I believe self-awareness is the first essential stepping stone in personal development and leadership growth.

_{My approach, through the coaching process, is to develop an awareness of self, a recognition of behaviours and patterns, some that no longer serve us and prevent us from being effective, and together to determine and establish behaviours that support us in achieving our objectives personally and professionally. This leads to more effective decision making, healthier interpersonal relationships, and enables us to work creatively and productively with others.}

_{This process of self-awareness assists in building our levels of personal mastery (the ability to self-manage) and ultimately improves our quality of life both personally and professionally through self-learning and growth.}

_{With coaching different individuals in a team, I am able to identify team dynamics and the frustrations, obstacles and functioning of the executives, asking questions that can create different perspectives, while keeping focus on the individual and their thoughts, feelings and somatic experience. This process can assist in unifying people by dealing with conflicting opinions, thoughts and views of the individuals with the intention of helping each one to appreciate other points of view, the feelings they have about situations, and their intentions.}

_{The values I hold have been developed through my own personal challenges, learnings and growth.}

_{I believe happiness is a very critical element}_{in achieving success. Often, we feel ‘we must’ or we are driven by a sense of obligation. Determining what makes us happy, energises us, stimulates us and gives us a sense of satisfaction and achievement is an area to reflect on deeply to determine our path to success in life.}

_{I believe in personal growth.}_{If we resist looking and reflecting on ourselves, we can miss out on becoming our best version, we can stagnate in our thinking and actions, and we can become rigid or despondent.}

_{I believe in support systems.}_{Being able to speak freely, honestly, without judgement and with a feeling of being heard is an essential need of all of us. We can have several different people who play this role, or only one, or none.}

_{I believe in developing long term practices that support us,}_{ground us and give us a sense of connection to ourselves.}

_{I believe mind and body are connected and we cannot separate them when looking at ourselves. Our brain and thoughts influence our body and its functions, our health and our behaviours.}

_{I completed the Associate Coaching Certification (ACC) and the Professional Coaching Certificate (PCC) through UCT Business Schools Centre of Coaching and New Ventures West. I am a PCC certified coach with the International Coaching Federation (ICF) and accredited with the Health Professional Council SA.}

_{I am a certified Five Lens Enneagram practitioner and certified in The Leadership Circle 360 assessment, both are in-depth and multidimensional personality or leadership profiling tools.}

_{Apart from my experience my formal qualifications include a degree in commerce with majors in human resources and economics from Wits, which started me in pursing a career in Human Resources. This led me to periods with Goldman Sachs and Schroder Salomon Smith Barney in London before returning to Johannesburg and developing my career in Human Capital Executive Roles within the Transaction Capital Limited group of companies.}

CLIENT TESTIMONIALS

" I had the privilege of working with Laura for over 10 years. She provided me with advice, support and essentially the tools to understand my strengths, weaknesses, define my goals and to best channel my energy to become a more rounded executive and leader within the business. I highly recommend Laura to anyone in search of personal and business growth! "

Riek Olivier – CEO Gomo

" Laura, I so appreciate your gracefulness and loving nature. To be coached by you is to feel deeply cared for, held, seen and considered. How lucky I am to have that experience."

Dr. Antonia Wadley – Associate Professor of Physiology

Laura Acres supersedes the traditional boundaries of coaching and executive development. Her ability to comprehend the commercial imperatives combined with the personal growth journey of key individuals allows for her to positively impact on people and on the enterprise. Laura has a unique ability to listen to the individual and provide insight without merely resorting to a solution that could be one dimensional. She has been my trusted and dependable colleague for the last few years and I have not made a strategic human capital decision without consulting with her on critical business issues.

Terry Kier – CEO, SA Taxi

" Laura is deeply empathetic and gentle. She was able to help me see how my own views of myself were impacting how I behaved around the boardroom table and were holding me back. Changing my behaviours has been difficult, but having Laura as a coach walking with me as I make these changes has helped me and I can’t believe the difference in how I’m feeling about my work. "

Rachel – Marketing Executive

"Laura is a fantastic coach who played a crucial role in my leadership development. Although she has a calm and gentle manner, she is firm, and her coaching enabled me to overcome some of my more challenging management challenges. She has the perfect blend of critical thinking, problem solving and supportiveness, which made her an invaluable asset to me. I must also add that she has a wicked sense of humour, something I need when it comes to coaching. I can honestly say that I loved working with Laura for many years, and would encourage anyone who is looking for a coach to seek her out."

Dean Harrison - Freelance Creative, Designer and Strategist

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Integral Coach®Experienced ExecutiveMother of two

CLIENT TESTIMONIALS

let's get to know each other.

Integral Coach^®
Experienced Executive
Mother of two