Julia Whitney

Executive & Leadership Coach, Whitney and Associates

Julia Whitney is a design leader turned executive coach. She works with leaders to help them make the most of what they’ve got. Her client list includes leaders and leadership teams from AWS, Autodesk, Bumble, Condé Nast, The Economist, IDEO and more.

Julia brings her own experience as a board level leader to her coaching practice: She led design teams for more than 20 years, in both the US and the UK, most recently as GM and Executive Creative Director for the BBC’s 150 person User Experience and Design department. She speaks at leadership conferences and is honoured to partner with Clearleft on their Leading Design Retreats and Group Coaching Programmes.

Julia’s passionate about tackling climate change and is on a mission to coach 1,000 climate leaders by 2035.

Julia Whitney

Masterclasses

From Combat to Collaboration: Deepen your Conflict Competence

Is your team's performance sabotaged by in-fighting and personal attacks? Or are you all too polite, only saying what you really think once you've left the meeting? These are just a couple of examples of what being bad at conflict looks like. And being bad at conflict is a major obstacle to high team performance.

In this Masterclass we’ll explore how to cultivate conflict competence to fuel high performance, instead of derail it. We’ll look at the four most common types of workplace conflict, and discuss how to address each when they come up. And we’ll talk about different styles of dealing with conflict, and how to work constructively with each style when you encounter it.

Julia will begin the Masterclass by giving a short presentation to introduce the concepts we’ll be working with. She’ll then facilitate small and large group discussions, designed to help you think through the kinds of conflict you’re experiencing at work, and learn from the experience of your peers. By the end you’ll be better at mining conflict for it’s gems, and diffusing it’s destructive potential.

Now sold out

A Coaching Approach to Design Leadership 1: Coaching Skills to get the best out of your team, your peers, and even your boss

Day in and day out, Design Leaders need to manage up, down and sideways. You need to influence your boss, your peers and your team, and work collaboratively with them to help solve shared problems, big and small. Bringing coaching skills into your interactions at work can give you a big leg up, and can help you build trust and understanding along the way.

In this Masterclass, the first of a two part series on a Coaching Approach to Design Leadership, we’ll focus on deepening the skills that are the foundation of the art of coaching: powerful questioning, “level 5” listening and reflecting back with proficiency. Each of these skills is useful in and of itself, but in combination they’re even more powerful. And when you use Coaching Skills along with the G.R.O.W. model - the topic of the second Masterclass in this two part series - you’ll be amazed at the impact you can have.

In this Masterclass, Julia will give a short presentation to set the scene, then lead you in several small and large group exercises to practice this deeper level of skill. In the process, you’ll coach and be coached by other design leaders, while getting real-time, actionable feedback to develop your coaching abilities.

Now sold out

A Coaching Approach to Design Leadership 2: Helping your people GROW: use a simple coaching model to supercharge their development

There’s nothing more rewarding than helping your people reach more and more of their full potential. But too often we leaders fail to carve out the time and headspace for high quality development conversations. Or we default to imposing our own views, advice and direction: when actually, helping our people find their own answers would be much more effective, and empowering.

In this Masterclass, the second of a two part series on A Coaching Approach to Design Leadership, we’ll focus on a simple but powerful framework for development conversations with your reports: the G.R.O.W. model. It’s equally useful in an hour-long development conversation, or a quick 15 minute one. When you combine the G.R.O.W model with the coaching skills you learned in the first Masterclass of this two-parter, you’ll have an even greater impact. Your people will feel empowered and grateful.

At the start of this Masterclass, Julia will give a short presentation to set the context, and introduce each element in the model. She’ll then lead you in several small group exercises to practice putting this framework to use. In the process, you’ll coach and be coached by other design leaders, while getting real-time, actionable feedback to develop your skill in applying the model.

Now sold out

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