Meet Vicky
Coaching unlocks personal potential and paves the way for accelerated growth and achievement.
Vicky Crane
Leadership coach, trainer and improvement consultant
​
I am committed to forming a genuine partnership with you. My approach is to create a secure environment where you can freely explore and develop your professional life. Through coaching, I provide focused support, a framework for critical thinking, and the skills necessary for both detailed analysis and broad visioning.
Utilising my Clifton Strengths in problem-solving, strategising, connecting ideas, and forward-thinking, I can help you to pursue excellence, including helping you identify and lean into your unique strengths.
​
I have experience of leading large city-wide projects, managing teams of consultants and trainers, and have extensive experience of designing and delivering leadership support programmes. I have held a variety of leadership positions and for the last 10 years I have run my own business. My various experiences have given me a profound appreciation of the challenges of leadership, including the importance of being accountable for results, the complexities of work place relationships, and the requirement to be focused on continual improvement.
​​
Throughout my work life I have focused on developing others. With a rich background in teaching, training, mentoring, coaching, and collaborative work, I have honed my skills in adult learning. I am skilled in designing and delivering leadership training programmes, including unpacking and analysing what employees need in order to thrive in their specific workplace.
​​​
Over the past 15 years, my career has concentrated on improvement consultancy, where I assist leaders, teams, and organisations in assessing the current standards, support leaders in crafting plans to reach new heights, and provide flexible support to aid teams and individuals in achieving success.
​​​
I have a range of teaching and leadership qualifications, and to add to this I am currently completing the Institute of Leadership and Management Level 7 Executive Coaching and Mentoring qualification. One of my top 5 Clifton Strengths is 'learner' and I thrive on developing and deepening my knowledge on a wide range of professional topics, and in harnessing research in the work I undertake with leaders.
​​
The majority of my clients are leaders based in the education sector, and in addition I work with medium sized business and charity / public sector organisations.
How my skills can benefit you
Before we dive into coaching, I bring my expertise to get to know you, your organization, and what matters most to you. Clients I have worked with tell me how much they appreciated this and how it ensured the programme of coaching was exactly what they needed. "I found the contracting sessions really helpful to discuss and ensure the goals I wanted were the correct ones. This was something I haven't really done before and certainly not to the degree we did. The time spent on ensuring the goals were correct really helped shape the coaching and were used regularly through the coaching by Vicky to help me reflect on what had been achieved. The sessions exactly matched my priorities and again I think this was due to the clarity of the contracting session."
With strong strategic and analytical skills, I support clients in exploring complex issues in depth. My ability to listen deeply and distill key themes helps clients clarify their thinking, make meaningful connections, and uncover new insights.
My clients tell me that I create a safe space for them to share. They leave sessions feeling heard, uplifted, and confident, and often report many benefits from coaching. One client described the experience as 'empowering' — as the word that best captured how it felt. Clients often tell me that, as trust builds over time and they feel increasingly comfortable bringing sensitive issues into our sessions. One client shared that they were able to talk openly about a recent HR difficulty, knowing they wouldn’t be judged — only met with genuine understanding, support, and the opportunity to plan out a successful way forward.
​
What's my style and approach?
My style of coaching is a blend of different approaches and I partner with you to find the structure of sessions that works best for you.
One of the approaches I have found works particularly well with senior and executive leaders is framed around narratives. The role of the leader is one that is filled with many stories, many of which are being currently played out and some that have yet to happen. In coaching, you can explore the stories that are important to you right now and the narratives that will be important to you in the future. You can learn more about yourself, and how you interact with the world around you, and through exploring your stories in coaching sessions you can be more in control of what the next chapter looks like. Many of my clients find elements of narrative coaching to be most beneficial for them in exploring issues in depth, enabling them to tackle the type of complex issues that leaders at executive and senior level grapple with. My passion for this approach stems from the transformational shifts I’ve seen clients achieve, and I’m consistently struck by how powerfully it supports well-being.
In addition, I often work with clients on their values and their strengths, offering the opportunity to unpack and work with assessments such as the VIA 24 strengths and the Gallup CliftonStrengths Finder. If this is something that would benefit you, we can find the right type of assessment to meet your needs. Working with strengths falls under the umbrella of positive psychology and I draw from this field of coaching to help clients make the best use of their many talents and inner resources. Through coaching, you can truly unlock your potential and discover the approach that helps you overcome challenges you haven’t been able to resolve before. I use a wide variety of tools and methods to ensure your time in coaching is beneficial to you and at the end of every session we review how we've worked together and consider any changes you want to make.
I am a member of the Association for Coaching.
​
Qualifications and training:
​
-
ILM Level 7 Executive Coaching and Mentoring with the West of England University (Pending).
-
Train the trainer : Facilitation training for SLEs, accredited to provide SLE induction training, National College for School Leadership
-
NCSL Leading Pathways, National College for School Leadership
-
NCSL Leading from the Middle, National College for School Leadership
-
D32 & D33 Assessor Awards, Bradford College
-
BA (Hons) Degree in Education and Technology with Business Studies and Qualified Teacher Status (Class I), Leeds University.
​​
Keeping up to date is important:
​​
I spend a significant percentage of my time reading research and accessing key texts on coaching and leadership subjects. One of my top 5 Clifton Strengths is 'learner' and this is one of the reasons I love the my job. As well as the vast amount of professional reading I undertake, and my own action research, I also regularly attend workshops, seminars and training delivered by others.
​
My recent work has developed into a Happiness at Work programme which is a systematic approach to:
​​
-
Building knowledge of Happiness at Work research and science;
-
Engaging teams and individuals in dialogue to analyse and evaluate how they experience work to set the base line.
-
Systematic planning for improvement - at an organisational level, at a leadership level, at a team level and at an individual level - everyone's involved in creating a thriving environemtn.​
-
Leaders learn how to assess and build solutions around 7 key drivers that help achieve Happiness at Work and equip collagues with the tools they need to make a difference to the happiness levels of themselves and others.
​​
Other wider development:
-
Extensive development of knowledge base around utilising the Gallup Clifton StrengthsFinder reports.
-
Building a knowledge base around narrative coaching.
-
Curriculum workshops, Ofsted
-
Knowledge and the curriculum, Various speakers
-
Ofsted Inspection training (2 days),
-
Ofsted quality of teaching training (1 day),
-
SEF training (1 day)
-
Update on Ofsted inspections (various), Leeds LA and external providers
-
Moving from 'requires improvement' to 'good', Ofsted
-
Various governor training sessions (as C of G), various speakers
-
Developing coaching skills, Sue Cross
-
Holding courageous conversations, moving teaching from good to outstanding, changes to teachers pay and conditions, restorative practice, coaching and mentoring, subject leadership., Leeds LA and external providers
-
Independent thinking, Roy Leighton
-
Educating Ruby, Guy Claxton
-
SATs update training, Standards and Testing Agency
-
Research evidence in education, John Tomsett
-
Other nations' systems, Tim Oates
-
How does the brain solve reading, Dr Kathy Rastle
-
Research evidence for busy teachers, Alex Quigley
-
Creative writing, Glynis Charlton
-
Creative writing, Claire Fisher
-
ResearchED, various sessions and days
As a member of the Association for Coaching, I abide by best practice principles and agree to adhere to the elements and principles of the Code of Ethics, as set out on the AC website: Link
​
I am committed to maintaining and promoting excellent practice and ethical principles in coaching.
​
The Code aligns with the content and requirements set out in the AC's Professional Charter for Coaching and Mentoring. The Charter, drafted in accordance with European law, is registered on the dedicated European Union database, which lists self-regulation initiatives in Europe.
The Code is intended as a guidance document rather than a legally binding one that in detail spells out what a member can and cannot do. The Code sets the expectation of best practice in coaching, mentoring, and supervision promoting the development of professional excellence. Its purpose is to:
-
Provide appropriate guidelines, accountability, and standards of conduct for all AC members.
-
Set out how our members are expected to act, behave and perform when working with coachees, mentees, supervisees (from now on to be called ‘clients’) and interacting with fellow practitioners, sponsors, stakeholders, and other professionals.
-
Be used as a basis of any complaints or disciplinary hearings and actions within the respective bodies’ complaints procedures.