Competing priorities
Everything is urgent, but treating it that way leaves the important work untouched.
Executive coaching · Inverness and online
You carry the outcome.
Not all the authority.
Coaching for senior leaders who need to make clear decisions, influence across boundaries and stop absorbing every problem around them.
Based near Inverness. In person across the Highlands and online throughout the UK.
When the role changes
You were promoted because you could deliver. Now success depends on what other people do.
You may be accountable for a service spread across several locations, working with peers whose priorities conflict with yours, or leading specialists who do not need another person telling them how to do their jobs.
The work becomes less about having the answer and more about judgement, influence and knowing what not to carry.
Difficult conversations
You know a conversation is needed. You also know bluntness or avoidance will make it worse.
Responsibility creep
Other people’s uncertainty quietly becomes your workload, and your own thinking time disappears.
Influence without control
Your result depends on people and teams you do not manage, often across a large geography.
Who I work with
For capable leaders in complicated systems
I work with newly appointed directors, senior managers, technical specialists moving into leadership and people leading dispersed teams or services.
Make cleaner decisions
Separate the real decision from the noise, assumptions and pressure surrounding it.
Set firmer boundaries
Stay helpful without becoming the place where every unresolved problem lands.
Use influence deliberately
Understand what matters to other people and build movement without relying on hierarchy.
Lead with less noise
Create enough space to think, communicate clearly and respond rather than constantly react.
Based near InvernessWorking across the Highlands and online
About Mara
A place to think properly, without performing certainty
I spent years leading teams and cross-organisation programmes before training as an executive coach. I know the peculiar pressure of being responsible for an outcome that no single person can control.
My coaching is thoughtful, direct and grounded in the work actually in front of you. We might untangle a decision, prepare for a difficult conversation, examine a pattern that keeps repeating or work out what you need to stop doing.
Living in the Highlands has made me particularly interested in leadership across distance. The practical realities matter. A team spread from Inverness to the islands does not work in the same way as one sharing an office.
“You do not need to arrive with a polished version of the problem. Working out what is really going on is part of the work.”
For individuals and organisationsCoaching that stays connected to the real work
Ways to work together
Choose the amount of space the work needs
These are example prices for this fictional practice. Each option includes a short introductory conversation before you commit.
A focused starting point
Leadership Clarity Session
£195 90 minutes
For one decision, relationship or leadership problem that needs proper attention now.
- Brief preparation form
- 90-minute online session
- Written summary of your next steps
Most often chosen
Executive Coaching Programme
£1,150 six sessions
Structured support for a transition, sustained challenge or a pattern that will not shift in one conversation.
- Six 60-minute sessions
- Flexible pace over four to six months
- Short email check-ins between sessions
For sustained responsibility
Leadership Partnership
£2,200 twelve sessions
A longer relationship for senior leaders working through continuing complexity and change.
- Twelve 60-minute sessions
- Priority scheduling
- Three-way review for employer-funded work
How it works
Simple enough to start. Substantial enough to matter.
- 1
A useful first conversation
We spend 30 minutes looking at what is happening, what you want to change and whether I am the right coach for it. There is no sales script.
- 2
Agree the focus
We decide what the work is for, how we will know it is helping and what needs to remain confidential if your employer is funding it.
- 3
Work with what is live
Each session starts with the situation that matters now. The wider patterns emerge through real decisions, conversations and relationships.
- 4
Review what has changed
We make the progress visible, decide what you want to keep practising and close the work deliberately.
What clients might say
A good coaching conversation changes what happens next
Sample testimonials for this fictional showcase
“Mara helped me see that I was trying to solve a structural problem by working harder. I went into the next director meeting with a much clearer ask.”
“The conversations are calm but never vague. I leave knowing what I think, what I need to say and what is not mine to fix.”
“I had become the route around every difficult decision. Coaching helped me change that without becoming distant or defensive.”
Questions
Before we speak
You do not need to know exactly what kind of coaching you need. These are the practical things people usually want to understand first.
Is coaching confidential?
Yes. What you discuss stays between us. If an employer funds the coaching, we agree at the start what may be shared, usually the broad goals and attendance rather than the content of sessions.
Do you work online or in person?
Both. Online sessions are available throughout the UK. In-person work can be arranged in Inverness and elsewhere across the Highlands, with travel agreed in advance.
Can my organisation pay?
Yes. I can invoice your organisation and, where useful, hold an initial three-way conversation to agree the purpose of the coaching while protecting the confidentiality of sessions.
How often do sessions happen?
Most people begin with sessions every three or four weeks. We can adjust the pace around the work, travel and periods when more or less support is useful.
What happens between sessions?
You may choose an experiment, conversation or small change to try. This is not homework for its own sake. It is a way to test the thinking in the real situation.
What if coaching is not the right support?
I will say so. Coaching is useful when you want space to think and act differently. It is not a substitute for clinical, legal or specialist HR support where those are needed.
Start a conversation
Bring the situation as it is
Tell me a little about what is happening and what you would like to be different. I will reply within two working days.
LocationNear Inverness, Scottish Highlands
SessionsIn person and online across the UK
ConversationFree introductory 30 minutes