1. What is important to me in my coaching

At the heart of my coaching approach is meaning-making or how we see and interpret the world. I am most interested in helping leaders clarify what genuinely matters to them, beneath performance metrics, role expectations and habitual ways of operating. My work begins with the premise that sustainable change is not simply behavioural, it is developmental. Leaders move forward when they can see themselves, their context and their assumptions more clearly.

I value working alongside clients to surface what is important to them, and how this can mesh with what the system, the organisation or convention proposes. From that clarity, we co-create strategies and pathways that are both psychologically sound and practically workable in complex environments.

Across decades of coaching, I have seen that when leaders understand the patterns shaping their thinking, emotions and actions, momentum follows. What matters to me is helping clients rewrite their internal narratives so that their choices become more intentional, ethical and aligned. When leaders shift how they are making meaning, the impact extends well beyond the workplace into families, relationships and communities. Contributing to that ripple effect is central to my purpose and meaningful to me as a coach

2. What is distinctive about my approach to coaching

What distinguishes my coaching is the integration of adult developmental theory, as leadership effectiveness is directly linked to the complexity of the perspectives they can hold. Rather than focusing solely on skills or behaviours, I attend to the way a leader is constructing their reality.

In practice, this means I work at both surface and depth levels. We address strategy, performance, and context, while simultaneously examining the underlying assumptions, identity structures, emotional patterns and belief systems shaping those choices. Clients often work in messy, ambiguous and high-pressure environments. My role is to help them see the system they are inside of, including their own contribution to it. I provide the scaffolding support to allow them a different view.

By identifying recurring patterns of behaviour, thought and emotion, leaders begin to gain traction. They move from being embedded in their experience to being able to reflect on it, often resulting in ah-ha moments of insight. This shift creates capacity for wiser action, greater adaptability and sustainable leadership change rather than short-term compliance or solutions.

My coaching is relational, reflective and developmental, and designed to build internal capability that endures beyond the coaching engagement.

3. What lights me up about coaching

What truly energises me is working with high-performing, driven and intellectually curious leaders who are navigating complexity and cannot yet see a way forward. These are often people who are highly successful, yet internally constrained by invisible patterns, competing demands, or inherited ways of operating that no longer serve them.

I am most alive in the moments when a client begins to recognise the story within which they have been living, and realises they can revise it, they don’t have to keep doing things the same way. When my client’s mindset shifts, it translates into new choices, new ways of relating and new ways of being, a more authentic self. It is here that something fundamentally developmental is occurring.

Coaching, for me, is about transformation with integrity. I find deep meaning in witnessing leaders expand their perspective, act with greater coherence and influence others more consciously. I know that even a small shift in how a leader makes sense of the world can positively shape teams, cultures and families. This is what sustains my commitment to this work.

Dr Shannon Richards-Green

Executive Coach | ECI Partners

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