Executive Coach at Henley Business School.
Beyond broadcasting, I write features - I've contributed to The Times, the FT, the Telegraph, and the Independent, and I currently write a monthly magazine column.
