Nicky Westhead

Senior Consultant

Nicky Westhead Senior Consultant

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Nicky brings over 30 years of global business expertise as an Executive and Team Coach along with being a Leadership Development expert. Her areas of expertise include: integrating executive leadership assessments and coaching services for global executive and high-potential leaderscustom design and execution of leadership strategies, team coaching and facilitation for high-performanceorganisational development and culture transformation. As an internationally minded and focused Coach and Leadership advisor, she is also an Ironman Triathlete coach for leaders who are endurance athletes. This blend brings in the aspects of mental, physical and emotional wellbeing, resilience and agility of leadership that intersects across all industries and cultures. Nicky travels between the US, UK and Europe to work with clients and teams. 

Background & Industry Experience

Nicky has held senior roles in global organisations, working with several of the major professional services consulting firms, leadership specialist companies. She has held positions such as Head of Organization and Leadership Development for a legal services firm, Global Change/OD Lead for a healthcare technology company with a large base in India and Europe. As a Senior Change Manager at Accenture, she lead a team for a US implementation program of company-wide technology, process and people changes impacting 10,000 at Shell Oil.  

Nicky has coached board level executives, senior leaders, leadership teams at Fortune 500 companies, and is part of the Wharton Business School for coaching executives and MBA students. She has consulted in technology, healthcare, manufacturing, educational institutions, insurance, financial services, legal, management consulting, energy, education and non-profit. She blends into her coaching and facilitation approach business psychology, inquiry, future rehearsal, and mind-body connections to explore undiscovered mindsets for breakthroughs. Clients describe Nicky as creative, resourceful and dynamic. She challenges clients on their mental models and styles. 

With demonstrated expertise in cross-cultural and leadership dynamics, she has lived in the UK, US and Europe, led country, regional and global teams. She  has a personal understanding of the nuances of navigating cross-cultural differences. Her unique perspective and experience provide clients with valuable insights into how to effectively lead and work across cultural boundaries. Accomplished in navigating competing stakeholder demands and balancing internal and external priorities, Nicky recognizes the pressure and dilemmas executives face.  

Coaching Approach

Nicky is committed to helping leaders thrive in ambiguity, innovate through uncertainty, and shape solutions out of paradoxes. Leaders who work with Nicky have seen successful results in these areas: integrating strategic mindsets with operational excellence; navigating complex stakeholder relationships, enhancing executive presence, emotional intelligence and communication; increasing agility of perspectives for decision-making, deepening influence and persuasion strategies; enhancing their leadership agility and resiliency. 

Nicky provides the space in coaching relationships to uncover and remove barriers, discover unknown possibilities, and explore innovative ways of thinking. Nicky helps leaders man oeuvre through flux, gain more confidence and courage, and evolve to master their best executive characteristics.  

Relevant Assignments

  • Executive Coaching – COO of multinational company headquartered in India. Focus: Strengthening leadership communication, stakeholder relationship management, strategic and enterprise-wide thinking. 
  • Executive Coaching ­– CFO of a national building and construction company. Focus: Onboarding and developing executive communication brand, voice, use of story-telling for business, creating team norms. 
  • Team Coaching – National Lead Partner and 16 Partner Consulting Team. Focus: align on priorities, building consensus, improving collaboration and team effectiveness. 
  • Executive Leadership Programme – U.S. boiler manufacturing company. Delivers an annual six-month programme of modular workshops, integrating assessments, peer and executive coaching for senior leaders at GM, VP and SVP levels. A focus on accelerating their communication, influence, conflict resolution, coaching, culture change capabilities. She delivers team coaching workshops at multiple sites. 
  • Organisational Culture Change: Internal Head of OD, partner  with MD India, facilitated culture change and communication workshops in Bangalore and Chennai, following acquisition integrations. 

Education & Professional Affiliations

  • Professional Certified Coach (PCC), International Coaching Federation 
  • Certified Leadership Coach for Organizational Performance, Rutgers University 
  • Certified Practitioner in Team Effectiveness; Dare to Lead Trained 
  • Multiple Certifications in Executive, Leadership & Team Assessments, including: Hogan Assessments, Team Effectiveness Survey,  Benchmarks 360 °, CPI 260 °, SkillScope, Coaching Mindset Index, MBTI® 
  • Occupational Psychology, MSc,University of Sheffield Management School, England 
  • Psychology (Honours), BSc., University of Leicester, England