Leadership effectiveness · For one healthcare leader
Executive coaching
Leadership effectiveness for the top team, for the senior leader carrying too much, with nowhere safe to say it out loud
Chiefs, Deputy Chiefs, CNOs, Medical Directors, MOHs, VPs, CEOs, Administrators and Administrative Directors, the people the system leans on hardest, with the fewest places to be honest.
Led by Sandeep Aujla, MA, PCC · Former CHRO
Move away from
- • The exhaustion of carrying staffing crises, board pressure and life-and-death decisions with no one to talk to
- • The loneliness of being the one everyone looks to, while you have nowhere to turn
- • Strategy that sounds bold in the boardroom but stalls the moment you hit the floor
- • The quiet fear that you're running out of steam, and the even quieter fear of what happens if you admit it
Move toward
- • A thinking partner who knows healthcare, and has your back without an agenda
- • Tough calls made with steadier confidence, even when the data's messy and the stakes are high
- • Execution that actually holds past the next staffing crisis, audit or leadership change
- • A career you still want to be in five years from now, not one that's slowly costing you everything
Decision tool for fit · About 2 minutes
What kind of support would help most right now?
You may know something needs attention, but not yet know the right form of support. Ten short questions will help you clarify the challenge, the level at which it sits, and the type of support most likely to help, whether that is coaching, team coaching, advisory, a learning program, speaking, or a retreat.
- Name the challenge and the level it actually sits at
- See which form of support fits, and why
- Get a clear next step, with no score and no sales pitch
The cost of waiting
What a stuck senior leader costs you, every year
A capable executive who is stalled, misaligned, or losing altitude is not a neutral event. Their friction compounds through every direct report, every delayed decision, and every unresolved conflict. Move the sliders to see the drag in dollars.
Salary plus benefits and variable pay.
Meta-analyses of leader effectiveness typically cite 20 to 40 percent.
Estimated annual cost
$182,000
per year
- Leader productivity$50,000
- Ripple across reports$132,000
Illustrative estimate for internal conversation. Does not include turnover, missed strategic bets, or reputational cost, all of which typically dwarf productivity drag.
The Framework
Framework
Trusted insight
Without Trusted insight, uncertainty devours progress. You hesitate when stakes are highest, and your team feels the wobble. With it, you become the compass others trust, reading yourself, the room, and the system with equal clarity. You anticipate hidden risks before they become crises, and frame choices that build both short-term wins and long-term advantage.
Trusted activation
Without Trusted activation, even your best ideas die quietly. Alignment frays across clinical, administrative and ministry lines, and you risk leading in a vacuum. With it, you gain faster buy-in, more resilient teams, and stronger sponsorship for your initiatives. The right people don't just understand your direction, they commit and move with you, because your message ignites action, not just agreement.
Trusted implementation
Without Trusted implementation, brilliant strategies collapse into disillusionment. Initiatives fragment across sites and shifts, and constant firefighting drains both energy and credibility. With it, your vision becomes reality, consistently. You mobilize teams with clarity, rhythm and shared ownership, reducing rework, protecting focus, and creating visible progress without burnout.
Who this page is for
You might be reading this for yourself, or for someone else
About a third of the people who reach out are sourcing on behalf of someone they lead, partner with, or report to. All of these doorways are welcome.
The executive themselves
You're the Chief, Health Commissioner, CNO, MOH, Medical Director, VP, CEO or Administrator, and you want a confidential thinking partner.
An HR or People & Culture leader
You're sourcing coaching for a senior leader and need someone who can hold the system, the unions and the clinical context.
A CEO or board sponsor
You're investing in a successor, a stretched VP, or a new appointee and want measurable lift.
A peer or trusted colleague
You see someone carrying too much and want to point them somewhere serious, discreet, and healthcare-literate.
When a sponsor initiates the engagement
Invested in their growth: the ROI is in the three-way partnership
When a CEO, board, or senior leader sponsors this engagement, we build a three-way alliance that protects confidentiality and creates complete transparency. Goals are co-developed with the client and informed by stakeholder interviews with the sponsor and HR lead. The sponsor defines success metrics upfront. Every month, the client, coach, and sponsor meet for 30 minutes so feedback flows in real time, expectations stay aligned, and there are no surprises. The client is present for every conversation where coaching insights are shared with the sponsor, honouring ICF confidentiality expectations.
- Stakeholder interviews at the start to map the real leadership context
- No more than three targeted goals, with success metrics set by the sponsor
- Monthly triad check-ins, ongoing feedback, support, and recalibration
- Client present in every sponsor conversation, full ICF confidentiality honoured
- No surprises, no hidden agendas, just aligned partnership
A capability we're often hired for
Strategy → execution, owned by the leader
Translating a strategic plan into seamless execution is where most senior leaders quietly stall. We work the full arc, sharpening the strategic narrative, naming the two or three key impact metrics that actually move the system, sequencing change with clinical and operational realities, and building the leader's own change-management muscle so execution holds past the next staffing crisis or budget cycle. Grounded in evidence (I-O Psychology, organizational design), informed by years of executive practice, and always contextualized to your service.
- From strategic plan to a leader-owned execution roadmap
- Two to three key impact metrics that signal real progress
- Change management built into how the leader leads, not bolted on
- Cross-stakeholder alignment: board, MOH/ministries, medical staff, unions
What's included
Clear scope, real work
- 6-month engagement. Weekly 50-minute sessions for the first 6 weeks, then every other week.
- Psychometric assessments (leadership, communication, resilience)
- Unlimited email support between sessions
- Pre/Post Leadership Evaluation, measurable ROI
- Optional 360 with key stakeholders
Questions
Before you ask
Is this confidential?+
Entirely. Everything discussed stays between client and coach. Only your name, email, and coaching hours are retained on a confidential file, per ICF requirements. The single exception is if you indicate intent to harm yourself or others, or share something illegal within the organization. When a sponsor is involved, the coach uses insights from sessions to facilitate feedback meetings, and you are present for every one of those conversations.
How is success measured?+
At the outset, you and your sponsor each rate your current effectiveness against the coaching goals. Those same ratings are repeated at the close of the engagement to evaluate progress. You also complete a Pre/Post Leadership Evaluation against the Nine Accelerators, plus the outcomes you name in session one.
What does the engagement look like and how long does it run?+
A continuous six-month engagement. Weekly 50-minute sessions for the first 6 weeks, then every other week. Urgent requests get a response within 24 hours. You book sessions using a private link, or hold a recurring slot on the calendar. A close-out session at the end helps you consolidate gains and name next steps.
How are goals set, and how does the sponsor stay involved?+
The engagement starts with stakeholder interviews (client, sponsor, HR lead, and any others you agree on). The coach synthesizes what she hears and shares it back with you and the sponsor. Together we confirm no more than three targeted goals. The sponsor names the success metrics. Client, coach, and sponsor meet for a 30-minute check-in every month, so feedback flows in real time and there are no surprises.
What assessments are included?+
At the start, you complete one or more assessments (leadership, communication, thinking preferences, resilience) that build self-awareness and help tailor the coaching to your context. All data stays inside the coaching relationship.
Is this therapy, advice, or performance management?+
None of the above. Coaching is a forward-focused, solution-focused partnership. The coach brings proven methods and honest challenge, the client owns the growth, and the sponsor supports it with timely feedback. Results depend on your commitment between sessions, not on being told what to do.
What about rescheduling, coach availability, and cancellation?+
Sessions can be rescheduled with at least 48 hours' notice. The coach reserves up to two weeks of unavailability across the engagement, with a month's notice, and any missed time is added back to the contract. If you elect to end the engagement early for reasons other than a substantiated ethical breach, amounts paid are non-refundable, reflecting the time, preparation, and scheduling committed to you.
What happens at the end of six months?+
The Agreement runs for an initial six-month term and can be renewed by mutual written agreement. Most clients either renew to work on the next altitude of leadership or step into a lighter cadence of quarterly integration sessions.
How do I know where I'm leading from right now?+
The Leadership Difference Pyramid maps the climb from Drifter through Scrambler and Integrator to Orchestrator, the altitude at which strategy, structure and systems carry your influence instead of your inbox. Combined with a confidential consultation, you'll have an evidence-based read on which Accelerator to engineer first.
Watch
The Leader's Lens for the leader carrying too much
Short clips from our library, practical thinking on judgement, influence and execution at the senior healthcare seat.
Watch the full Executive coaching playlist
In their words
What changes for the healthcare leaders we work with
Names and organizations withheld by request, healthcare leadership work is confidential. Attributed quotes available on request under NDA.
I had the privilege of working with Sandeep as my executive coach, and the experience has been transformative. Sandeep is an exceptional coach, advisor, and strategist, with a unique talent for providing insightful solutions and guidance. Her coaching has significantly contributed to my professional growth and development. Sandeep's ability to understand complex challenges and offer practical strategies is unparalleled. I highly recommend Sandeep to any individual or team looking to elevate their performance and achieve their goals. Her expertise and dedication make her an invaluable asset to anyone fortunate enough to work with her.
The coaching experience with Sandeep was incredibly insightful. I learned a lot about myself and how I can impact the world around me. I appreciated having Sandeep's partnership to help me do the important work of reflecting, processing, and adopting optimal behaviours and mindsets.
Sandeep has provided me with coaching that supported me in navigating the challenges of being relatively new to a team where there were pre-existing expectations of me and my role. Having her external perspective in navigating the team dynamics was incredibly helpful. My coaching sessions with Sandeep have been instrumental in helping me grow as a leader.
I am grateful for Sandeep's coaching and feel that I have been able to learn a lot from her. I look forward to continuing to work with her.
Sandeep, thank you for your brilliance and listening ear in the context of safety to be totally vulnerable. I feel so much more grounded, and I feel I now know exactly the message and next steps. You unlocked me!
When I first became a Director, the organization kindly offered me a leadership coach, and I went through their 12-week program. But what Sandeep offered in our very first session was way greater and deeper than the entire time spent in previous coaching programs. She understood the crux of the issues and identified what mattered most so that the coaching plan was focused on that and not something superficial.
Sandeep is a remarkable coach and person. She has strong values and takes the time required to structure her coaching engagements with integrity and to assure that they have the maximum chance of success. Any leader would be fortunate to have Sandeep as part of their team.
Sandeep is exceptional in holding the space for me to process my feelings and ideas and also helped me determine my next steps in a way that has led to my current success and also that felt authentic to me.
My sessions with Sandeep always made me feel validated and clear. Grateful for her!
As a result of working with Sandeep, I have gained enough knowledge and resources that will help me thrive in my career. Every session was filled with open, honest, and meaningful conversations, which helped me stay committed to my priorities. During and after the full cycle of coaching sessions, not only I, but others around me started observing changes in me that have bolstered perceptions of my strategic leadership.
The depth of questions that Sandeep asks and the insights she helped me reach were impressive! If you feel you could do with some clarity in navigating the current uncertain times, I warmly recommend Sandeep. You can't go wrong with her.
Sandeep is an extraordinary coach and leadership advisor. She has created powerful, elegant tools and frameworks to help leaders and their teams make breakthroughs in their performance. She is in the top 1% of the top 1% of coaches in terms of her ability to help clients focus on what matters most, gain new awareness and insights, and choose the best path forward.
Sandeep has a unique coaching approach, and I think it's because, unlike other coaches from my past, she has served in senior leadership roles, so she is able to understand and navigate the tensions in a way someone else who hasn't experienced it can't. I'm really grateful that she was referred to me. Our coaching experience has left a lasting impression on me.
Sandeep opened my eyes to what was possible for my team and me. She is incredibly knowledgeable and experienced and guided me through questions and insights that changed the trajectory for me and my team. Best learning experience. Also, love that I can always refer to her videos as well.
Book directly
Book an exploratory call
A confidential 30-minute conversation to understand your context and explore whether this is the right fit. Pick a time directly in my calendar.
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