Wisdom & Insights of Professional Executive Coach - Andy Denne

Andy Denne
Executive Coach (CPCC)
Pau, France

Andy Denne has been working as a professional executive coach in global organizations since 1999, when he attended the first Co-Active Coach^® training in Europe.

Today, we live in a world where businesses are increasingly recognizing the value of coaching skills, which aren’t taught at school or college.

“The ability to imagine the future, to have a dream, and to follow it, is a fundamental driver in our human experience," says Andy. "But when you ask senior executives what their dream is or what they hope for, it can cause nervousness and anxiety.”

As an executive coach, Andy says you must be willing to challenge them to find their answer, as well as the courage and commitment to follow it through. “What the Co-Active model offers coaches is how to consciously transform the fear holding someone back from stepping into the unknown, into a curiosity about what’s possible there. Coaching is about facing this fear. That’s the whole terrain. It takes courage.”

“When I was a course participant in 1999 in London and the trainers asked me 'what’s your dream?', my answer was to live in a stone farmhouse in France. And in 2004 we bought this stone farmhouse in the southwest of France with a view of the Pyrenees. It’s a dream come true. You touch it every day.”

“But it has to be light, there has to be laughter too. Only then can people relax enough to admit that while they may already be successful individually, it’s emotional intelligence which fuels our ability to collaborate, innovate and create together. Relationships are what make teams work.”

It’s the qualities that we need to be better at relationships which Co-Active Coaching^® ultimately nurtures. Andy says: “The Co-Active model offers key skills such as listening, curiosity, being able to step away from the detail and see the vista of where we’re going. But also, essentially, it fosters an attitude, which sees everyone as infinitely more creative and resourceful than they even believed possible.”