Testimonials

I approached Nicola to prepare an important project initiation proposal that was required urgently by a valued client. I was impressed by the fact that she rapidly understood our requirements, researched and assimilated the relevant content quickly and accurately and then structured and presented the report in a professional manner that allowed us to finesse it easily and quickly in-house. Despite the content being outside of her usual sector, she showed remarkable flexibility and skill and turned around a complex proposal in just a few days. I was highly impressed and will definitely call on her services again.

Nicola is an amazing executive coach, insightful, empathetic and gets the temperature right in regards to constructive and meaningful challenge.

My mentoring relationship with Nicola really has transformed my working life. I have successfully navigated many different opportunities and secured a new role which is right for me and my family. She has not only allowed me the space to really explore my personal goals, but provided a valuable external perspective on my relationships at work. I have learned the value of listening and taking a step back from problems from her, but been supported in making my own choices and in feeling confident that they are right for me. She is a skilled mentor and coach, an experienced people manager and role model for leadership. I have especially valued her insights into management thinking from a clinical perspective. Her clinical background but wider NHS experience gives her a unique perspective in mentoring a senior doctor such as myself. Her help has been invaluable in enabling me to work out what my goals are and achieve them.

I have worked with Nicola on a range of projects and would recommend her without hesitation

I attended a talk by Nicola entitled ‘Making sense of the post 2013 NHS commissioning landscape’ at the Clinical Pharmacy Congress in 2015. Nicola was able to remove some of the mystery and explain much of the jargon used to explain the fast changing structure and landscape of the modern NHS. She was able to do this in an encouraging manner, motivating myself and many of my colleagues to learn more about an issue we have tended to shy away from. In many senses, she is a miracle worker!

Nicola is a highly energetic and knowledgeable colleague with deep experience in the NHS especially around organisational and governance issues.

We used thiNKnow Ltd to facilitate a ‘bridge building’ session between the CCG and our local Primary Care Federation. The session was well planned and executed – and has made a real difference to local partnership working . Thank you.

The Coliseum Theatre is about to undergo significant organisational change and we needed support to develop a ‘Change and Transition Plan’.

We could not have found someone more suitable to guide and challenge us than Nicola M. King.

She acted as a ‘critical friend’, fulfilling an advisory role to help us to develop our thinking and our approach to organisational change, she sensitively built on our current practice and ideas and created the narrative to summarise our change strategy.

She also offered advice on how best to present the different elements of the Transition and Change Plan and draw together the information needed (through discussions and from a range of source material) into a compelling document, including the creation of a visual timeline, which will give confidence to our funders.

As a result of working with Nicola the Coliseum now has a clear and coherent “Change and Transition Plan” that fully meets our needs, including a clear visual timeline through an iterative change process.

Nicola provided timely and perceptive feedback based on best practice at all stages of the process. She has strong ability to create high quality written drafts within agreed (short) timeframes that enabled informed discussion that sharpened the content of the plan and she was highly responsive when sections of the plan needed updating.

Nicola proved to be efficient, sensitive and highly knowledgeable, and provided excellent consultancy support.

Nicola led a development session with the board, which was pitched to take account of the group’s diverse backgrounds.

Her style was very engaging and by using a mixture of reference to key documents/legislation, her own experience and encouraging the sharing personal reflections from the participants, she was able to convey powerful messages about good governance.

I would highly recommend her to any organisation planning some board level development.

The Board of Trustees (which I chair) of a regional theatre recently commissioned Nicola King to undertake a full and independent review of the company. There were worrying staffing issues against the background of major organisational change, and we wanted to better understand the underlying problems. As part of her review Nicola considered a fair amount of documentation and also set up a full staff listening exercise which comprised an online survey and a great many face-to-face and telephone interviews. The response rate to the survey and the offer of interviews was by any measure very high indeed.

At the outset what impressed me in particular was Nicola’s immediate grasp of the task facing her and the clarity of thought with which she proceeded. She discussed in great detail both the proposed methodology and reporting structures of the review and reached full agreement with us as her client. She then “got on with it” and over two or three weeks accumulated an enormous amount of data, which she then distilled and presented to the Board by way of initial findings. There followed a meeting and workshop with the entire theatre company which Nicola steered with huge sensitivity. It was clear that her listening and questioning skills are very highly developed.

In communicating with me, the whole Board, individual staff members and the whole company Nicola demonstrated impressive understanding not only of the issues at stake but also of the wider context. Her use of appropriate verbal register, her objective style and her questioning approach and factual delivery were also complimented by her excellent sense of humour and a down-to-earth quality that everyone could relate to.

We have now gained not only a comprehensive report and a good many sensible and achievable recommendations but also a sense of a job done extremely effectively. We have an agreed way forward that is well signposted and clear. A very very positive and worthwhile experience all round, one which is clearly going to benefit the whole organisation. Thank you!

Nicola was incredibly quick to grasp what was required and gave expert advice. She followed this up with further support. Her explanations were clear and enabled us to achieve our aims. Her friendly and efficient manner made something daunting very enjoyable. Thank you Nicola!

See the conversation and context of Shaun’s comment here https://twitter.com/ShaunLintern/status/968250512956063744

We commissioned Nicola King as part of our CCGs’ merger programme in Coventry and Warwickshire, specifically to support the development of the new Constitution for the merged CCG in this regard.

We found Nicola to be highly knowledgeable on the subject matter. She has great relationship building skills and was incredibly accessible and easy to work with. She was a great support as we navigated our way through the different viewpoints of key stakeholders to generate a new draft Constitution, which met Members’ approval, in a short period of time.

I would have no hesitation in recommending Nicola to anyone in need of governance support.