Executive and leadership coaching

Help your people lead well under pressure

Confidential, one-to-one executive and leadership coaching with registered psychologists. Grounded in the evidence, built to make change that lasts.

A woman pausing at her laptop in a café, looking out in thought

Why this matters

The case for investing in your leaders.

78%

of senior executives say coaching has a positive impact.

ICF, Building a Coaching Culture, 2023.

69%

of people say their manager affects their mental health as much as their life partner, and more than their doctor or therapist.

UKG Workforce Institute, Mental Health at Work, 2023.

When support is needed most

Coaching for leadership pressure points

Coaching can be valuable at any time, but especially in these situations.

Two colleagues talking warmly over paperwork at a table

Moving into a new role

When a leader is new to a role, level or the organisation, coaching helps them manage the pressure and reach good decisions faster.

Two senior leaders working through documents together at a window-lit desk

Leading through disruption

Through restructures, rebuilds or relationship breakdowns, coaching helps leaders become the steadying force for your people.

An empty executive chair pushed back from a desk with a cold coffee, in a quiet sunlit office

At risk of burnout

If leaders are holding too large a remit, coaching can ensure you get in front of the burnout. By supporting the mental wellbeing of the leader, you’ll keep the team and the work on track.

A quick check

Would coaching help your team?

The pressure that makes coaching valuable isn’t confined to the most senior roles. A frontline team leader can be as exposed as a general manager. This quick check helps you weigh it up for one specific person.

How it works

Four simple steps to solve leadership pressure points

1

Understanding the goals

We start with a short, no-obligation conversation about the leader you think may benefit from coaching, and why.

2

Matching the right psychologist to your leader

Let's match the leader to a coach with best-fit experience, or have the leader choose from our team.

3

Coaching and reflection

The leader sets the agenda for their regular coaching sessions. These are confidential and reflective, designed so that progress compounds with each session.

4

Checking on progress

At three months, we check in with you and the leader to review progress against your goals. These check-ins report on progress while keeping the content of coaching sessions confidential.

Leaders often notice a shift within the first few sessions, but permanent change takes three to six months.

Organisation-wide impact

How leadership coaching benefits your business at every level

Confident, resilient leaders

By building awareness of their own values, motivations and triggers, leaders can make clearer decisions, and respond more effectively under pressure.

Supported and motivated people

With clearer direction and open conversations, your people will have the emotional space to focus on doing their best work. It’s also key to employee retention.

Faster, more effective customer service

Good leadership gives teams more ownership of customer outcomes. They’ll be confident in using their judgement to solve problems, rather than following rigid processes.

More board focus on strategy and growth

With effective leadership in place, boards spend less time dealing with operational issues. This lets them invest time and attention into strategic decisions for long-term success.

Watch

Hard work isn't the enemy. No recovery is.

An extract from a recent webinar with our co-CEO Chris Scott — why recovery, not effort, is what protects performance, and the psychology that keeps leaders well.

Beyond the executive

Do your frontline leaders need coaching too?

Your frontline team leaders can be under as much pressure as those in the C-suite. The same support, shaped to the roles they do.

4.8/5

response score across 182 responses

97%

positive feedback, none negative

79

NPS score (world-class)

Expertise

Psychologists who understand leadership, pressure and how to overcome it

Our co-founders and CEOs lead a team of over 40 registered psychologists and specialist staff across Aotearoa. Their particular expertise in leadership across government, healthcare and corporate environments means we can match the right coach to your leader.

Sean Versteegh, Co-CEO at 3 Big Things Sean Versteegh

Co-CEO

Most people want to do good work. The question is whether the conditions let them.
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Chris Scott, Co-CEO at 3 Big Things Chris Scott

Co-CEO

What changes wellbeing at work is not more support. It is fewer reasons to need it.
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40+
The Team

Across Aotearoa

More than 40 registered psychologists and specialist staff across Aotearoa, with particular expertise in leadership across government, healthcare and corporate environments.

Frequently asked

Questions people ask us about executive coaching.

What is executive coaching?

Executive coaching is one-to-one support for a senior leader, focused on how they think, decide and lead in the real situations in front of them. With us it's delivered by a registered psychologist and is reflective rather than instructional: the coach helps the leader examine the assumptions and patterns behind their decisions, so their judgement sharpens for the decisions still to come.

Who is executive coaching for?

The leaders carrying real weight: new executives finding their feet, experienced leaders facing a harder-than-usual challenge, high-potential people you're investing in, and senior leaders who have run out of safe places to think. It is for capable people, not a remedial step. The same support also works for anyone in a high-pressure or high-risk role, not only the most senior leaders. If you have someone in mind, a short discovery call is the quickest way to weigh it up.

Why registered psychologists, rather than general coaches?

Anyone can call themselves a coach. A registered psychologist is trained, regulated and accountable, with a deep working knowledge of behaviour, motivation and pressure. For senior leaders making consequential decisions, that depth matters. We translate it into plain, practical conversation, not jargon.

What is your executive coaching approach?

Most coaching hands a leader a model and a set of goals. We work differently.

It's reflective. Rather than supplying answers, the coach helps the leader examine their own experience: the assumptions behind a decision, the patterns in how they respond under pressure, the gap between what they intend and what their people experience. That's how judgement is built, and judgement carries to the next hard decision, long after the coaching ends.

It's practical. Every session leaves the leader with something to act on, not only something to think about.

What is the difference between coaching, mentoring and management?

Coaching, mentoring and management all support a leader, in different ways. Knowing the difference helps you decide what to invest in, and when.

Coaching develops the leader's own thinking. A registered psychologist helps them examine the assumptions and patterns behind how they lead and decide. Best when the challenge is judgement, perspective, or how someone is showing up.

Mentoring passes on experience. Someone who has done the role shares what worked for them. Valuable for a known path, though limited to one person's experience.

Management directs the work. A manager sets objectives, allocates resources and holds the leader to account for results. Essential, and not a space for honest reflection, because the same person signs the review.

Coaching is the one built for honest reflection. If you're not sure which one you need, talk to us.

Is executive coaching confidential, and what does the organisation see?

Yes. What's said in a session stays in the session. The organisation sees that coaching is taking place and can review progress against the goals set at the start. Session content is never reported. The standard professional exceptions apply: a clear risk to safety, or a legal obligation to disclose.

How long does executive coaching take to show results?

Leaders often notice a shift within the first few sessions. Development that genuinely changes how someone leads takes three to six months to embed. We're upfront about timeframes.

Can you coach a whole leadership team, not just one leader at a time?

Yes. One-to-one coaching is our core work, and we also run manager and leadership team development that extends the same reflective approach to groups.

How do we get started with executive coaching?

A short discovery call. We'll talk through who you have in mind and what you want to change, and be honest about whether coaching is the right fit.