Helen Wada Of The Human Advantage On An Inside Look at the Benefits and Impact Of Working With an Executive Coach
An Interview With Chad Silverstein
Willingness to step out of their comfort zone, asking for what they want, rather than skirting the edges. At the early stages of working together Lara* realised that if she didn’t ask, she was unlikely to get what she wanted. She was in a client-facing role in a law firm and had been having regular “catch up” conversations — but with no business leading from them. Following our work together and her newfound confidence, Lara was able to explain to her contact how she and the team could help them and two weeks later received a call for an initial piece of work. “If you don’t put yourself out there, you will never know” — coaching gave her the confidence to have a bolder conversation with her contact.
The competitive edge in business often comes down to a combination of strategy, foresight, and professional development. For executives looking to level up their skills, an executive coach can be their biggest asset. In this feature, we talk to business leaders who heavily invest in personal and professional development opportunities, coaching, and leadership programs. They’ll share why they invest so much and the impact it has on their life. Today, I had the privilege of speaking with Helen Wada.
Helen Wada is dedicated to creating a more human-centred working world, leveraging her extensive commercial experience and coaching expertise to drive business success through individual empowerment. She fosters a culture of coaching, enabling organisations to transform from within and grow their business by ensuring everyone feels ownership and authenticity at work. Helen also hosts the podcast HUMAN WISE and holds an Advanced Diploma in transformational coaching, an MSc in Management Development, and is a qualified chartered accountant.
Thanks for being part of this series. Let’s jump in and focus on your early years. First off, can you give us a snapshot of your life before you started your career?
I was the eldest child of two, grew up on the south coast of England in a village just north of Portsmouth and went to my local primary, middle and state secondary school, the latter where my mum was a math's teacher.
We were not well-off but had quality time together as a family and used to spend three weeks camping in France during the summer.
Our big love as a family was skiing and we used to drive to the French alps in the winter to enjoy this family activity.
My dad was always risk-averse and favoured stability over risk-taking.
I was encouraged to follow my own path, but would say that I had a relatively sheltered upbringing and limited view of the world until I went to Cardiff University to study Accounting, management and French.
What was it about personal and professional development that attracted you to start investing in yourself? Also, can you share when you started and what your first investment was?
It was at university that I was introduced to the student organisation AIESEC. This was a global organisation that sought to develop young people with leadership skills for the real world, as well as facilitating a global exchange of work placements across the 80 countries in which it operated. I joined the local office at university with the hope of finding a work placement in France. This did not materialise and I ended up in the middle of nowhere, Columbia, Missouri instead — but I did also lead the organisation of the careers fair for the whole of the university, a project that I still remember fondly today. I didn’t really realise it at the time, but this is where I started to push myself out of my comfort zone and invest in myself and my personal development, from the age of 19.
My passion for learning continued — and after having qualified as a chartered accountant with Arthur Andersen in London (I had initially sworn I would not be an accountant), but the promise of business learning and growth along with the lights of London proved too much of a draw and I was successful in my application to study and work at the same time. This experience, over 5 years shaped me into who I am today — and I look back with very fond memories and some great friendships made.
Looking back I have always sought to develop myself and continually learn… I say to those I work with “Are you still learning?” because I believe that this is one of the core elements to ongoing enjoyment in any role. In 2006 I completed a Masters in Management Development and Organisational Change at Bristol University. I thought this might shift my career direction, however after a stint travelling for six months I made the move into the world of consulting with KPMG.
Can you think back and share one of the biggest blind spots you had that someone helped you see and something specific about what you learned and how it showed up in your life?
One of my biggest revelations was working with an executive coach for the first time — I was on my first maternity leave from KPMG, and they were brilliant in advocating support for women returners. I was 34 and frustrated at the slow career progress around having children. My coach drew me a timeline which was really simple, but very clear, at 34, I was only 60% through my likely working life, there was a lot of time ahead of me — and for the first time I started to realise that it was a marathon and not a sprint
How long have you been an executive coach and how would you describe your work today?
I have been an executive coach for almost ten years. I started my professional qualification, sponsored by KPMG in 2015, but one of my first realisations was that coaching provided a framework and methodology for something that I did naturally. My coaching journey started slowly, I worked as an internal executive coach at KPMG and then moved my career sideways to a role in business development, which is where I began to thrive. I loved my coaching work, but also loved being out at the coal face, working with clients and bringing the best of our firm together.
It was only when someone asked me “why are you good at what you do?” that I started to think. Why was it that I was comfortable with the unknown, could challenge people in a way where they felt a sense of trust and we could uncover things that others may not? I boiled it down and realised that the training I had had as a coach, enabled me to move into this commercial role with ease and confidence.
I was missing personal learning and growth — and the recognition that coaching had led to a significant part of my career progression, I started Senior Practitioner — Advanced Diploma in Transformational Coaching in March 2020, five days before the pandemic. It was a programme that fundamentally shifted how I practice as a coach and took my coaching skills to a much deeper level. For the most part, our coaching work, in line with the rest of the world, shifted online.
My work is now a combination of 1–2–1 and group work, online and in person. Whilst the work can be equally effective online, there is something powerful about the human connection in person. The Human Advantage focuses on supporting individuals to thrive through coaching programmes and the development of coaching skills to become confident commercial leaders.
If I was sitting down with your clients, and asked “what’s the one thing that they need to work on more than anything else “ what would I hear them say?
It is about believing in themselves. Taking everything that they have learnt in their career to date and using this to shape who they are today and who they want to become.
If you were questioned about your “ROI” (return on investment), is there anything you can point to that justifies how much organizations spend on coaching, what would you say?
The value of coaching requires a medium-long-term view of the people within the workforce. Investing in individuals through coaching signals that you value their contribution, their development and success within the business.
Every 1–2–1 coaching assignment is different, and to be effective I encourage a coaching sponsor to be involved both at the beginning and end of any assignment, to set and review clear business goals for the programme.
For me, the panacea of coaching is where the whole organisation embraces the skill of coaching into its leadership approach and management style. 1–2–1 coaching has its place, targeted at the right individuals, however, a broader business benefit, for individuals and the top line is where we look at a coaching approach more holistically.
Targeted group coaching programmes often represent a lower cost per head, than 1–2–1 coaching, yet with the additional benefit of peer-to-peer learning. If executed in the right way, a group coaching programme can have multiple benefits, for the individuals and organisations.
- Enabling the individual to explore their personal values, limiting beliefs and career ambitions
- Dedicated time to understand and experiment with the skills of coaching, to bring a coaching approach to their teams
- Expanding coaching techniques to have improved quality conversations with their stakeholders and clients, with an immediate benefit for ROI.
As a coach, I am committed to working with organizations to define and measure the ROI that is right for their business, and embed learning for longer term personal and commercial benefit.
Let’s dive into specifics. What are the top 5 things that you see from your clients where they have specifically made changes, and have seen positive results.
Be specific and feel free to give us either the background or story about each.
1. Confidence in their ability and the value that they bring to those that they work with. Standing up for who they are, their opinions and their ability to have what we call adult-adult conversations with stakeholders and clients. For example, the lightning bulb for Anna* (*all names changed for confidentiality) was when she realized that she didn’t have to “be” anyone else but herself and trusted herself to own the conversations and build new business as a result.
2. Realization that taking on a new role requires clients to let go of some of what they currently do — the art of delegation and letting go of control. Whether this is taking on a leadership role, or moving into a more sales-focused commercial role in a partnership setting, clients start with needing to create space from an already packed diary. This is often easier said than done — and working together we explore the mindset required to stop doing certain things. For example, John wanted to spend more time on business development (BD), yet he was so focused on project delivery. We worked together to carve out what he would not do, and what he had to delegate and explore how he maintained control whilst developing his team members. John made significant changes to his ways of working and loved his Business Development work by the time we finished our coaching programme.
3. Increased ability to bring humility and curiosity to all conversations, ultimately a coaching approach with stakeholders and clients. Often my clients are experts in their own right, their role is to “know the answer” — but yet to work in this complex world saying “I don’t know” may be what is needed and this requires a mindset shift. Take Jasper*, he was part of the group coaching programme and during our 1–2–1 session, we started to explore the ingredients that were needed to be like others at the top of their game. What did it boil down to? His ability to really, truly listen, follow the conversation and be in the zone to ask the right questions at the right time, only advising once all options had been explored. He surprised himself that this skill translated to improved conversations at home too!
4. Willingness to step out of their comfort zone, asking for what they want, rather than skirting the edges. At the early stages of working together Lara* realised that if she didn’t ask, she was unlikely to get what she wanted. She was in a client-facing role in a law firm and had been having regular “catch up” conversations — but with no business leading from them. Following our work together and her newfound confidence, Lara was able to explain to her contact how she and the team could help them and two weeks later received a call for an initial piece of work. “If you don’t put yourself out there, you will never know” — coaching gave her the confidence to have a bolder conversation with her contact.
5. Recognition that the coaching skills are hugely powerful in their leadership journey, as well as benefitting from them through our coaching work
Whilst working together with my clients, we often reflect on the tools and techniques that I use as a coach, that can be helpful in their own leadership journey. Sarah* and I have been working together for a year now, she credits much of her confidence and new-found ability to face difficult conversations to our coaching work, taking the time to take a step back, and also experiment with the coaching techniques to centre herself, breathe, pause and focus. The result? Improved clarity in her communication and influence with senior stakeholders.
What advice would you give to those organisations or individuals who are considering investing in a coaching programme?
Clearly define what you are looking to achieve. Ensure that goals are set for coaching programmes, be they for a group or individual and review these at the end of the programme. Coaching is not right for everyone, it can require deep and often personal work, but the long-term results frequently outweigh traditional training and a “one size fits all” approach.
Do you have any examples of how coaching can have an impact on others who work around you? How it can spill over to your team or your family?
Coaching can have far-reaching benefits, not solely the business goals you are focused on. I always tell my clients that the more they can bring of “themselves” to our conversations, the more they get out of them. Often the habits and behaviours that we explore together are rooted in experiences from childhood or can also be observed in life outside of work — and if they are not, then we also have data to explore together.
Those that I work with often share that they now see how they interact with their partner or children and have made direct changes as a result of our conversations! (some unexpected benefits!)
The power of coaching is transferable — and as well as a personal benefit, teams can often see the changes in their leader, resulting in greater autonomy, control and connection that serves everyone in a positive way.
There are so many executive coaches out there. How should people find the right coach for them?
Go out there and meet coaches, and have a “chemistry” conversation with potential coaches, you need to find someone that is right for you. For you to get the most from a coaching programme, you need to be vulnerable and put yourself in a space where you are comfortable going into the unknown and exploring topics that arise together. This is a personal journey and a coach that is right for one person, might not be right for another.
Lastly, where can our audience go to follow your journey and perhaps get inspired to make their own investment in coaching?
You can find me at www.thehumanadvantage.co.uk and also follow my podcast HUMANWISE, available on all podcast platforms https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/human-wise/id1716377115
I can also be found on LINKEDIN.
Thank you so much for joining us! We wish you only success.
About the Interviewer: Chad Silverstein, a seasoned entrepreneur with over two decades of experience as the Founder and CEO of multiple companies. He launched Choice Recovery, Inc., a healthcare collection agency, while going to The Ohio State University, His team earned national recognition, twice being ranked as the #1 business to work for in Central Ohio. In 2018, Chad launched [re]start, a career development platform connecting thousands of individuals in collections with meaningful employment opportunities, He sold Choice Recovery on his 25th anniversary and in 2023, sold the majority interest in [re]start so he can focus his transition to Built to Lead as an Executive Leadership Coach. Learn more at www.chadsilverstein.com
Helen Wada Of The Human Advantage On An Inside Look at the Benefits and Impact Of Working With an… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.