Leadership Across Context

I’ve spent much of my career crossing between different contexts, different worlds, different cultures.

Between industry and academia. Between Australia and France. Between different organisations, professions and ways of thinking.

Those transitions taught me something important: entering a new environment isnít simply about understanding your role and the individuals and teams you work with. You also need to understand the unwritten rules around you.

This approach is at the core of my work with Echidna C&M.

Understanding two sets of assumptions

I work with leaders and professionals, crossing boundaries and encountering environments that are familiar enough to feel understandable, but different enough for assumptions to get in the way.

Assumptions about what motivates people and how they communicate, agree objectives, make decisions, build trust, disagree and exercise influence.

When you cross boundaries, there are two sets of assumptions:

- yours - grounded in common sense. The common sense, you’ve had for so long you can not remember learning it.

- theirs, your new colleagues and collaborates. Another common sense, that they have also had for so long they can not remember learning it. 

Informed coaching

Leadership coaching is never about telling people the right way to lead. Leadership coaching supports leaders in developing the right strategy for them and their context.

My approach ensures coaching is informed by insights about these two sets of assumptions and how they interact with each other.

Supporting my clients in navigating these assumptions, and understand what they are seeing, recognise perspectives different from their own, and decide how they want to respond.

That might mean helping an international leader understand Australian workplace culture, an Australian working with international colleagues, or someone making the transition between academia and industry.

Why Echidna ?

An echidna can look a little like a hedgehog. At first glance, they seem familiar. Look more closely, though, and they are fundamentally different.

I chose Echidna because that idea reflects much of my own experience ó and the work I now do. Cultures, organisations and professional worlds can look similar from the outside, while operating according to very different assumptions underneath.

My work is about helping people see those differences, understand what they mean, and navigate them effectively.

Experience backed by practice

My approach brings together practical experience with formal study in business coaching and cross-cultural communication.

I have worked across industry and higher education, lived and worked across French and Australian contexts, and coached leaders and professionals navigating change, difference and transition.

Those experiences have taught me to look beyond what is happening on the surface to understand the context, assumptions and perspectives shaping how people communicate, work together and lead.

Masters in Business Coaching - Master of Arts (Cross-Cultural Communication) - ICF Member - Industry & Higher Education Experience - French & Australian Experience

Let’s work together