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Coaches On The Couch

Coaches On The Couch

By Rachel Birchmore and Louise Rodgers

Coaches On The Couch is the podcast from the coaches behind Step Up (stepuplondon.com) the leadership development programme for architects and built environment consultancies. Co-hosts Rachel Birchmore and Louise Rodgers bring their experience and knowledge of the sector and coaching insights to explore the world of work and progressive leadership through conversations with special guests.

Our publication 'Learning from Lockdown' marking 12 months of the podcast is available at www.stepuplondon.com/shop/cotc-the-book

Produced by Aral Sea Sounds

www.aralseaproductions.com/
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Damien Sharkey, Managing Director of HUB. “It's been said to me a lot in my career that you need to be old and have grey hair, to sit on a board or to have an opinion or voice. I disagree with that.”

Coaches On The CouchNov 10, 2022

00:00
28:45
Tom Larsson, Founder of Grow Places "As the business grows, imparting our values and principles onto the team and selecting the right people is an interesting transition."

Tom Larsson, Founder of Grow Places "As the business grows, imparting our values and principles onto the team and selecting the right people is an interesting transition."

Louise and Rachel are joined by Tom Larsson, of developer Grow Places. Tom established Grow Places in 2023 and in this conversation he reflects on the drivers behind this, and what he wants to do differently.
growplaces.com

Coaches On The Couch is co-hosted by Louise Rodgers and Rachel Birchmore who are exec and leadership coaches. They design and deliver bespoke leadership development programmes and coaching for architects, engineers and other consultancies across the built environment. For more information, please visit www.StepUpLondon.com
Mar 28, 202428:04
Louise Wyman, Executive Director Strategic Development at CBRE “The thought of networking used to fill me with dread but I've stepped out of my comfort zone throughout my career and learned from it.”
Mar 15, 202438:41
Clarissa Bromelle, Head of Social Imagination at Human Nature “There are many elements of regenerative leadership that are embedded into what we’re doing at Human Nature.”
Feb 22, 202437:23
Dinah Bornat, director of ZCD Architects “They (Gen Z) want what the rest of us want. They want to be taken seriously and their ideas to be heard.”

Dinah Bornat, director of ZCD Architects “They (Gen Z) want what the rest of us want. They want to be taken seriously and their ideas to be heard.”

Dinah Bornat of ZCD Architects joins Rachel and Louise to talk about what she has learned about building trust and connection with young people from running wild camping adventures in the countryside with young people.
zcdarchitects.co.uk
Coaches On The Couch is co-hosted by Louise Rodgers and Rachel Birchmore who are exec and leadership coaches. They design and deliver bespoke leadership development programmes and coaching for architects, engineers and other consultancies across the built environment. For more information, please visit www.StepUpLondon.com
Feb 08, 202436:58
Keir Regan-Alexander, principal of Arka Works “Generative Design and AI tools will fundamentally change how we practice, and how we design things.”
Jan 25, 202427:23
Leanne Tritton, founder of ING Media “I have the style and energy that gets the plane off the ground. Damian has the style and energy for long-haul flights.”

Leanne Tritton, founder of ING Media “I have the style and energy that gets the plane off the ground. Damian has the style and energy for long-haul flights.”

A totally joyous conversation about a successful transition. Louise and Rachel kick off the New Year with a conversation with, and between, Leanne Tritton, founder of ING Media, and her successor as MD, Damian Wild.

https://ing-media.com


Coaches On The Couch is co-hosted by Louise Rodgers and Rachel Birchmore who are exec and leadership coaches. They design and deliver bespoke leadership development programmes and coaching for architects, engineers and other consultancies across the built environment. For more information, please visit www.StepUpLondon.com

Jan 11, 202434:02
Jennifer De Vere-Hopkins, Jestico + Whiles “It is important for people to see that architecture, and the people who make up the profession, is very broad.”
Dec 21, 202335:28
Holly Lewis, We Made That “I have personally come to embrace that word ‘leadership’ more.”
Nov 23, 202335:43
Susan David, psychologist and author “Emotional agility is about loosening up, calming down and living with more intention. It’s about choosing how you’ll respond to your emotional warning system.”

Susan David, psychologist and author “Emotional agility is about loosening up, calming down and living with more intention. It’s about choosing how you’ll respond to your emotional warning system.”

Rachel and Louise share their summer reading list and bring you insightful chat about four of the books that have inspired, provoked and even irritated them over the last few months.

https://stepuplondon.com


Coaches On The Couch is co-hosted by Louise Rodgers and Rachel Birchmore who are exec and leadership coaches. They design and deliver bespoke leadership development programmes and coaching for architects, engineers and other consultancies across the built environment. For more information, please visit www.StepUpLondon.com

Oct 19, 202332:52
Emma Keyte, brand strategist and writer “Glue can also be born out of things going a bit wrong. Out of trouble.”

Emma Keyte, brand strategist and writer “Glue can also be born out of things going a bit wrong. Out of trouble.”

Coaches On The Couch is co-hosted by Louise Rodgers and Rachel Birchmore who are exec and leadership coaches. They design and deliver bespoke leadership development programmes and coaching for architects, engineers and other consultancies across the built environment. For more information, please visit www.StepUpLondon.com


Louise, Rachel and Emma Keyte reflect on the event they co-hosted during June’s London Festival of Architecture to consider the topic of ‘Glue’ - what brings people and organisations together, and then keeps them together? What happens when things go wrong? With guests’ voices captured by Dominique Standl.

Sep 07, 202339:37
Tina Norden, Conran and Partners ‘’I try to lead from the front. I'm very involved and very passionate about what I do. And I'm very hands on, or as much as I can be.’’
Jul 20, 202330:42
Linda Thiel, Partner, White Arkitekter “Within the Swedish culture, it's about the group effort. That’s embedded in many Swedes’, or Scandinavians’, upbringing.”
Jul 06, 202333:32
Eric Bull, SEW “We need to remember that sustainable design is just about the same thing as good design.”
May 25, 202324:09
Ruth Oates, Buro Four “Part of the sustainability journey is about empowering us as individuals to do the right thing.”
May 22, 202325:58
Andrew Lerpiniere, Director of Webb Yates Engineers “We’re consciously thinking about what we do, and how we do it, and how we can make a positive difference to society.”
Apr 06, 202333:34
Natalia Uribe, Director of AFK Studios, “You need to understand not only the skillsets of your team but their passions and how they want to grow as designers.”
Mar 16, 202330:42
Hanif Kara, Founding partner, AKT II. “I think that idea of a genius engineer is gone. We’re in a post-genius world. The product of the practice is more important.”
Feb 16, 202332:40
Martyn Evans, Creative Director, U+I “If you've got an opportunity to rethink, then you've got an opportunity to rethink better.”
Dec 08, 202246:20
Denise Bennetts, Founder of Bennetts Associates. “What EOTs are about is common purpose. It’s much more than the financial bottom line.”
Nov 24, 202234:58
Damien Sharkey, Managing Director of HUB. “It's been said to me a lot in my career that you need to be old and have grey hair, to sit on a board or to have an opinion or voice. I disagree with that.”
Nov 10, 202228:45
Simon Henley, Director of Henley Halebrown “People have been saying recently that there's a real clarity to our work, now more than ever."
Oct 12, 202237:47
Jas Bhalla, Jas Bhalla Architects “Leaders need to be flexible and adaptable because times are uncertain. We are all going to have to learn to adapt.”
Sep 29, 202238:35
Chris Williamson, Chairman of WW+P Board “We are keeping our name, our identity, our brand. We will keep on doing what we’re doing.”
Jun 23, 202230:43
Jon Ackroyd, Ackroyd Lowrie “As soon as you start to build a team, you realise the power of the team.”

Jon Ackroyd, Ackroyd Lowrie “As soon as you start to build a team, you realise the power of the team.”

Rachel and Louise chat with Oliver Lowrie and Jon Ackroyd of Ackroyd Lowrie about the power of teams and how to harness it; their use of external consultants; and why they think thought-leadership is an important part of their role.

https://ackroydlowrie.com

Coaches On The Couch is co-hosted by Louise Rodgers and Rachel Birchmore who are exec and leadership coaches. They design and deliver bespoke leadership development programmes and coaching for architects, engineers and other consultancies across the built environment. For more information, please visit www.StepUpLondon.com

Jun 09, 202230:40
Karen Mosley, HLM “I learnt early on that there are certain things in life that are really important. That sense of belonging, feeling respected, having opportunities. Money isn't everything.”
May 26, 202236:36
Emily Slupek, Buro Four “You need to be able to listen and observe and sift through a lot of information and identify opportunities that you feel that you can bring into the company”.
May 12, 202231:35
Andy Matthews, Roach Matthews “Getting to know yourself - how you react, how you respond, how you think - is, I believe, a really important part of leadership.”
Apr 28, 202227:45
Jenni Montgomery, Barton Willmore “There are a whole range of different ways to participate in business development and you need to find a way that you’re most comfortable with.”
Apr 14, 202235:49
Carl Turner, Turner Works “We felt the term ‘architect’ was holding back the practice and limited people’s perception of what we can do.”

Carl Turner, Turner Works “We felt the term ‘architect’ was holding back the practice and limited people’s perception of what we can do.”

Carl Turner and Suzi Winstanley of Turner Works join Rachel and Louise to discuss what it takes to be ‘future fit’; which for them means being prepared for whatever problem they are going to solve next. https://turner.works

Coaches On The Couch is co-hosted by Louise Rodgers and Rachel Birchmore who are exec and leadership coaches. They design and deliver bespoke leadership development programmes and coaching for architects, engineers and other consultancies across the built environment. For more information, please visit www.StepUpLondon.com

Mar 24, 202231:30
Scott Grady, Haptic Architects “Collaboration has been within the Haptic DNA from the very first few months of the practice.”

Scott Grady, Haptic Architects “Collaboration has been within the Haptic DNA from the very first few months of the practice.”

Louise and Rachel chat with Timo Haedrich, Scott Grady and Geraldine Molia of Haptic Architects about culture, collaboration, communication and the Nordic influence on their ways of working.
https://hapticarchitects.com

Coaches On The Couch is co-hosted by Louise Rodgers and Rachel Birchmore who are exec and leadership coaches. They design and deliver bespoke leadership development programmes and coaching for architects, engineers and other consultancies across the built environment. For more information, please visit www.StepUpLondon.com

Mar 10, 202230:36
Annalie Riches, Mikhail Riches “We have turned down work…and it drives our decisions on whether to take projects on or go for bids.”
Feb 24, 202221:27
 “A year on from our first ‘Made Visible’ event, we explore, with special guests, how leaders and business are adapting to the new reality of flexible working patterns.”
Feb 03, 202229:17
Louise Rodgers, Step Up - At EOT and BCorps with their newer structures of ownership they are about a less literal and more emotional ownership over an organisation’s purpose’
Dec 22, 202126:02
Connie Ivanova, Stride Treglown “If you approach leadership in a more collaborative way and look out for people’s interests and inspiration, and connect with them..this helps to build future leaders."
Dec 09, 202130:04
David Gabe, Core Five “Growing and leading our team through a period of rapid growth has been far harder than delivering on a technical level.”
Dec 02, 202135:53
Neal Shasore, London School of Architecture “The worst thing one could try to do would be to emulate one’s predecessor, when they are a founder.”

Neal Shasore, London School of Architecture “The worst thing one could try to do would be to emulate one’s predecessor, when they are a founder.”

Neal Shasore, head of school and CEO at The London School of Architecture, takes his seat on the virtual couch to chat about his route to leadership, what it’s like taking over from a founder and the lessons he learned from his family role models.

https://the-lsa.org

Coaches On The Couch is co-hosted by Louise Rodgers and Rachel Birchmore who are exec and leadership coaches. They design and deliver bespoke leadership development programmes and coaching for architects, engineers and other consultancies across the built environment. For more information, please visit www.StepUpLondon.com

Nov 18, 202120:17
Pete Swift, Planit-IE “To achieve continuous improvement it is absolutely vital to hold yourself accountable to the B Corp framework.”
Nov 04, 202133:06
Alex Ely, Mae Architects “In the early years I was more of a chess master….now I am more like a gardener.”
Oct 21, 202123:05
David West, Studio Egret West “Our relationship has matured as we have matured.”

David West, Studio Egret West “Our relationship has matured as we have matured.”

We are joined by architectural story-tellers David West and Christophe Egret of Studio Egret West, to explore their beginnings and how they have navigated their relationship since founding the practice in 2004.

https://studioegretwest.com

Coaches On The Couch is co-hosted by Louise Rodgers and Rachel Birchmore who are exec and leadership coaches. They design and deliver bespoke leadership development programmes and coaching for architects, engineers and other consultancies across the built environment. For more information, please visit www.StepUpLondon.com

Oct 07, 202135:37
Pooja Agrawal, Public Practice “I think it is important to understand and to own your strategy for making change”

Pooja Agrawal, Public Practice “I think it is important to understand and to own your strategy for making change”

Joining us from her charpoi, and kicking off the fourth series of Coaches On The Couch, is Pooja Agrawal CEO of Public Practice and co-founder of spatial equality platform Sound Advice https://www.publicpractice.org.uk https://nowyouknowshop.bigcartel.com.

Among other things we discuss the intersection between strategic and provocative disruption and how to approach uncomfortable conversations.

Coaches On The Couch is co-hosted by Louise Rodgers and Rachel Birchmore who are exec and leadership coaches. They design and deliver bespoke leadership development programmes and coaching for architects, engineers and other consultancies across the built environment. For more information, please visit www.StepUpLondon.com

Sep 23, 202136:29
“Working virtually has in some ways been a great leveller. That’s one of the positive things to take forward.”
May 18, 202126:26
Adam Scott, FreeState “There is an opportunity to rethink the office as a kind of perpetual field test.”

Adam Scott, FreeState “There is an opportunity to rethink the office as a kind of perpetual field test.”

Adam Scott of FreeState talks to Louise and Rachel about the need to stop thinking of the workplace as a designed space, and start thinking of it as a curated space if we are to engender that sense of “belonging” that will bring people to the other side of the ‘soft line’ that will exist between home and office, post-Covid.

Apr 15, 202127:43
Jacob Willson, Sarah Beth Riley, and Luke Tozer “We like to think we put in a lot of the ground work as designers to help the projects fly.”

Jacob Willson, Sarah Beth Riley, and Luke Tozer “We like to think we put in a lot of the ground work as designers to help the projects fly.”

What happens when the client is also a designer? Rachel and Louise chat with Jacob Willson and Sarah Beth Riley of BeFirst and Luke Tozer of Pitman Tozer. We also touch on the difficulty of finding time to get “in the flow”, and discuss how learning partnerships may be a way to build strong client/architect relationships in a hybrid world.

Apr 01, 202133:45
Angharad Palmer and Bernadette Keane, Landsec “Influence requires a certain level of self-confidence.”

Angharad Palmer and Bernadette Keane, Landsec “Influence requires a certain level of self-confidence.”

On International Women’s Day, Louise and Rachel chatted with developer Landsec’s Angharad Palmer (design director) and Bernadette Keane (marketing director) about influence, celebrating diversity and the importance of having an overall vision.

Mar 18, 202131:25
AJ’s 40 under 40 “I had an ethos I wanted to see through.”

AJ’s 40 under 40 “I had an ethos I wanted to see through.”

A very full virtual coach as Rachel and Louise are joined by five young, emerging architects representing three practices featured in the AJ’s 40 under 40. We talk about the impetus to go it alone and what’s been important to them over the last year.

Mar 03, 202141:48
Paul Monaghan, AHMM “Zeev Aram once told me that he had never seen his own candle diminished by the light of someone else’s. And that stayed with me.”

Paul Monaghan, AHMM “Zeev Aram once told me that he had never seen his own candle diminished by the light of someone else’s. And that stayed with me.”

Rachel and Louise are joined on the virtual couch by Paul Monaghan of AHMM for a rich conversation about the importance of joining, belonging and leaving with grace and generosity, and how his own experiences have shaped his style of leadership.

Feb 25, 202129:34
Dan Whittingham “I have certainly felt a weight of responsibility in terms of our people, who are giving the best years of their career to us. We have to make sure those years are well-served.”

Dan Whittingham “I have certainly felt a weight of responsibility in terms of our people, who are giving the best years of their career to us. We have to make sure those years are well-served.”

Dan Whittingham is MD of the project management company, Opera. He joins Rachel and Louise to explore the differences between leading a project and leading a company, and to discuss how, at Opera, they leverage motivation by being attuned to the needs of the people who work for them.

Feb 17, 202130:12
Jo Bacon “We have taken the opportunity to reconsider our workspace and make a bigger commitment to long-term flexibility.”

Jo Bacon “We have taken the opportunity to reconsider our workspace and make a bigger commitment to long-term flexibility.”

Louise and Rachel are joined by Jo Bacon, managing partner of Allies and Morrison, who reflects on what the practice achieved during 2020 despite having to clear the 330 desks in their “mothership” London office and looks forward to a future of flexible working.

Feb 04, 202132:19
Grimshaw, Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, Gbolade Design Studio “How can leaders maintain connectivity, presence and visibility in distributed teams”

Grimshaw, Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, Gbolade Design Studio “How can leaders maintain connectivity, presence and visibility in distributed teams”

From our first ‘Made Visible’ event, Louise and Rachel explore, with their panel of speakers from Grimshaw, Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, Gbolade Design Studio, Hawkins\Brown and Place Careers, the new demands placed on leaders when uncertainty and agile working have been through a step change.

Jan 28, 202136:20
Domi Oliver and Alexis Butterfield “How do you retain the culture in a workforce that is more agile? How do you continue to do things that live and breathe the brand?” Domi Oliver, PTE

Domi Oliver and Alexis Butterfield “How do you retain the culture in a workforce that is more agile? How do you continue to do things that live and breathe the brand?” Domi Oliver, PTE

For this final episode of 2020, Louise and Rachel chat with Domi Oliver and Alexis Butterfield of architects Pollard Thomas Edwards, about how the practice has evolved and grown over five decades and in what ways it has changed forever as a result of this momentous year.

Dec 17, 202032:31