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Michelle Smith

Michelle Barve

Executive Coach

Michelle is an experienced executive coach and facilitator who helps leaders accelerate their growth. Drawing on her background in organisational learning, programme design, she creates practical coaching experiences that enable diverse talent to thrive and achieve lasting impact.

Country: United Kingdom

Sector experience: FMCG 

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Background

Michelle is an experienced Executive Coach and Facilitator with a strong background in professional learning & development. Her deep understanding of organisational dynamics and leadership challenges combined with her practical, results-oriented coaching style, makes her an ideal ‘thinking partner’ for those looking to accelerate their career trajectory and hone their leadership identity.

She has spent the past decade across a variety of key roles within the ECC business and is regarded as pivotal in supporting our operational expansion globally, navigating technical transformations to support our learning interventions, championing our growing international coach team and overseeing employee learning and development. Furthermore, she was elected to serve as Trustee Director on the board of the ECC Employee-Owned Trust.

As Design Lead at ECC she’s focused on partnering with clients to co-create transformative impact-led talent programmes that empower women, accelerate equity, and propel diverse talent forward.

Her expertise in educational theory and organisational learning & development ensures sessions are client-focused and impactful. Her interests in neuroscience and wellbeing strategies further enhance her toolkit and approach, enabling her to foster environments where everyone can thrive and reach their full potential.

 
 
Coaching Style

Michelle views the coaching relationship as a partnership of equals, using a solution focused style that helps clients be intentional about the change they’d like to see realised and proactively working towards these goals. The coaching conversations provide a dedicated space to explore what can often feel like insurmountable ambitions and break them down into actionable plans, concentrating on small shifts that make a big difference.

Her compassionate yet direct style encourages clients to ask challenging questions of themselves, leading to real breakthroughs and encouraging clients to step out of their comfort zones. Adept at creating a psychologically safe environment and building trust, her coachees report this has been paramount in aiding these transformational changes and stepping into their leadership style.

Where appropriate or desired, she can skilfully integrate a vast array of leadership coaching tools where beneficial, such as weaving neuroscience principles into her coaching, using strengths-based theoretical frameworks to accelerate performance and enhance reputation, or using models rooted in positive psychology to help clients overcome internal barriers.

Coachees often describe her as honest, curious, and insightful, mentioning they’ve valued the accountability and motivation the coaching sessions offer.

 

 

Special Interests

  • Leadership presence and impact

  • Influencing and presentation skills

  • Women in Leadership

  • Self-confidence and motivation - The power of mindset

  • Maintaining equilibrium and wellbeing under pressure and through transitions




Training & Qualifications

  • Michelle is committed to continuous professional development, regular supervision, and reflective practice

  • Professional Coach Recognition Programme, ECC

  • Leader as Coach certification, ECC

  • Learning & Development Diploma, CIPD

  • Applied Neuroscience for Coaches, The Collaborators

  • Full member, Association for Coaching

  • Associate member, CIPD

  • Bachelor of Music Education, Trinity College Dublin

  • Two-years experience as Trustee Director of ECC’s Employee Owned Trust

 

Current Clients

  • As an Executive Coach and programme Facilitator, Michelle has recently worked within the following organisations, primarily to accelerate their future leaders: Reckitt, Deliveroo, Morgan Stanley, Telereal Trillium, Derwent, Space & Time.

  • Her recent programme design work includes strong partnerships with EssilorLuxottica, Bank of America, UBS, Deloitte, Simmons & Simmons, Herbert Smith Freehills, and Stevenson Harwood.

  • Michelle has also hosted panels on topics such as work/life balance for organisations like One Loud Voice for Women and volunteers as a coach with MyBigCareer, supporting young people in exploring their future career ambitions.
Incredibly valuable and insightful - really helped me better understand what I can do to drive value and be successful within my organisation and helped me identify where my challenges may be along with a plan on how to address them. Excellent coaching!
Managing Director
Financial Services
All employees deserve to get an attentive, committed and improvement focused coach, and all businesses deserve to get improvement from investing their employees. This coaching experience delivered on both those things - it’s the easiest decision you can make
Head of Social Strategy
Toy Construction Company
The six sessions I had with my ECC Coach changed my perspective of coaching. I was initially uncertain (and possibly sceptical) about the benefits of coaching but my coach read me very well and knew when to coax a response out from me by being encouraging and when to firmly push me to see the benefits of reframing some of my previously held positions.
Head of Legal
International Property Group
I found my ECC coaching sessions incredibly valuable – for the unique and necessary space I was seeking as a sole proprietor to feel heard, understood and connected to a peer in business. My coaching experience provided a safe space where I could be the real me, and provided a relationship I could truly trust. Thank you ECC.
Manager
Creative Retail Agency
The coaches at ECC are commercial, pragmatic and highly focused. The coaching they provide on an individual basis has given valuable insight and helped our senior executives to gain greater perspective in terms of managing relationships, prioritising, strategic thinking, influencing and confidence.
Senior Leader
Multinational Retailing Company
Schroders-1 Deliveroo-1 A&O Deloitte Morgan Stanley-1