Kate Franklin, CPCC, Chartered MCIPD, ACC Executive Coach & Organisation Development Consultant Director, Oak Tree Coaching, London kate@oaktreecoaching.com +44 (0)20 7358 1195

Kate Franklin is an executive coach, facilitator, speaker and consultant, and Director of Oak Tree Coaching. Kate has been helping individuals, teams and organisations to grow and change since 1998. Kate’s background is in large organisations, mainly in financial services, where she led teams and provided strategic HR and organisational change consultancy. In her most recent corporate role she led the strategy and implementation of leadership development in a global insurance company.

Since setting up Oak Tree Coaching Ltd in 2005, she has worked in Europe and the USA, in Insurance, Marketing, Manufacturing, Investment Banking, Financial Advice, Technology, Law, PR, Customer Services, Non-profits, Retail, and Pharmaceuticals.

Kate is experienced in the design and facilitation of learning experiences on a broad range of behavioural development subjects, and has three main specialisms:

• Clear Head Coaching. In the 21st century workplace, one of the most important talents is that of managing a workload that at first glance looks impossible. Kate helps overwhelmed leaders to focus on what’s most important and find the confidence to cut out the rest. She’s committed to helping people become more decisive, creative and effective through ‘learning to relax and enjoy it’.

• Creating High Performance. Passionate about excellent leadership, Kate uses her experience as a leader, and as a consultant helping to create honest performance cultures, to inspire leaders to get the best possible performance from their people.

• Change Management. Kate brings her real life organisational change experience to workshops and to coaching, supporting the pioneers of change as they implement new strategies and bring ideas to life.

Kate is both warm and challenging. She has an unshakeable belief in people’s greatness and won’t settle for anything less in the learning partnership. Pragmatic and results-focused, Kate grounds all of her work firmly in her client’s business context, taking the time to build her understanding of their organisational strategy and challenges.

Kate has an extensive knowledge of a range of development tools and resources, and blends this with her coaching expertise, so that her clients benefit from diverse ideas on techniques to try, books to read, and ways to learn, beyond the parameters of the immediate coaching / workshop relationship. Kate’s clients describe her as firm, intuitive and ‘brilliant at bringing out the best in people’.

Kate holds two post-graduate qualifications, one in human resources (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development) and one in coaching (Certified Professional Co-active Coach) from the world’s leading coaching training school, the Coaches Training Institute, which is ICF accredited. She is also a fully qualified Myers Briggs and TMSDI Practitioner, has a first class honours degree in Politics from Sussex University, and is a graduate of Cranfield School of Management's Integrated Management Development Program. Kate is a member in good standing of the International Coaching Federation and the Chartered Institute for Personnel & Development.

Client Testimonials

"Kate worked with me extensively over a 2 year period predominantly in a coaching capacity but also in a transformational change consultancy capacity too when I needed to make significant changes to my function. Through her sessions and the clear measurable goals that we set at the outset, I could see and feel visible change throughout our time together. By the end, not only was I aware of positive differences around my personal impact and strategic thinking, the feedback from key stakeholders within my business was also great. Kate's style of coaching is extremely supportive but tough to ensure that progress is continual both during and between sessions. Her encouragement, her personal insights and her ability to flex the sessions depending on my changing circumstances made me as a client feel valued too. I would not hesitate to recommend Kate to other leaders within my own organisation and beyond."
Beth Wallace, Group Strategic Sourcing & SRM Director, RSA Group plc

"Your coaching has helped me transform my business beyond recognition. More than that…my health, my focus and my self esteem is better because of this work. I am really so excited and want to express my deepest gratitude for the difference you have made in my life! You are very special."
Margarita Dilone-Rodriguez, President, Crystal Insurance Agency, Washington DC, USA

"As a result of my work with Kate I have streamlined my work practices, hit challenging financial targets and tripled the value of my business. I've also taken more holiday than I have had in years."
Gareth Lloyd-Williams, Partner, St James Place Partnership, UK

“It’s impossible to put a value on the coaching I’ve had with Kate over the last six months but it way exceeds the cost and I couldn’t recommend her more. Kate’s not only challenged me to think about my work and life goals but also helped me achieve them. The turnaround in my self-esteem and confidence in such a short timeframe has been phenomenal. I defy anyone, at any stage of their business, not to reap the rewards of Kate’s leadership coaching. Kate’s also been working her magic on my boss; he’s a changed man and I am ever indebted to her!”
Lorraine Stephenson, Director, sharpcards, UK

"In 2002 and 2003 I led the transformation of a business that had failed for the previous five years, back to a steady profit of around £20m. As my HR Consultant and Coach during that period, Kate was one of my closest allies and played a major role in developing and driving that change. She has great insight into what makes organisations effective, and the importance of quality people management. And she has a knack of helping people understand what they need to do differently, in a positive way. A significant part of that transformation was a change in behaviours and Leadership styles."
Bernard Mageean, Europe Region Property Underwriting Director, QBE Insurance, London, UK

“You changed the whole course of my life, taking me from a place where I was stuck and felt powerless to a place where I love every minute of it. YOU started that process for me, to which I am eternally grateful. Thank you.”
EL, USA

"Kate is a fantastic coach … it's rare to find someone with such talent."
Karen Caddick, Global HR Director, Financial Times, UK

“Thanks Kate for your coaching work with X, who is much more confident and aware of herself these last few months. She’s less defensive, and more measured. I notice her formulating both sides of an argument and weighing them up before she speaks. A significant shift.”
Jean Wyllie, MD, Porter Novelli Ltd