Jane Cook
Jane Cook
Managing Director
Jane Cook has 25 years of mentoring, coaching and leadership experience in education and the arts, including as a headteacher and national education advisor. She is now a full time coach and coach trainer working mostly in education and the arts. Her recent clients include West Sussex, Oxfordshire, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, the Barbican, the Norwegian Academy of Music, Griffiths University Brisbane, the Arts Council, the Royal Academy of Music, Aldeburgh Young Musicians, and many individual leaders, teachers and independent artists. They have helped to shape a distinctive approach that is creative, energising and always practical.
In the complex and constantly changing world of 2017, coaching has an important role to play in helping people consistently match their potential with performance, whilst managing to maintain physical and mental good health. Clients bring a range of issues to work on, but common themes include: prioritising competing demands; managing stress and/or anxiety; leading and managing others; career development; communicating effectively and understanding personal impact.
As a former teacher, it was a natural progression for Jane to develop training alongside her practice as an executive and leadership coach. Current open courses include both a Diploma in Executive Coaching accredited by the ILM (Institute of Leadership and Management), and The Coaching Approach, an EMCC (European Mentoring and Coaching Council) accredited course for teachers who wish to add mentor-coaching skills to their approach to working with colleagues and students. There is also a developing interest in how mentor-coaching skills can increase motivation and engagement of staff. We have therefore recently added Manager as Coach to our offer, in addition to bespoke courses for organisations.
Jane holds a BA in Philosophy, a Diploma in Coaching, and is a Master Practitioner and Coaching supervisor with the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC). Jane is currently re-learning how to play the violin, which is both more challenging and more enjoyable than she had anticipated.