IH Coaching

Executive Coach

Co-Create Community

Member

Audience & Income

Independent

Finance Consultant

Boohoo Group PLC

Interim Head of Finance (boohooMAN)

M&J Seafood

Head of Finance

Fresh Direct (UK)

Senior Finance Business Partner (Interim)

Warburtons

Senior Commercial Finance Manager

Commercial Finance Manager

Senior Commercial Finance Analyst

I help leaders unlock the power of listening | 1-1 Coaching for internal transformation

Feeling lost, frustrated, overwhelmed? Seeing those unrealistic visions of leadership perfection promoted daily, and knowing you've got enough to sort out? Looking for a way through it all?

And looking for a way to give the best of yourself to your team without burning out? 

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗜 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽

Through 1-1 coaching. To develop your leadership by building empathy, self-awareness and uncovering ways to push past those internal blockers.

Focusing on your core relationships, your service to others, and unlocking things deep within yourself.

By using the power of listening at the heart of our work together, and helping you bring fresh ways to lead your team and help them find breakthroughs.

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You'll have the space to process, digest and reflect and all the work we do, and that safe environment to explore where you want to go.

And it won't feel like adding more. You'll realise how much you can let go of too.


𝗠𝘆 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀

📣 One off coaching session

A 90 minute session to work through those live issues that you need progress on now.

📣 Transformational Programme

A tailored 3 month programme for you to go deep on yourself to help you lead in a new way.

📣 'Power of Listening' Group Session

A 60 minute one-off interactive session for your team to become an army of good listeners. Accessible for any level within your business.


𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴

🔉 "Ian is an unbelievable coach. I've had the privilege of receiving coaching from Ian on executive presence, relationship building, and creating accountability for myself in achieving my goals. He creates a safe space with deep listening to make you feel seen and heard."

🔉 "I would highly recommend Ian, he is a fantastic listener, he provides some great insights, sets high standards for delivery, and he also takes the time to help you along your development journey, ensuring you reach your goals."


Please get in touch if you want to find out more...

📞 https://calendly.com/ianheaton/exploratory-call
📄 send me a message right here on LinkedIn
📩 hello@ianheaton.me

From the overthinking shy introvert.

To the overconfident dominating extrovert.

There's a commonality in both, and all of us in-between...

The focus on 'me'.

The ego.

Resulting in interactions that range from avoidance and fear of how we come across - "𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘦?"

To the complete disregard for the other person and the stench of self-importance on show - "𝘚𝘩𝘶𝘵 𝘶𝘱 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘺."

Yes, elements at either end to make the point here.

But we all land somewhere.

And that commonality remains throughout.

And it plays a bigger role in our real blockers than we often care to admit.

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But there's a problem...

In that the traditional way forward is more 'me'.

Work on self - build confidence, build understanding, build awareness, or whatever it is, and then go out in the world and do a better job.

And I agree this plays a part. I work with people on it, and advocate for some of this type of discovery.

But one of the needles I'm trying to thread with my listening focus, is that any internal search for improvement is joined with new action (now) that immediately puts others at the true centre.

And that real commitment to the other person will create a feedback loop on things like awareness and understanding and act as an accelerator on much of what we're chasing.

We're then able to find a deeper progress where much of it simply reveals itself, rather than an independent chase for improvement where the chase never ends. 

And then the 'me' that use to show up in those interactions, naturally begins to fade away.

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And just a quick thank-you to someone who has really got me thinking here in recent months - Katrijn van Oudheusden

Katrijn does fascinating work around the 'separate self' and the illusion of it all. I'm still trying to fully process that, but even with that gap, we have big alignment around true service to others, and she's helped me join some dots and challenge how I see things.

Make sure you're following her.

#listening #activelistening #leadership #personaldevelopment 

Ian Heaton

I provide 1-1 coaching services...

Working directly with senior leaders.

And today I'm sharing a testimonial from Jane (a recent client).

We worked together during Jane's time stepping up to a new role...

"𝘐𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘶𝘯𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘢𝘤𝘩. 𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘰𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘐𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦, 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘺 𝘨𝘰𝘢𝘭𝘴...

𝘏𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘥. 𝘏𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘦𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘮𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬...

𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘮𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘶𝘱 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦, 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘱𝘴. 𝘐𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘱𝘶𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 - 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦!"

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And next week I'll be laying out more information about the exact coaching services I offer, as well as more clarity around where my listening focus fits in, both for you and your teams.

One thing I can 100% guarantee - my own commitment to deep listening is central to any of the work I do.

In the meantime, if the words above have sparked any interest about potentially working on something together...

Please feel free to send me a message and we'll go from there.

Or you can find some time in my calendar below - a no pressure and open conversation to find out where you're at and what
you're looking for.

#coaching #leadership #personaldevelopment #listening 

Build empathy not influence.

For you and you helping the people you manage.

So, here's what I mean...

'More influence' has been the goto for years. You've said the words. You've received the words.

And that isn't necessarily wrong. It's important as ever.

But...

Influence: The starting point is you - Say more. Show more.

Empathy: The starting point is them - Listen more. Understand more.

And yes, this is oversimplified to illustrate the point - in most cases the latter will have played a role in getting the former anywhere.

But the message is the clarity of where to start, particularly when the relationship is a tougher one.

The influence then comes. It isn't forced.

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'Empathy' still gets underappreciated because discussions around it are often narrow - leaning strongly on the more softer, caring, and feelings side.

And of course, that's a hugely important part, especially for those difficult conversations with people struggling.

But that's one element.

There's a "harder" side too if you like. One linked more to traditional progress and success...

But still with the other person at the very heart of it all.

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What about you? How do you see empathy and its role?

#empathy #listening #leadership #coaching

Want to reduce stress?

Well, 'listening' can help with that too.

And I'm not talking about you as the one being heard...

Here's where I'm coming from...

When you listen on a deep level, you're able to get past a lot of stuff that's historically shown up on autopilot...

♦ You move away from the need to control, steer, or pressure the moment for an outcome.
♦ You don't worry about upholding any identity to the person.
♦ You don't feel the need to match up with your own story.
♦ You stop pretending that you've seen this all before.
♦ You find a way past the need to fix things.
♦ You relax into not having the answers.
♦ You let go.

This is why 'listening' is way beyond question tinkering or honing in on body language. 

It's a complete reorientation of how you see people, relationships and interactions.

And it's built on a foundation of awareness of the 'you' that shows up.

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Here's the deal though...

You make the commitment. You invest the time. You listen in a new way.

Not in the pursuit of personal gain.

But simply in the service to others.

You then just accept what appears as a result - reduced stress and all.

#listening #activelistening #leadership #coaching 

Think of a time when someone made you feel really heard?

What were they doing to show you they were listening?

Or perhaps not doing?

And what effect did it have on you?

And I'm not asking for anything personal about the situation here, just the things you noticed from them.

Don't overthink it either - just go with the first few that come to mind.

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So, when you challenge yourself to do a better job listening...

Your starting place?

The above.

#listening #activelistening #leadership #coaching 

The drive to optimise everything is a losing game.

Specifically when it's directed on yourself or your team...

You aren't a machine (yet!).

But it can feel that way...

Information packaged with more speed and chunked down to ever smaller segments to squeeze out more of that all important word - action...

📣 Read the first chapter, bin the rest of the book - take action
📣 Watch these 2 minutes, forget the full episode - take action
📣 Lead better - 11 ways to up your game - take action

Feed those bits of information into the "machine" and plop out something better on the other side.

Repeat.

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Look, I'm not doubting the benefits on some of these approaches.

Or the quality of many of the individual pieces of advice people throw out (I've shared a few myself).

Or to make use of access to more people shedding light on something in a fresh and fast way.

It's more a reminder of balance.

And how it can sometimes be important for the optimisation of time to not even feel that way when you're in the present. 

So, what does some of that look like?

✔ The time to explore.
✔ The time to build trust.
✔ The time to appreciate wider context.
✔ The time to sit bored and let the mind wander.
✔ The time to understand the intricacies within you before you act.
✔ The time for non-objective and open conversations with your team...

And that immediate reachable action from the first chapter of that book might pale into insignificance when the dots are eventually joined from your engrossment in the whole thing. 

A new sense of a more relaxed optimisation might then start to reveal itself instead.

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What about you? How do you see this one?

#leadership #personaldevelopment #coaching #listening 

I write a lot about 'listening', covering a wide context on it.

So, I've summarised some of that thinking in today's post.

𝟕 𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬 covering you, the skills, and the outcomes...

Let's dive straight in...

𝟏) 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝
Your intention, full presence, focus, and that conscious change in approach. The deep commitment to access something new. This is the foundation for everything that follows.

𝟐) 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐠𝐨
Listening blockers are dominated by you and the role you play. The advisor, the judger, the opinion sharer, the solver, the debater, the one who needs to disclose their closely related example... 

Or even the one who in a desire to really help, becomes too attached to an outcome and always brings it back to 'me' - the one who fails to let go.

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𝟑) 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐬𝐞𝐭
Open questions, reflecting back, summarising, picking up on the unspoken, the use of silence, understanding their body language and their tone of voice.

𝟒) 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧
Listening is the vehicle - to finding those moments of greater understanding and moving closer to a shared feeling. That creates a deeper connection through the sense of the person really feeling heard.

It's the most simple and accessible path to uncovering that more empathetic version of yourself that will actually allow you to lead with less pressure, not more.

𝟓) 𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬
The commitment to listen better, and do it consistently, will create a continuous feedback loop of awareness. Big moments and realisations of how much you once missed, and smaller acknowledgements for those parts revealing themselves when the space is given to explore. 

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𝟔) 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐬
From bad to good, good to great or anything in-between. Listening is about people and a change of approach has the power to change the dynamics for two people (or a team) completely.

Find a way to really get to grips with 2) in this list, and the gains on offer here are huge.  

𝟕) 𝐁𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐬
You're in a job where results matter. And while there's a softer element to much of the listening work, there's a direct link between listening and concrete deliverables your team and business achieves too. When you witness 6) there really can't be any other conclusion.

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Much of the discussion around listening is narrow, and dominated by a focus on number 3).

And while 3) is clearly important, the breakthrough work is done in 1) and 2). And I use the word 'breakthrough' purposefully. Not purely from a fresh discovery on how you can really listen, but a complete reorientation of how you start to see people and the world.

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If you look at 1) and 2), what individual element would be a priority for you to work on?

#listening #activelistening #empathy #leadership


"𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯'𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘰."

It's frustrating, annoying and not good enough right? 

So, what's the answer? Stop trying to make them. Instead...

Flip it around.

Imagine that statement is being said about you by them.

And take an honest look at whether it could hold up.

So, what have you done in the last few months for them?

What's the example you can immediately point to where your own agenda was parked?

- Where your full presence was brought.
- Where it was their space and not yours.
- Where you listened and didn't start debating.
- Where your investment in time and energy was clear.
- Where you left understanding a bit more of their world.

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Take any scenarios on something like this, and rarely is it at the extreme.

Where one is close to blameless, while the other needs to get to work.

Most are somewhere in the middle. Mixed, messy and with plenty going on.

But it's not about assigning blame.

Or worrying about what efforts they're making.

Or feeling the need to unravel the complexities and dynamics that could be in play.

The takeaway in this post is much more simple:

𝗟𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗱𝗼 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲.

And then you're open to whatever reveals itself from there.

#listening #activelistening #leadership #coaching 

A quick follow up to my listening question yesterday.

Which was about feeling heard.

And I asked people what they noticed when that happened...

So, a few things that came through...

Deep eye contact, good questions (follow up, clarifying, constructive ones, ones that made me think), what they said made me know, body language...

Tone of voice, full attention, no distractions (in particular: phone nowhere to be seen, ignored electronics), space to speak without pressure of interruption, reflected my movements....

And then a couple of points that really stood out from Lesley and Danny about how it felt...

"𝘐𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘶𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴... 𝘞𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 "𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦"..."

"𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵."

Two completely separate comments, but both highlighting a similar and powerful connection and experience in that moment.

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Our full attention. Our full presence. Our intention to want to listen.

That's the foundation to it all - and you can see that strong theme with many of the points shared.

Much of what we then pick up on in a conversation (quality questions, space, voice tone, body language etc..), is built from that starting point, and often becomes a natural extension to it.

And that's not limited to the space we dedicate to potentially exploring something deeper either. It can play a role even in the most fleeting of interactions.

Neither is any of this limited to a select few who have some perceived listening gene. It's accessible to all of us willing to put the effort in.

-----

Thanks again to everyone who shared something.

And please do add anything else to the conversation if you wish.

#listening #activelistening #leadership #coaching

Should we be less certain about what we believe?

And do we damage ourselves when we become too attached to it?

Well, here's a quick contrast to consider...

When we hold onto what we believe 𝐭𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐥𝐲...

We're closed and we're defending - it's effort, and it's rarely of the productive kind.

We're fighting - to maintain a perception, to protect an identity or to uphold a status.

Our confidence becomes fragile as our attachments build.


But...


When we hold onto what we believe 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐥𝐲...

We're open and we're growing - it begins to feel effortless.

We're free and not scared of changing or fear where that change comes from.

Our confidence becomes stronger as our attachments fade.

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What about you? Is there anything you're holding onto too tightly?

#listening # #change #leadership #coaching 

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