Coaching in Conversation

What if mastery isn’t about having all the answers… but about holding preparation and not-knowing in equal measure?

In this episode, Tracy Sinclair sits down with ICF Master Certified Coach Jackie Haywood to explore the beautiful paradox of mastery in coaching (and in life).

Jackie shares how true mastery blends deep practice and technical skill with lightness, humor, and the courage to release control — staying expert in the process while letting go of needing to be the expert in the client’s content. They dig into the traps of performance culture, the power of being coached yourself, the role of supervision, and how real presence is built far beyond credentials — through therapy, hobbies, everyday life, and ongoing curiosity about our own Achilles heels.

A rich conversation on lifelong learning, partnership, and what it really means to keep growing after MCC.

Jackie Haywood, MCC is programme faculty, coach and mentor coach with Coach Advancement. 

Jackie is an award-winning transformational leadership coach, virtual facilitator, ICF mentor coach, MBTI, Hogan and Strengthscope practitioner. 

Jackie supports individuals and teams to gain clarity and awareness, and her coaching style reflection this, she believes that we all have the answers we seek. Through her coaching process she will help you to find that “light bulb” moment to gain clarity and focus to become the best you. 

An important part of her way of working is that Jackie provides her clients with the time to think, outside the day-to-day pressure of the workplace, helping them to work out a plan for the future. Jackie challenges and works with her clients to consider and adapt new, more beneficial ways of working.

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Tracy Sinclair sits down with PCC coach and supervisor Gillian Gabriel to explore the inner growth coaches (and anyone in service of others) often neglect. In a world obsessed with doing more and optimizing everything, they unpack why evolving your true Self—reconnecting with values, dropping the masks, and tending to your own “being”—is both a right and a responsibility.

It’s essential work for showing up as your best self… for clients and for life.

Tune in and start (or continue) your own inner season.

Gillian Gabriel is an International Coaching Federation (ICF) Professional Certified Coach (PCC), a qualified Coaching Supervisor, Mentor Coach and coaching skills Trainer and Facilitator, and the founder of The Stars Are Aligned Coaching.

With a 26 year corporate background in leadership, Human Resources (HR) and Learning & Development (L&D), she combines her passion for mental wellbeing, humanistic psychology, personal development and growth in her personal and professional life’s work.

Gillian partners with executives, leaders and managers, L&D professionals, and coaches navigating life and work in a world not always conducive to our needs – especially the sensitive ones walking among us – to overcome the anxiety, overwhelm and self-doubt that Sensory Processing Sensitivity (SPS) can bring.

As a bibliophile and lectiophile, it’s no surprise she’s the writer of the sensitive coaches pHiloSoPhy on Substack — the vulnerable, brave and daring writing, sharing and community for Highly Sensitive People (HSPs). She’s a published poet with her poems appearing in ‘Poetry for Coaching: Transformation Through Verse’, a unique anthology bringing together the poems and stories written by coaches, counsellors and therapists.

Above all that, Gillian is a learner truly believing life is for learning, her purpose and number one value, is to learn with, from and alongside others. And, of course she is a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) and human being, being human in her life and work. Find out more about her here.

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Tracy Sinclair interviews ICF Master Certified Coach Cecilia Engquist in the Mastery Series about what mastery means beyond the MCC credential. Cecilia describes mastery as “being” in an effortless flow—like a babbling brook—and says the MCC was not a goal but a moment of release, like an eaglet’s first flight, after which real practice and growth continue. They discuss mastery as grounded in experience, inner transformation, and a beginner mindset rather than a fixed label or linear progression, and question who gets to define “mastery” given that impact can occur at any stage. Cecilia shares her current work with leaders in transformation and her growing focus on nature-guided coaching, acting as a conduit between clients and the natural environment.

Cecilia Engquist, MSc, MCC, is a Master Certified Coach, certified leadership and executive coach, coach instructor and coach mentor. Her specialty is partnering with leaders to help expand enterprise thinking and further develop emotional intelligence in order to assert influence and create impact in their organization. Her true expertise manifests in her understanding the significance of engaging a holistic body-mind approach and in how she teams up with clients to help them access their full wisdom and creativity. She uses tailored research based innovative coaching techniques and often brings lessons learned from her past and current experience as an elite international equestrian athlete, and ultra-marathon runner into her working relationships. 

Cecilia has over 20 years of experience providing coaching and consulting in the areas of leadership development and career advancement. Cecilia has worked with clients from a broad spectrum of positions, from new leaders to C-Suite, in industries including oil and gas, government, technology, fast moving consumer goods, health care, finance and banking, manufacturing, academia, and with entrepreneurs. Client size of companies range from small business to Global Fortune 100. She is an ICF (International Coach Federation) credentialed MCC coach and also a certified Dare to Lead coach (based on the research of Brené Brown). Cecilia has a Bachelor of Commerce and a Master in Psychology with focus on Organizations.

One might describe Cecilia having a global mindset as she has worked, lived, and studied in various countries on 3 continents since her teenage years. Prior to becoming a coach, her corporate work experience ranged from multinational companies to smaller entrepreneurial firms where she worked with management consultancy within change management and strategic HR.  Cecilia has a strong interest in advancing the coaching profession and has served several terms on the ICF Houston Chapter board, including two years as president, and is currently serving in the leadership as Vice Chair of Operations on the IRB (Independent Review Board) that oversees the ICF Global Ethical Conduct Review process.

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Tracy Sinclair welcomes listeners to Coaching in Conversation and is joined by Benita Stafford-Smith, an ICF Master Certified Coach and coaching supervisor based in Oman, for a discussion on coaching’s deeper, existential dimensions. Prompted by uncertainty and fear around AI, they explore coaching as an invitation to define what it means to be human and to shift from productivity-focused “doing” toward “being,” connection, and presence. 

Benita is an executive Coach who has envisioned and established a profitable coaching unit, within the leading people’s consultancy firm in Oman. With services ranging from business development, client relationship management, to building a team of ICF Credentialed associate coaches, Benitas is able to deliver culture sensitive, high-quality services to paramount organizations in the GCC region.

In addition to executive coaching, she offers systemic team coaching, coaching skills for managers and leaders (a certified CoachU program), culture transformation, and development of coaching cultures. She also delivers coaching supervision to associate coaches to ensure quality of delivery.  

In 2023, Benita nominated OQ (a coaching client) for the International Coaching Federation's Impact Awards for their sustainable coaching culture. She is co-author of Creative Reflective Practice and the upcoming The AI and Digital Coaches' Handbook.

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Tracy Sinclair is joined by veteran coach and coach-educator Aboodi Shabi to explore how coaching is evolving and may need to evolve in today’s precarious world. Aboodi shares his journey toward “coaching to the soul,” describing coaching as a spiritual vocation that creates space for authentic humanity, meaning, and purpose beyond performative, goal-driven improvement and capitalist assumptions of “not good enough.” They discuss impermanence, contentment, rest, and the value of being over doing, drawing on ideas like Shabbat and “time to think” silence. 

Aboodi has been coaching for almost thirty years, and he has coached and delivered training programmes to leaders and executives all over the world, and trained and worked with thousands of coaches over the last twenty-five years.

In the 1990s, he was instrumental in setting up the UK Chapter of the International Coach Federation, as well as serving on the ICF Global Board.

More recently, Aboodi was a lecturer in Coaching at Henley Business School. He currently works as a freelance coach and coaching supervisor.

He is an Honorary Fellow of Reading University, and recently received a Lifetime Award for Contribution to Coaching from Coaching at Work magazine.

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Tracy Sinclair welcomes executive coach Julie Langford to discuss the growing issue of overwhelm in coaching, driven by constant accessibility, fast change, heavy workloads, and hybrid working that removes pauses. Julie notes clients often arrive “too late,” already spent, stuck, or in fight/flight, with beliefs that value equals busyness and that senior leaders must always look like they can cope—especially when competing for promotion. They explore how overwhelm undermines strategic thinking and decision quality, and how early coaching can “let the air out of the balloon.” 

Julie Langford, ACC is a programme facilitator and coach with Coach Advancement. 

Julie is both a coach and leadership consultant. She has worked as a trusted adviser to leaders, coached individuals, running executive team effectiveness sessions and delivering large scale leadership interventions for Top 120 and Top 700 executive leaders at NatWest Group. Julie has 30 years of experience in the financial services and banking industries comprising responsibilities across multiple disciplines including communications, change management, regulatory change programmes, operations and project management. Julie is currently working with C-suite leaders to help them and their teams excel.

Mental health, wellbeing, support and empathy all play a key part of Julie’s approach. Her personal drivers are about helping others grow, develop and achieve whilst staying true to who they are. Julie is especially keen to support those who are unsure of their next step and hoping to develop a better alignment between goals in all aspects of their lives. She has an aptitude for helping leaders ‘be heard’ and helping them become the one others want to follow.

Julie is married with two children and loves walking, art galleries and time connecting with family and friends.

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Tracy Sinclair chats with Julie Langford, financial services coaching pro, on how the imposter label hardens into identity — masking new roles, feeling “different,” and breeding senior-leader loneliness. Julie reveals how to normalize it, unpack humility’s hidden gifts, and bust through with gentle inquiry, timelines, creative tools, and iceberg coaching. They also unpack how social comparison fuels doubt in adults and young people.

Julie Langford, ACC is a programme facilitator and coach with Coach Advancement. 

Julie is both a coach and leadership consultant. She has worked as a trusted adviser to leaders, coached individuals, running executive team effectiveness sessions and delivering large scale leadership interventions for Top 120 and Top 700 executive leaders at NatWest Group. Julie has 30 years of experience in the financial services and banking industries comprising responsibilities across multiple disciplines including communications, change management, regulatory change programmes, operations and project management. Julie is currently working with C-suite leaders to help them and their teams excel.

Mental health, wellbeing, support and empathy all play a key part of Julie’s approach. Her personal drivers are about helping others grow, develop and achieve whilst staying true to who they are. Julie is especially keen to support those who are unsure of their next step and hoping to develop a better alignment between goals in all aspects of their lives. She has an aptitude for helping leaders ‘be heard’ and helping them become the one others want to follow.

Julie is married with two children and loves walking, art galleries and time connecting with family and friends.

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In this episode of Coaching in Conversation, Tracy Sinclair welcomes Elina Välimaa, Learning and Leadership lead at Wärtsilä, to discuss their recent Honorable Mention in the ICF 2025 Impact Award for Distinguished Organization. They explore the journey of developing a coaching culture within Wärtsilä, the systemic and strategic benefits of coaching, and the importance of senior sponsorship and access for all. 

Elina Välimaa, PCC, is the Learning and Leadership Lead at Wärtsilä, a global company of 17,500 employees headquartered in Helsinki, Finland. Wärtsilä is on a journey to decarbonise the maritime and energy industries. 

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In this episode of Coaching in Conversation, Tracy Sinclair discusses the essence of mastery in coaching with Dr. Elizabeth Crosse, a Master Certified Coach with the ICF. They delve into the concept of 'deeply superficial' development, emphasizing the importance of intentionality and purpose in professional growth. Elizabeth shares insights from her own diverse background and research on coach development, highlighting the need for balancing capability with capacity. 

Dr Elizabeth Crosse is a Master Certified Coach (ICF MCC), supervisor, and research practitioner with a deep interest in how coaches develop expertise over time. Her practice is shaped by a wide-ranging background, including leading learning and development in large organisations, introducing internal coaching strategies, and running her own coaching business. Having navigated dyslexia and dyspraxia throughout her life, Elizabeth brings compassion, curiosity, and clarity to her work. She creates reflective spaces that encourage honest conversations, critical thinking, and the development of practical wisdom, supporting coaches to find their path to growth with confidence and integrity.

Email: [email protected]

Website: https://eacrosse.co.uk/ 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabethcrosse/

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In this episode of Coaching in Conversation, Tracy Sinclair speaks with Master Certified Coach Ailbhe Harrington about the intersection of vulnerability and mastery in coaching. Ailbhe shares her journey into coaching, emphasising the importance of self-awareness, compassion, and continuous personal growth. They discuss how mastery involves being present, connecting deeply with clients, and the courage to be vulnerable. Ailbhe also reflects on her personal experiences, including the recent loss of her husband, and how it impacts her coaching practice. The conversation highlights the role of intuition, the importance of trusting the coaching process, and the unique value of human connection in a fast-paced, results-driven world.

Ailbhe Harrington works with leaders as a thinking partner, providing a reflective space where they can explore, discover, and liberate themselves. This enables them to embody the full essence of who they are and who they are becoming, and in turn bring greater value, positive impact, and improved performance to the people they serve. She believes that everyone carries within themselves the resources for self-understanding and change, and that, given the right conditions, individuals can tap into their own answers and access their full potential. 

With over thirty years’ experience in learning and development, Ailbhe has coached leaders and teams since 2003. She works with a wide and diverse client base, both nationally and internationally, supporting C-suite executives, directors, and middle management. Alongside her executive coaching practice, she has trained coaches on ICF-accredited programmes for fifteen years and serves as a coach supervisor. Ailbhe is an ICF Master Certified Coach and has trained in a variety of approaches, including Positive Intelligence, Transactional Analysis, Multiple Brain Integration Techniques, and NLP, among others. 

She is passionate about continuous learning, travel, sharing food with friends, gardening, yoga, spending time in nature with her dog, and finding meaningful ways to give back to others.

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