Victoria Macpherson

Victoria brings a unique combination of a traditional corporate background with a grounded, intuitive, and person-centred coaching style. Her 10 years in investment banking means she understands the demands of high-performance leadership, and her 15 years as a head-hunter, followed by 3 years establishing and running her own executive search firm, enables her to support clients in successfully navigating their career.

Supportive, calm, and centred, Victoria creates a safe space within which her clients can take a step back, become open and curious, and have the time to fully reflect. She believes that who we are, where we are at in life, and the choices we are making, influences our behaviour and how we show up as leaders. This informs and shapes our leadership, the impact on our teams and the people around us in every area of our lives. Her Gestalt-influenced coaching style, along with her intuition and empathy, shines a light on the client’s conscious and subconscious self, enabling them to see things from a different perspective and understand themselves and the impact they have on the world around them. As one previous client puts it: “It was like being given the key to the door of another world that I knew existed, but I just hadn’t been able to figure out how to open it up.”

She works holistically with the complex individual in front of her, supporting them on their journey of discovery, challenging their perceptions, and keeping them anchored in the moment. Gestalt means 'pattern' or 'whole' and in coaching, the emphasis is on the coach relating to you as a whole person, full of possibility. Clients develop a strong trust in Victoria and her insights, which allows them to be honest and reflective and to undertake the work required to find their own path and consider how they approach their corporate environment on a daily basis. Learnings become strongly embedded and have a pragmatic pay-off.

Victoria’s work is underpinned by her own life and business experience as well as her training with Gestalt Coaching and the Hogan Psychometric. She is also trained as a HeartMath coach and is interested in supporting her clients’ resilience and stress management. She works with a variety of leaders but especially those in the startup arena who are juggling the pressures of growing a business, raising capital and leading a team. She helps her clients navigate complex career demands to find a new, authentic balance in their lives.

Living in Dorset with her husband and two grown-up sons, Victoria’s personal life predominantly revolves around health, well-being and self-development. She enjoys exploring different cultures through travel, food, and languages, and speaks both French and Spanish. She is learning to sail and likes to take time out of her busy schedule to visit her house by the sea in France.

Victoria qualified as an Executive Coach in 2013 with the Academy of Executive Coaching (AOEC) and is also an accredited Gestalt Advanced Coaching Practitioner (European Programme 2017) and currently assists on the Advanced Gestalt programme with the AOEC. She is ICF EMCC Accredited. In 2013, she completed her Hogan Psychometric Practitioner training, gained her HeartMath Certification in 2019, and has been a Cruse Bereavement Volunteer since 2017.