Adaptive, empathetic and challenging. Jo will get the outcome that’s right for individuals and the organization, recognize challenges and concerns, and create thought processes that allow people to shine in their roles. She is an international coach with over 18 years’ coaching experience. Her training delivery is underpinned by strong coaching principles, which sets her apart from the crowd of ‘stand and deliver’ trainers.
Jo is adept at building strong working relationships with stakeholders and carefully balancing diverse priorities. Her experience of developing training programmes with impact spans 25 years, with a background in Further Education consultancy where she was responsible for creating national events and development programmes. A strong thread of quality and robustness runs through all of Jo’s projects and she was senior quality consultant for a range of colleges and prisons, ensuring that their learning programmes met national standards and improvement targets.
Jo is a great fit for challenging environments. For example, where strategy is shifting quickly, or where there is an organizational restructure or redundancies taking place. She is quick to uncover challenges, builds trust across teams and enables those individuals to work together to develop their own solutions.
Jo is the founder and Director of Optima Training (UK) Limited, providing leadership and management training and coaching for clients in both the UK and overseas, including: British Antarctic Survey; Department for International Trade; London South East Colleges Trust; Education and Training Foundation; and Association of Colleges.  
Jo started coaching in 2004 when she became the National Manager for Languages and Adult Learning as part of the government funded National Teaching and Learning Programme.
A key aim was to embed coaching across colleges in England and Jo was instrumental in developing coaching networks for teachers and managers. From 2008 – 2013 Jo worked as lead consultant for the Learning and Skills Improvement Service providing coaching and mentoring support to college and prison managers.
Her continuing work as a coach and trainer has seen her work at a strategic level, facilitating and leading strategy development meetings, joint venture development sessions and leading several government funded coaching and learning and development initiatives. She worked on the government funded GrowthAccelerator programme for three years and developed and delivered Leadership and Management workshops to growing businesses all over the UK. She also developed Masterclasses in Creative Thinking Techniques, Organisational Culture and Communication Skills as part of the Innovation strand of the programme.
Jo currently coaches a range of clients to support their leadership and management development journeys. Her coaching ethos is that ‘one size doesn’t fit all’ and she adapts her style and use of frameworks to not just support her coachees but challenge them on their development journey. She currently coaches managers (middle and senior) in both the UK and overseas in the following sectors: accountancy; banking; construction; further education; food manufacturing; marketing; and medical.
She also regularly delivers workshops on the following:
•    Making meetings matter – planning and leading effective meetings;
•    The resilient team – a group coaching led approach to supporting teams through the after-effects of the Pandemic;
•    Communication – various workshops covering self-awareness and communication; understanding barriers to communication; listening skills to build trust; effective feedback; and questioning techniques.
•    Managing stress – a group coaching led approach to identifying and managing stress as individuals and teams.
Jo is at a point in her career where she not only coaches and trains her own clients but also trains other individuals and organisations in how to further develop these skills.
Jo’s current roles and projects include:
•    Advanced Mentoring Skills for Experienced Mentors (government funded programme). Lead trainer and author of online learning materials for an online programme for middle and senior managers in the Further Education sector.
•    Workplace Coaching and Mentoring Skills. Lead trainer and coach for a blended programme supporting middle managers to develop their coaching and mentoring skills. This programme is being delivered to staff at a large construction company in the East Midlands.
•    Anchor Programme. Lead trainer and coach for an online programme supporting middle and senior managers at a large London college to develop teamwork and leadership skills. The programme also involves online group coaching for teams across the college with the aims of building cohesion and improving performance.
•    Thrive Programme. Lead trainer for a blended programme developing resilience and confidence in pre-university students whose studies have been negatively impacted by the Pandemic.