One-to-one executive coaching for UK CEOs, MDs and senior directors — delivered by operators who have themselves sat in your seat, at rates we publish openly.
Most UK executive coaching is delivered by professional coaches — coaches whose careers have been spent coaching others, whose training is coaching methodology, and whose experience of the situations you face is second-hand.
That model produces empathy and structure, but rarely produces judgement.
And for a senior UK leader making high-stakes decisions week after week, judgement is usually what you are short of — not empathy.
Leadership Services executive coaching is different in one specific way: every coach in our network is first an experienced operator.
Fractional CFOs, CMOs, CIOs, COOs, MDs, and founders who have run functions and businesses in the real economy and who now coach senior leaders on the strength of that lived experience.
Coaching combines the reflective discipline of proper practice with the sharp commercial instinct of someone who has faced the same decisions you are facing right now.
It is coaching that produces judgement, not just clarity.
And because we publish our rates openly — £150 to £500 per hour for standalone sessions, £800 to £2,400 per month on retainer — you know what you are committing to before we have even had the first conversation.
No enquiry-only quotes, no per-client price adjustment, no discovery-call-as-sales-pitch.
Chemistry sessions are free and take 45 minutes; you commit to nothing until you have met the coach and are confident in the working relationship.
Every engagement begins with a defined 90-day impact sprint.
We start with a free 45-minute chemistry session — you and one or two shortlisted coaches from our network, matched on your specific commercial context and the outcomes you want. Once you have chosen your coach, we contract clearly: session cadence (typically monthly or fortnightly), engagement duration (typically 6-12 months), confidentiality boundaries, and how success will be measured. First working session inside the first 30 days.
Coaching sessions establish the real agenda — usually different from the surface agenda that emerged in the initial conversation. Your coach draws on their operator experience to challenge assumptions, surface blind spots, and give you the kind of judgement-shaped feedback that only comes from someone who has faced comparable decisions themselves. Sessions are typically 60-90 minutes, monthly or fortnightly, with between-session support available for time-critical situations.
By the end of the first 90 days coaching has moved from a novelty to a strategic asset. Decisions get made faster because you have a trusted external voice to pressure-test them against. Team dynamics improve because your leadership is more grounded. Your coach starts to contribute pattern recognition across your business as they see more of it — reflection sessions get sharper, challenges more precise. Many engagements convert to ongoing monthly retainers at this point because the compound value has become obvious.
If the chemistry session does not produce a coach you are confident to work with, we introduce you to someone else — or refund any fees paid. No coaching engagement should ever start without genuine trust between coach and client.
Structured 60-90 minute sessions on a monthly or fortnightly cadence, delivered remotely UK-wide or in-person in London and major UK cities. Sessions are focused on live commercial decisions and leadership challenges rather than abstract development goals. Your coach draws on their own operator experience while using coaching discipline to develop your judgement, not replace it. Session notes and action tracking are included at every retainer tier above £1,200/month.
For time-critical situations that emerge between formal sessions — an urgent board decision, a difficult conversation, a sudden commercial pressure — your coach is available by phone or email for shorter check-ins. This is included in every retainer above £1,200/month and reflects how the best executive coaching actually works: the value compounds when the coach is a phone call away, not just a monthly appointment.
Structured 360-degree feedback cycles annually or bi-annually for retainers above £1,500/month. Your coach designs the feedback process, interviews your key stakeholders (board, peers, direct reports), synthesises the themes, and delivers the feedback to you in coaching format. This is the kind of feedback most senior leaders never receive because there is no one senior enough or brave enough to give it — a good coach makes it happen.
Every engagement starts with a free 45-minute chemistry session — one or two shortlisted coaches from our network matched against your specific commercial context and desired outcomes. You commit to nothing until you have met the coach and are confident in the working relationship. Coaching without genuine chemistry produces poor outcomes, so we insist on this step and offer to refund any fees paid if the eventual working relationship does not develop.
For coaching engagements sponsored by the business or by private equity investors, we provide structured sponsor updates on progress against agreed outcomes — while maintaining strict confidentiality on the content of the coaching itself. This resolves the tension between accountability to the sponsor and confidentiality with the coachee, which trips up many corporate coaching engagements at UK SME level.
If you already engage a Leadership Services fractional director — CFO, CMO, CIO, COO, MD or other — executive coaching is now included at no additional cost as part of the retainer. Your fractional director already sits at your leadership table and understands your business context; extending that into structured monthly coaching gives you leadership development alongside functional expertise without adding to the monthly fee.
Three different products with very different audiences. The UK 2026 market often uses the terms interchangeably; they aren't.
| Coaching type | Target audience | Typical UK cost | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Executive coaching | CEOs, MDs, senior directors, C-suite | £150-£500/hr | Strategic decisions, board dynamics, leadership development |
| Business coaching | SME owners, franchise buyers, small business owners | £70-£250/hr | Marketing, sales, systems, growth planning for smaller businesses |
| Career coaching | Individuals mid-career, career changers | £80-£200/hr | Career transitions, CV/interview prep, job search strategy |
| Life coaching | Individuals across life stages | £60-£150/hr | Personal goals, life balance, non-business outcomes |
| Leadership coaching | Senior leaders, executive teams | £150-£450/hr | Leadership style, team dynamics, executive presence |
Executive coaching and leadership coaching are near-synonymous in the UK 2026 market — both target senior leaders in significant roles. Business coaching, career coaching, and life coaching are different products with different audiences and typically different price points. Leadership Services delivers executive and leadership coaching only — the higher end of the market where operator experience matters most.
Hourly
Foundation retainer
Standard retainer
Executive retainer
Bundled
All engagements are flexible, with no long-term tie-ins. View full pricing.
Executive coaching is a structured one-to-one relationship between a senior leader and an experienced coach, focused on improving decision-making, leadership effectiveness, and commercial judgement. Sessions are typically 60-90 minutes on a monthly or fortnightly cadence. Unlike consulting, coaching does not deliver a specific project output — it develops the leader's capacity to make better decisions themselves. Leadership Services executive coaching differs from most UK providers in one important respect: every coach in our network is first an operator and second a coach, meaning the coaching draws on real commercial experience rather than methodology alone.
UK executive coaching in 2026 typically costs £150-£500 per hour for standalone sessions, £800-£2,400 per month on retainer, and £4,000-£12,000 per participant for structured six-month programmes. Leadership Services publishes our rates openly across four tiers: hourly (£150-£500), foundation retainer (£800-£1,200/month), standard retainer (£1,200-£1,800/month), and executive retainer (£1,800-£2,400/month). Coaching is included at no additional cost when bundled with a fractional director engagement. For a full breakdown of pricing including hidden costs to watch for, see our guide to executive coaching costs in the UK.
Executive coaches work with CEOs, MDs, and senior directors in significant leadership roles, and typically charge £150-£500 per hour. Business coaches work with SME owners, franchise operators, and small-business owners on more operational topics (marketing, sales, systems), and typically charge £70-£250 per hour. The distinction is mostly about the seniority of the audience and the type of work being done rather than a formal industry definition — but in the UK 2026 market, the two products are increasingly distinct.
Some do — including ICF, EMCC, and AoEC accreditations. Others do not, and coach on the strength of their operator experience alone. We do not gatekeep our coach network on paper qualifications because the strongest predictor of coaching effectiveness at UK SME level is operator experience, not certification. If formal accreditation is important to you — for example because your business is regulated or your board requires it — tell us during the chemistry session and we will match you with an accredited coach from our network.
Two things. First, every coach in our network is first an experienced operator — a director who has run functions or businesses in the real economy and coaches on the strength of that experience. Most UK executive coaching is delivered by professional coaches whose careers have been spent coaching; we deliver coaching that draws on lived commercial experience. Second, we publish our rates openly across four tiers. Every other UK executive coaching provider we have surveyed operates on an enquiry-only basis for pricing. That opacity damages trust with UK SME buyers who are used to knowing what things cost — so we publish ours.
For CEOs and MDs of UK SMEs, executive coaching is typically the highest-leverage per pound of any professional support they buy. A £1,500 per month retainer represents around 0.5% of the annual value that a well-coached CEO decision produces — and most engagements shift multiple decisions, not just one. The return is not from what the coach does directly but from what the CEO does differently as a result of the coaching relationship. Executive coaching pays back most reliably for first-time CEOs, scaling founders, PE-backed CEOs in transition, and senior directors preparing for a step up.
Most executive coaching engagements at Leadership Services run for 6-12 months on a monthly or fortnightly cadence, though many clients continue on rolling retainers for years once the initial contracted outcomes are achieved. Engagements are contracted for defined duration with clear check-ins and typically renew rather than run indefinitely by default. Chemistry sessions are free; engagements begin from the point at which you and the coach agree to contract.
Both. Most Leadership Services executive coaching engagements are delivered remotely via video call, which works well for the majority of leaders and gives you access to the widest pool of coaches regardless of location. For engagements that would benefit from in-person work — particularly at the start of a relationship, or for stakeholder-heavy work — we can arrange in-person sessions in London and major UK cities. In-person delivery outside a coach's usual base of operations may attract a travel expense, which we quote transparently up front.
The chemistry session is a 45-minute, no-cost, no-obligation call between you and one or two shortlisted coaches from our network. We match you on your specific commercial context (sector, stage, situation), the outcomes you want from coaching, and the coaching style that will suit you best. The call is deliberately unstructured — the point is to see whether the working relationship will produce real value. If it does, we contract for an engagement. If not, we introduce you to another coach or refund any fees paid.
Absolutely. Everything discussed in an executive coaching session is confidential between coach and client. This is a core principle of professional coaching practice and it is non-negotiable at Leadership Services. Where a coaching engagement is sponsored by the business or by an investor, we provide structured sponsor updates on progress against agreed outcomes — but never on the specific content of the coaching sessions themselves. Board members and shareholders never see coaching session content unless the client chooses to share it themselves.
From an initial enquiry to a first working session typically takes 2-3 weeks. We respond to enquiries within one working day with a shortlist of coaches matched to your context. Chemistry sessions can usually be arranged within a week. From the point at which you have chosen your coach and contracted, the first working session normally follows within 7-14 days depending on both diaries. Existing fractional director clients can activate the included coaching component of their retainer immediately by asking their fractional director or contacting us directly.
Tell us about your business and we'll talk through whether Executive Coaching By People Who Have Done The Job. is the right fit.