Hazel Brown

With the restructuring of the Executive Development Team at ABF plc in 2019, and having moved to the north-west in early 2018 to support family, I decided to exit the business, regarding this as an opportunity to take a step back, reflect, re-balance and re-prioritise.

Around completing renovations on the Victorian house we bought in Southport (doing the vast majority of work ourselves), I have undertaken various short-term project management and coaching assignments in the last 5 years and have completed the Practitioner Diploma in Executive Coaching (self-funded - details below).

Assignments have included:

• 3 periods back at ABF: mentoring and supporting the new team in 2020, and 2 further periods stepping in to gapped posts to assist in managing and coordinating leadership development activities and programmes (most recently in 2025).

• Feedback and coaching to Adobe account executives as part of a team of coaches engaged to support the Adobe Ambition Development Project.

• Project management support to a heritage aviation assurance programme.

Formalised and further developed my coaching experience by completing the internationally recognised AoEC Practitioner Diploma in Executive Coaching.

Enhanced skills included:

• Partnering with the client to create a safe, supportive and non-judgmental environment within which the conversation will happen, establishing boundaries and the client's desired outcomes.
• Holding the client's goal and agenda at the forefront of the conversation - maintaining a mindset that is open, curious, flexible and client-centered, focused on listening actively and maintaining presence.
• Managing emotion with compassion and understanding.
• Upholding ethics and standards.
• Exploration of a range of coaching models and methodologies.
• Creation of a personal coaching model aligned with personal style and values.

Worked as part of the Group Executive Development Team engaging with business units across the group’s global portfolio to develop and deliver leadership development training programmes, and support participants through their personal development journeys.

I initially joining the central Executive Development Team from the Ingredients division of the business, as the project co-ordinator working across all programmes. Over time, my role evolved allowing me to take more senior responsibilities and a deeper involvement across fewer programmes.

In my coordinator role, I was responsible for:

• The planning, execution and management of all workshop and programme logistics, materials, participant psychometrics and assessments.
• Liaising and communicating with participants, facilitators, suppliers, venues and guests.
• Addressing queries, problem solving and trouble shooting.
• Tracking, maintaining and creating reports related to executive talent data.

With the development of my role, my increased responsibilities included:

• Partnering on the design and delivery of content.
• Stakeholder engagement and management.
• Direct support to participants on development plan collation and execution.

When I left ABF at the end of 2019, through my work across a range of programmes, I had:

• Helped to transform and develop over 250 business leaders.
• Co-ordinated and been involved in delivering high impact development opportunities within the UK and internationally (programmes held in Brazil, Vietnam, Australia, US, India, Thailand, Malawi).
• Been instrumental in embedding a much stronger focus on reflection as a tool to facilitate learning and encourage action from insight. This still forms a key part of each workshop/ programme today.

Supporting the CEO to achieve his objectives, responsibilities and core requirements included:

• Managing diaries, scheduling meetings and co-ordinating UK and international travel arrangements.
• Preparing reports, presentations and correspondence for internal and external stakeholders.
• Organising UK and overseas travel, and co-ordinating logistics.
• Handling confidential information with professionalism and discretion.
• Acting as a confidential sounding board for the CEO and for office colleagues.
• Maintaining excellent time management and organisation across competing priorities.
• Anticipating problems, acting quickly to resolve them, and responding quickly to changing priorities.
• Working calmly under pressure, and in a fast-paced environment, while maintaining attention to detail.
• Managing internal and external relationships to keep work moving smoothly.
• Researching information to support decisions, and prepare reports.