Eleven years, four hundred and twenty leaders.
One coach, no associates, no roster. Everything below is checkable, and I will show you the certificates, the credential number, the supervision arrangement and the insurance schedule on the first call to anyone who asks.
Elinor Vance, ICF PCC.
I ran operations for a 300-person software business for nine years and was, by my own honest account, a competent manager and a poor leader. I could hold a plan together and I could not hold a difficult conversation. I trained out of that at Henley in 2014 and have coached full time since 2015: founders, executives and newly promoted directors in venture-backed software, financial services, healthcare delivery and public infrastructure. Four hundred and twenty of them, one at a time. There is no associate network here and nobody else will ever be assigned to you — if I do not have capacity, I say so and give you two names of people I would send my own team to.
Training, credential and hours
Certificate in Executive Coaching, Henley Business School, 2014. ICF Associate Certified Coach 2016, upgraded to Professional Certified Coach (PCC) in 2019 and renewed in 2025. Systemic Team Coaching, Academy of Executive Coaching, 2018. Over 2,400 logged paid one-to-one coaching hours, independently verified through the ICF credentialing process rather than self-reported.
Supervision, membership and insurance
Monthly one-to-one supervision with an accredited coach supervisor, without exception, because unsupervised coaching is how a coach stops noticing their own patterns. Member of the International Coaching Federation and the European Mentoring and Coaching Council, both in good standing and both with published complaints procedures. Professional indemnity insurance of £2,000,000 in force.
Our Values
Bound by the ICF Code of Ethics
Not displayed as a badge — written into the client agreement as a binding term, with the ICF’s own complaints route named in it. If I breach it, you have somewhere to go that is not me.
Confidentiality, including when your employer pays
Sponsors receive attendance and agreed themes only. Never notes, never recordings, never assessments, never an opinion on your performance or your future at the company. That boundary is signed by the sponsor before session one.
The referral I am willing to lose money on
Roughly one in five discovery calls ends with me recommending something other than coaching — therapy, a mentor, a fractional operator, or simply more sleep. That number is a feature of the practice, not an accident of it.
Sectors I actually know
Venture-backed software, financial services and fintech, healthcare delivery, public infrastructure. I decline work in sectors where I would be learning the context on your money.
Our Locations
In person — London
Sessions held in a private room near Farringdon, EC1. Address given at contracting.
hello@quietcounsel.co +44 20 7946 0812By video — timezone coverage
Coaching slots held 07:00–20:00 UK time, covering UTC−8 through UTC+5:30. Zoom, private room, never recorded.
scheduling@quietcounsel.co +44 20 7946 0812- Provenance
- CredentialICF PCC(Issued 2019, renewed 2025)
- Coaching hours logged2,400+(Paid, one-to-one, verified)
- SupervisionMonthly(With an accredited coach supervisor)
- MembershipEMCC & ICF(Both in good standing)
- Indemnity£2,000,000(Professional insurance in force)
In an unlicensed field, specificity is the only proof there is. Certificates, credential numbers, supervision arrangement and insurance schedule are shown in full on the discovery call to anyone who asks.
In an unlicensed field, specificity is the proof.
Coaching has no state licensure anywhere. Anyone may call themselves a coach tomorrow morning. So here is the provenance in full, with issuing organisation, year and hours, rather than adjectives.
International Coaching Federation — PCC
Professional Certified Coach. ACC issued 2016, upgraded to PCC in 2019, renewed 2025 on 40 hours of continuing education. Requires 500+ verified coaching hours, 125 hours of accredited training and a recorded performance assessment. Credential number on request.
Henley Business School — Executive Coaching
Certificate in Executive Coaching and Behavioural Change, 2014. A twelve-month AMBA-accredited programme with assessed practice, a supervised caseload and a written research component. This is the training the practice is actually built on.
Academy of Executive Coaching — Systemic Teams
Systemic Team Coaching Certificate, 2018. The basis for the team engagements, which are run to a different contract from the one-to-one work because the confidentiality question changes completely once there is more than one person in the room.
2,400+ logged coaching hours
Paid, one-to-one, with adult professional clients, logged contemporaneously and verified through ICF credentialing rather than self-declared. Roughly 300 hours a year at current capacity, which is deliberately fewer than a full book.
Monthly supervision, no exceptions
One hour a month with an accredited coach supervisor, plus a peer supervision group every quarter. Both ICF and EMCC require it; a meaningful number of independent practitioners quietly let it lapse. Supervisor’s name given on request.
EMCC member · £2m indemnity
European Mentoring and Coaching Council member in good standing, with its published complaints procedure available to any client. Professional indemnity and public liability insurance of £2,000,000 in force; schedule available on request.
What the work looked like from the other chair.
Published with written permission, with names, companies and identifying detail removed. If you want to speak to a former client directly, ask on the discovery call — several have agreed to take that call, and I will introduce you rather than hand out a contact.
“I arrived convinced the problem was my skip-level communication. By session three it was obvious the problem was that I had not decided what I wanted the org to be, and had been resolving that ambiguity in a hundred small conversations instead. Six months later I run half the meetings I used to and my leads make decisions without me. The hardest session was the one where she simply refused to accept my answer and waited.”
VP Engineering
Series C fintech · Six-month engagement, 2024
“I had a board coach before this, and the difference is who the coach works for. Knowing exactly what would and would not reach my investors was not a comfort — it was the operational precondition for being honest about the runway. The retainer is the cheapest line on my P&L and the one I would cut last.”
Founder & CEO
Seed-stage climate hardware · Monthly retainer, ongoing
“My employer paid and I was, frankly, waiting for the catch. It never came. My HR director got attendance dates and nothing else, and she had signed a document saying that before we started. Six sessions, no personality inventory, no framework deck. We worked on two conversations I had been avoiding since January and I had both of them by week nine.”
Director of Operations
Global logistics, employer-sponsored · Six-session foundation, 2025
The first conversation costs nothing.
Forty-five minutes on video. Bring the situation, not a brief. It ends with a straight recommendation, and about one in five of them is somebody other than me.
2,400+
Logged coaching hours
PCC
ICF credential held since 2019
Monthly
Supervision, without exception
What this work is, and what it is not
Coaching is not therapy, counselling, psychiatric care or medical treatment. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any condition, and it is not a substitute for professional mental-health or medical advice. If something surfaces in our work that belongs with a clinician, I will say so plainly in the session it comes up and help you find the right person.
Everything said in a session stays in the session. Where an employer sponsors the engagement, the sponsor receives confirmation that sessions took place and, only where you have agreed in advance, the themes you choose to share. They never receive session content, notes, recordings or assessments — and they are told that in writing at contracting, not afterwards.
Sessions may be rescheduled without charge up to 72 hours before the agreed time. Inside that window the session is drawn from the engagement. Unused sessions expire twelve months from the start date. Engagements are refundable pro rata against unused sessions up to the halfway point.
Coaching is not a mental-health service and is not a substitute for medical or psychological care.