September Coach Spotlight: Anne Marie Crowley

Anne Marie approaches coaching as a partnership with the whole person. She doesn’t draw a line between “life” and “executive” coaching - instead, she creates space for clients to reflect on the past, envision their future, and make practical changes in the present.

Her expertise as an Emotional Intelligence Practitioner (EQi 2.0 and ECR) helps clients build self-awareness, empathy, resilience, and stronger connections, often leading to transformative insights and sustainable growth. Combined with her safe yet courageous coaching style, Anne Marie empowers her clients to explore deeply, challenge themselves, and unlock their full potential.

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1. What inspired you to become a coach?
   

   "I did a qualification in coaching in 2008 while I was working in HR/T&D. I always love learning new skills, developing myself personally and professionally, adding to my

   portfolio of services to benefit my clients. It seemed a natural addition to my work in learning design, delivery and evaluation to offer executive/team coaching internally within the organisation. Underneath all that was a personal need to be less of a ‘performer’, a ‘designer’, a ‘problem solver’ and more of a partner and collaborator. Skills like reflection, active listening, open questioning, demonstrating real presence, attentiveness and focus, were ones I wanted to develop in myself. And coaching gave me all of that, and so much more."

   
   

2. What is your unique coaching style?
   

   "My style is holistic and practical. I am often asked ‘what’s the difference between

   life and executive coaching’ and I truly cannot see the difference, because I work in

   partnership with the whole person, their whole being, their whole life. I am quite a

   courageous coach, as well as being absolutely present with the client, I will go back

   in time with them as they explore themes in their lives to help them get to where

   they want to go. I will go forward with them as well, as they imagine what their lives

   could be in the future.

   
   

   I am a very practical coach. I challenge clients with the outcomes they have decided

   they want in their lives. This can make a client feel some discomfort which is only

   natural: it’s like a mirror being held up to oneself. My style is to hold the client safely

   as they continue to explore, then support them in a shift in thinking or mindset, and

   on to learning and growth.

   
   

   My style is focused on the changes the client wants to make in their whole lives. In a

   practical sense, I bring my experience in leadership, team and management learning

   design, delivery and evaluation, to the benefit of all my clients should they want to

   supplement their coaching journey with practical learning strategies based on

   current literature and research."
   

3. What skills do you bring to the coaching world?
   

   "My clients tell me that what they experience in coaching with me is transformative.

   They say in their testimonies that they gain a deeper level of awareness, as well as

   practical tools and strategies for leadership, organisational and personal

   development. They also say that from the start (even in the chemistry check

   meeting), a connection is easily established with me as their coach, allowing them to

   be open, reflective, trusting and authentic in the coaching partnership. They find the

   coaching experience motivating and confidence-boosting even while exploring areas

   that might be challenging and out of their comfort zone."
   

4. Which coaching question, model or tool brings the most insight? "The Emotional Intelligence Psychometric assessments, especially those that are 360

   Degree, bring a lot of insight for the client. As part of this review: self-observation,

   seeking perspectives from trustworthy others and self-reflection practices help the

   client gain the insights they are looking for while embedding the changes they are

   seeking, as arising from coaching."

5. Which topics come up most frequently in your coaching?

   
   

   “I am an Emotional Intelligence Practitioner, qualified to deliver two psychometrics:

   the EQi.20 and the ECR (Emotional Capital Report). Topics that frequently come up

   tend to touch on making changes that have at their foundation, higher levels of

   emotional intelligence such as self-awareness, emotional expression, self-regulation,

   empathy, assertiveness, self-actualisation, stress management. Areas that come up

   time and time again, for all people who come to coaching, include communication,

   influence, conflict resolution, time and energy habits, life/work balance, managing

   teams, managing poor performance, managing upwards, career development and

   life planning."
   

6. What is the biggest lesson you’ve learned from coaching others? 

   “I have learned so much from coaching others that I am convinced the coach learns as

   much as the client from the coaching experience. My main discovery is that people

   have enormous potential within themselves and coaching can help them become

   who they want to be in their everyday lives both at work and outside of work. The

   coaching process itself, because of the client’s untapped potential, is just so

   transformative. Many of my clients who genuinely invest their time and energy both

   inside coaching sessions and more importantly outside them, are transformed.

   
   

   I learned quite early on in my coaching career that the relationship between my

   client and I, is a collaborative partnership. We affect each other within this

   partnership. I had thought originally, that coaching is all about the client, and the

   coach stays out of it. In a way that was something that attracted me to take on

   coaching others at work back in 2008. I now realise I had never been coached

   myself: I was responsible for hiring coaches, designing and evaluating coaching

   solutions, but had no personal experience. I have learned through coaching others,

   and through supervision, that my expectations were absolutely not only wrong, but

   impossible. We are two human beings coming together in a partnership, with our

   own energy, experiences, biases and all of that messy human stuff. We do alwaysfind our way forward led by the client, and that is the truly transformational aspect

   of coaching both for the client and also the coach.

   
   

   And one small addendum to what I have learned from coaching others is, because

   the focus is on the client as a human being, it absolutely does not matter who they

   are, what their background, what occupation they currently hold or where they

   work. From the start of my coaching experience at work, I coached people and

   leaders within the organisation that I worked for, as an internal coach, and they

   were as varied as could possibly be from senior directors to front-line General

   Operatives, to Lab Technicians, to Engineers as well as those working in IT, Finance,

   HR, Sales and Marketing, Procurement, Logistics. This has stayed with me

   throughout my career in coaching: I do not need to be familiar with the role the

   client holds, nor their organisation, and this is contrary to what people may think.

   Really and truly, the human being is the focus and coaching is the process. Of course

   an added bonus from coaching others is insights into the organisation within which

   the client may work. I really love that, especially for me in recent years, the public

   sector in Ireland. I have learned so much about how hard people work within that

   sector and how dedicated and passionate they are not only about their work but also

   their continued professional development."

7. Can you tell us about your favorite moment throughout your coaching career? “I am so sure that all coaches have many, many favourite coaching moments,

   especially coaches like me who have been formally conducting coaching since 2008.

   I say formally, because in my roles in HR/T&D leadership, I have been coaching

   leaders, managers, individuals and teams since I joined the profession in 1988.

   
   

   My favourite moments are always when the client finds out that they ‘are enough’,

   that they are powerful beyond what they previously could believe. They come to the

   realisation that they absolutely can take back power over themselves and their lives

   and they can put the changes in place they are seeking, to help release their inner

   potential. It’s often a subtle shift in thinking or mind-set. It’s a sort of light-bulb

   moment for the client and it is just mesmerising to witness with them. I treasure

   those moments and reflect on them after coaching to see how they came about so

   that I can keep honing my coaching practice to support all of my wonderful clients."

8. What advice would you give someone starting their journey as a coachee? "Be open, kind to yourself, stay curious and go where the journey takes you. Try very

   hard to put the time and effort into preparing for coaching, staying fully present in

   the coaching session itself, following up after the session and most importantly of all, practising, learning, reflecting, observing in between coaching sessions. Believe that

   ‘you are enough’, that it might be a long-life journey so don’t expect a significant

   change straight away, that all new skills take persistence, practice, and resilience to

   embed. And know that your coach is there with you, fully motivated and supportive,

   all the way during coaching and beyond when the partnership is officially over. I

   always offer my clients, whether organisational or private, ongoing support and they

   sometimes do come back for it, which I love."
   

9. What is your favorite motivational quote or mantra?

   I have 3:

   
   

   “To be kind is more important than to be right. Many times what people need is

   not a brilliant mind that speaks but a special heart that listens”

   (F. Scott Fitzgerald)

   
   

   and

   
   

   ‘I am enough’

   
   

   and

   
   

   ‘Be curious, not judgmental’ (attributed to Walt Whitman)
   

10. What’s your favorite book, podcast, or movie related to personal development? "A favourite of mine is a video clip that I have used in leadership development

    workshops and also recommended to my clients for coaching as well. I first came

    across it when I watched the drama series, and then when one of my Influencers,

    Prof Amy Edmonson, posted that she also uses it in her university lectures, I was

    quite chuffed to be aligned with her. It is my favourite video clip as it is not only

    funny, emotional, endearing, it also helps demonstrate one of my mantras: ‘Be

    curious not judgmental’. It is the *‘darts scene’ clip from the AppleTV+ series, Ted

    Lasso. I absolutely loved the Ted Lasso series for many reasons, one of which is that

    it is a really poignant study on teams, leadership, humanity and change. And highly

    entertaining, I may add.

    (*note: if you watch it there is some offensive language early on, but keep going)"

    
    

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At Kōkua Hub, we’re proud to work with coaches like Anne Marie. Get in touch today to see how coaching can elevate your organization.