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Lisa Sofianos

Lisa is a senior associate and coach at Advance HE, co-facilitating Advance HE’s Strategic Leadership Programme along with a number of other open and bespoke senior HE leadership programmes. She works internationally and across all sectors in the fields of organisational development, change leadership, strategic leadership and authentic leadership.
Institution
Advance HE
Job Title
Senior Associate and Coach

Lisa is a business author, creative thinker and international consultant in leadership and organisational development. She was a founder of, and has been a director at Robin Ryde Consulting Ltd since 2008, and has worked with clients in both the private and public sectors in the UK, and across the rest of the world.

She works with businesses to raise levels of employee engagement and increase organisational agility and innovation in response to the rapid change and volatility that characterises the modern business environment. She is also a presenter and coach for the Clore Social Leadership Fellowship (a prestigious development programme for leaders working to make a positive impact in society) and a trainer with the Civil Service College.

Lisa is a qualified coach with over a thousand hours coaching leaders across all sectors.  She offers person-centred classical coaching as well as the opportunity to work on specific organisational leadership challenges and is equally comfortable using tools and models from psychology to Organisational Development.  Typical coaching themes include; leadership identity and imposter syndrome, quieting the inner critic, authentic leadership, challenging working relationships, intractable challenges, strategy design and change management.

Her book, Creating Authentic Organisations: Bringing Meaning and Engagement Back to Work, which she co-authored with Robin Ryde, was published in October 2014 by Kogan Page. The book makes the compelling argument for the positive impact of individual authenticity on businesses and sets out the management task of creating the conditions to allow employees to fulfil their roles with greater authenticity. Lisa was also the main researcher for Never Mind the Bosses; Hastening the Death of Deference for Business Success, authored by Robin Ryde, which was published by Wiley in 2012.

Coaching

Find out more about Advance HE One-to-One Executive Coaching services.

Lisa is a trained and certificated coach and member of the International Coaching Federation and as such abides by their Code of Practice.  She provides executive coaching to senior leaders and those transitioning into leadership posts. She is particularly effective in the areas of leading organisational change and transition, the leadership response to a complex and volatile operating environment, authenticity and leadership identity.

Career Highlights

  • 7 years as Director of Robin Ryde Consulting Ltd, an international leadership and organisation development consultancy
  • Associate and executive coach for The Oxford Group, a global leadership development provider
  • Facilitator and executive coach for the Clore Social Leadership Fellowship Programme providing the highest quality leadership development for those making a positive impact in the area of social welfare 
  • Consultancy support to New South Wales Health Education & Training Institute (HETI), including leadership program design, delivery and evaluation for a range of hospitals and health districts
  • Design and delivery of leadership development and live case studies with Ogilvy, one of the UK’s top three Advertising Agencies
  • Large group facilitation with 50 of the most senior leaders in Oxford University Press (OUP)
  • Lisa designs and delivers programme sessions based of the content of her books; covering authenticity, the death of deference, complex change and adaptiveness
  • Lisa held senior executive roles at ITV for 13 years, working closely with broadcasters, advertising agencies and their Blue Chip clients. She enjoyed roles in client services, compliance, and business strategy and has first-hand experience of leading teams through large-scale organisational change.

Professional Training

  • Transactional Analysis 101 Certificate
  • 16 PF Personality Instrument Practitioner Certificate
  • Certificate of Professional Coaching Skills