About Becky

What I offer

I offer coaching, training and support for improving your services. Whether you’re looking to achieve personal improvement through coaching, support the leaders of the future through training or have the support of an experienced social care leader to achieve improvement for your service or Local Authority, I have the knowledge, skills and experience to meet your needs.

 

Why choose me for coaching?

I have coached social workers into leadership positions, supporting them to develop the skills and confidence to take the next step and thrive. I have also coached social workers who are experiencing burnout and had my own personal experience of this, so can offer a listening ear and practical exercises and skills to put in place in order to achieve a better work/ life balance. Discover more about coaching here

 

Why choose me for training?

I have created and delivered training throughout my career, always considering the needs of individuals and the service when creating a bespoke package to support their learning and growth. I have created training to facilitate an improvement journey from Requires Improvement to Good and have brought my own experiences of leading into my Encompassed Series to support others to lead with care and confidence. Find out more about my training here

 

Why choose me for service-level improvement?

I have led a service from Requires Improvement to Good and can support you to achieve your own improvement. I have created new services as well as reviewed and improved services in order to improve the experience of staff as well as children and families.  I have the experience and expertise to support you with your own improvement journey. Discover more here

More about my journey in social work

When I look back over the past 20 years in social work, I realise that for me, it’s always been about connection. Moving to the UK on my own in 2006 was a shock in many ways and I found connection through the other social workers in my team. They helped me decipher the nuances of living in a different country whilst giving me a sense of belonging.

I then moved into management and the first few years were a shock as I struggled to find a balance between being removed enough to drive performance, whilst being connected enough to create a thriving and cohesive team. I initially thought that leadership was about being a boss and knowing and directing, but I’ve learned that leadership is about connection. For me, it’s been about connecting with myself, connecting with my staff and finding connection across as a service in order to get the best from people and deliver positive outcomes.

Connecting with myself hasn’t always been easy. I learned that in order to facilitate a culture of growth and belonging, I needed to be humble enough to look deep inside myself and own up to my own vulnerabilities. I try to live by Brene Brown’s quote: “Courage starts with showing up and letting ourselves be seen.” And that was hard some days… feeling courageous enough to let my authentic self be seen. However, I learned that when I was more connected with myself, I could be more connected with others.

Connecting with my staff was honestly the biggest giver of joy for me. By sharing more of myself, my staff felt more courageous to show up without their mask, to show up in times of vulnerability, to show up for themselves, their team and the families they were supporting.

And the final piece, connection across a service was about leading with humility, humour and authenticity. It was about being real and listening to the experiences and thoughts of others, but also leading with clarity around our co-created vision and kindness when it came to my value of growth and showing others that there’s no need for blame as we can all learn and grow together. Improvement journeys can feel daunting, full of blame and never-ending, but I have enjoyed leading improvement journeys for teams and services as it is also a space for creativity, celebration and connectivity.