Clara Woodburn

Clara is an Executive Coach who operates at the Exco level across several industries.  She consistently becomes a sounding board for executives who often struggle to elevate their leadership to the next level when their boss, the CEO and peers sit on Exco alongside them as well.  Clara’s clients have spanned Industrial, Mining, Engineering, Financial Services, Retail and Education both in South Africa and other Emerging Markets in different time zones.

Trained in various 360 assessment tools (The Leadership Circle, Lominger), Clara’s most effective approach is to conduct a thorough 360 before commencing a medium-term commitment of coaching.  These 360 tools assess key leadership competencies, while uncovering leadership behavioural habits and assumptions that could limit leadership effectiveness.  Clara carefully co-creates with her clients a development plan out of the 360 insights and systematically works through these agreements using the plan as a GPS.  The executive coaching can be contained and impactful over a committed 6-month period but often also extends beyond following the progression of an executive’s continued career success.

Clara is a qualified Integral Coach from UCT Business School.  The integral approach is holistic, maximizing potential both as a leader but also as an individual, addressing the body, mind and soul so change is fully embodied and integrated.  With this background, Clara is comfortable coaching off piste and exploring the humanness of her clients, while always keeping what they committed to changing as the compass and looping firmly back as they close the relationship. 

Born and educated in the UK, Clara has subsequently lived and worked in Egypt, UK, US before now living with her husband and children in South Africa.  Clara’s career began in executive search which spanned three different continents over a decade.  In New York, she transitioned to VP, Human Resources within a top tier US investment bank.  When she moved to South Africa, she changed tack and pioneered building a wellness business which she led for another decade and successfully sold 5 years ago. Interacting with senior executives in search, followed by addressing burn-out and wellness with up and coming executives, has segued her skills fluently to coaching which she experiences as the confluence of her life experiences.