David Birch, BA PGCE MSc General Experience and Background David has worked as a people and organisation development consultant for over sixteen years, following an earlier teaching career in the UK and Far East. Until 2000, he was a Director at PricewaterhouseCoopers, ‘matrix-managing’ a multidisciplinary team responsible for the integration of HR development in the firm’s global consulting practice. Since then he has divided his time between Ashridge Consulting and his freelance consulting practice. David has worked at all levels and in most sectors, ranging from financial services to the motor industry. As a consultant, he specialises in strategy, leadership development and in helping teams unlock their strength and potential. Specific Experience of Coaching David has been coaching senior people for over ten years, with assignments in Europe, North America and Africa. His coaching is usually associated with wider organisational change or impending or recent career transitions. He has a pragmatic approach to coaching, sometimes ‘shadowing’ his clients at work so he can better understand their business context. He sees coaching as a process of joint discovery, with the purpose of increasing his client’s inherent capacity to learn and change. He does this by asking questions that stimulate his client’s self-awareness, in terms of their contribution to the situation and the various options for the future. He then challenges them to take practical actions that bring about workable and continuous change. David has particular expertise in ‘virtual’ team leadership, influencing strategies and conflict resolution. Current coaching clients include PwC, HFC Bank, QAS, The Audit Commission and the NHS. Qualifications In 2000 David completed an MSc in Organisational Consulting and holds British Psychological Society Level A and B certificates of competence in psychometric testing. He regularly uses the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, OPQ, and FIRO-B instruments. He is a trained counsellor and is familiar with a wide range of 360° feedback instruments. Approach to Coaching “I like to create a safe place for my clients where we can focus on what really matters to them. I work from a position of support and respect - I know how tough leadership can be, especially when ‘going against the grain’. I listen carefully and encourage my clients to take action on the basis of what they stand for and believe will work.”