When Hayley Grocock, CEO of charity Wakefield District Sight Aid, first got in touch with ActionCOACH Wakefield, she was desperate for some business support and guidance.

“I felt very much like I’d been in crisis management mode permanently for two years” she admits.

This was her first experience as a CEO, and, along with the unique challenges of running a charity, she was feeling the stress and impact of working long hours on her family life.

The appeal to Hayley of ActionCOACH was having the support of someone outside of the charity sector, who could guide her in the business skills she wasn’t comfortable with. This included working on her mindset, setting goals and developing a systematic plan for achieving them.

The impact of business coach, Alex’s support has been invaluable to Hayley, right from the start. “It’s been massively valuable to work with somebody to develop techniques, build skills and develop strategies for doing the types of things that I would put off because I didn’t feel confident in them.”

Hayley has also relied on the extra accountability from her coach to make sure she was delivering on what she said she would. “If we’ve discussed something a fortnight ago and I’ve made no progress against it he’s going to ask me why not… because he wants me to work out what the barriers have been and how to overcome them before our next meeting.”

Whilst measuring the financial impact to the charity of a business coach isn’t as simple as a traditional business, Hayley says its financial health has improved significantly. “Usually, in any given year we’re in an operating cost deficit position, and for the last 12 months we won’t be, and I think that’s a really tangible benefit of the work that I’ve been doing with Alex.”

That work has given Hayley the push to take on projects outside of her comfort zone. “I’ve had the confidence to go and find the funding for those projects, get the funding, and then plan and execute them well.”

However, the most significant impact has been with Hayley personally. While she’s seen an improvement in her work/life balance, “the biggest thing for me is that my confidence as a leader has really grown, and because I am more confident in my decisions and my ability to prioritise for my organisation, that really helps to reduce the stress.”