One-to-one executive coaching for senior leaders navigating difficult decisions, strained relationships or transitions at work.
Based in Melbourne, working across Australia and internationally.
25+ years advising senior leaders · PhD in organisational psychology · 7,400+ one-to-one sessions
By the time you reach out, you have usually been living with the situation for a while. You have replayed conversations, sought advice and tried different ways of handling it. Yet the same questions keep returning.
Often it starts with something concrete. A colleague is undermining your authority. A performance issue keeps returning despite repeated conversations. A valued person has started looking elsewhere after a conflict escalated. Or you have stepped into a larger role and found that what worked before no longer does.
You try to deal with what is in front of you. But the longer it goes on, the less certain you feel about what the real problem is. Am I reading this correctly? Is this about how I am leading, or the organisation I am leading in? Do I need to change how I am working, stay and address it, or leave?
Coaching gives you an independent place to put the whole situation on the table without having to manage anyone else’s response.
We look at the immediate issue in context: the people involved, the history, the authority you hold, your own role and assumptions.
We also look at the relational dynamics, the culture and the practical constraints around it.
That is where executive coaching and organisational psychology come together.
Together, we distinguish what is within your influence from what is being produced by the role, the relationships or the organisation.
Where you have the authority, we also consider whether roles, expectations or the way work is organised need to change, rather than simply managing around the problem.
The work stays close to live situations rather than following a fixed program. It is confidential one-to-one work with someone who understands individual psychology and organisational dynamics, and can see the situation from outside it.
Sometimes the first shift is seeing a way through a situation that had felt impossible.
The immediate issue may be resolved. You may regain your authority after being undermined, find your footing in a larger role, or make a decision about whether to stay or leave. A strained relationship may become workable again. A performance issue that has resisted repeated conversations may finally begin to improve. Difficult feedback may stop defining how you see yourself, and you may find a more sustainable way to work under pressure.
Working through live situations also helps you get better at the work itself: reading what is happening, using your authority, having difficult conversations and judging what needs to change.
As the situation develops, you do not have to start from scratch. We have the context, the history and the working relationship to keep thinking well about what has changed and what now makes sense.
Coaching takes place through regular, confidential one-to-one conversations.
You bring the situations that need attention and your knowledge of the role and organisation. Together, we work with what is live while noticing patterns in your own responses, the relationships, the role and the organisation around you.
My role is to offer an informed, independent perspective and help you think through the likely implications before acting.
I will challenge your thinking when it is useful, without losing sight of the reality you have to work within.
I bring senior leadership experience and formal training in business, organisational psychology and counselling psychology.
Before the work begins, we agree the purpose of the engagement, confidentiality arrangements and any feedback to the organisation.
An initial 360-degree process can be included where useful. It helps establish the leader’s context, hear relevant stakeholder perspectives and shape a focused coaching agenda.
The work continues for as long as it remains useful. We review the focus and value of the work as the engagement develops.
Some engagements focus on a particular situation or transition. Others continue because the role, relationships and organisational context keep presenting work worth thinking through.
I have delivered more than 7,400 one-to-one sessions with leaders across public and private organisations.
I have also led teams and departments inside organisations, giving me first-hand experience of the budgets, performance issues and people decisions my clients are managing now.
Dr Michelle Pizer, executive coach and organisational psychologist in Melbourne.
If you’re interested in why style and charisma are insufficient for presence in complex roles, you may find The Executive Presence Reframed Guide useful.
The work looks different in different organisational settings. These pages explore two examples in more detail:
Law firms: Explore Executive Coaching for Law Firm Partners
Health services: Explore Executive Coaching for Senior Doctors
The first conversation is about understanding what you are dealing with and whether working together makes sense.
You do not need a polished brief or a neat explanation of the issue. We can talk through what is happening and whether executive coaching is the right response.
It is confidential, 45 minutes and there is no obligation to continue.
If you’re not ready for a conversation, the Senior Leader Assessment offers a structured way to step back and see your situation more clearly.
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