Executive Transition Coaching

Executive Transition Coaching

C-suite hires that land

For boards, investors and chief executives in UK mid-sized and PE-backed businesses. We reduce the risk of a C-suite hire and speed up the results it is meant to deliver, from before the search to month 12.

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27 to 46%

of new C-suite leaders fail or leave within two years.

Keller, McKinsey 2018
About 213%

of annual pay: the cost of a failed C-suite appointment.

Keller, McKinsey 2018
More than twice

as likely to succeed with both a tailored plan and coaching.

Chandran et al., McKinsey 2015

Every research figure on this site comes from our review of 91 screened sources. How we built the evidence base

The problem

The person is rarely the problem. The transition is.

Most C-suite hires pass every test a careful search can set. They have succeeded in every role before this one. Those who struggle are rarely short of ability. What they lack is support matched to what is new about the seat.

Cutts, Flock, Smith and Vonofakou, Russell Reynolds 2025

The role is bigger than the brief

A CFO now oversees six or more functions beyond finance. Most briefs describe the role as it was last filled, not the role the new leader walks into.

Agrawal, Grube and Hill, McKinsey 2022

Support arrives late, or not at all

Only 32% of new C-suite leaders get both a tailored plan and coaching, the combination the evidence favours.

Chandran et al., McKinsey 2015

No one owns the transition

It falls between the board, the People team and, in a PE-backed business, the sponsor. Each can fairly assume one of the others has it in hand.

Our synthesis of the review

Our approach

Three reasons a C-suite hire fails, and three shifts that decide it

A hire can fail because the person lacks the capability for the seat, because they do not make the change in outlook the seat demands, or because nobody agreed what the seat is for. We build the first year around all three.

A. Foundational Capability

The skills and experience the seat needs. Most competency frameworks cover this well.

B. Transition Mindset

The change in how the leader judges their own work. Few frameworks cover this at all.

C. Role Mandate

What the role must deliver, agreed by the people who own the appointment before the search begins.

The three shifts

A move into the C-suite is a change of identity more than a change of skill. The habits that won the leader the job are often the main obstacle in this one.

Bebb 2009; Bourne, April and Dharani 2024; Cutts, Flock, Smith and Vonofakou, Russell Reynolds 2025

  • Executor to Orchestrator

    BeforeI measure success by what I personally delivered.

    AfterI measure success by what the team and organisation delivered through me.

  • Functional Expert to Enterprise Leader

    BeforeI optimise within my function or specialism.

    AfterI set priorities across the whole organisation, including areas outside my expertise.

  • Problem Solver to Future Architect

    BeforeI solve the problem directly in front of me.

    AfterI shape the conditions and direction the organisation needs over the next one to three years.

How it works

Four phases, from before the search to month 12

A tailored plan combined with coaching more than doubles a new leader's chance of success. Our programme is built around that finding.

Chandran et al., McKinsey 2015

  1. Organisation Readiness

    Before the search

    Three mandate interviews, our Role Mandate Diagnostic across 12 areas, stakeholder mapping and a recruitment scorecard. The board, and on the PE track the sponsor, agree what the role must deliver before anyone is approached.

  2. Successful Landing

    From offer to start date

    An executive profile, a baseline on the three shifts, two half-day advisory sessions, a 90-day action plan and a stop-doing list. The plan exists before day one.

  3. Supported Development

    Months 1 to 9

    Six 90-minute sessions: three with an executive coach and three with a mentor who has held the same seat, timed to the leader's context. Listening first. Team first.

  4. Proven Value

    By month 12

    360-degree feedback, a check against the evidence markers agreed at the start, a 12-month value plan and a review of the mandate.

The PE track

The same total support, front-loaded into the first 60 days. The sponsor joins the mandate interviews, the plan starts at verbal offer and the first two or three sessions fall inside 60 days.

Lawrence, FD Capital 2024; Millman Search 2025

Three ways we work with your leader

  • Advisory-led sessions build the plan and the stop-doing list before the start date.
  • Executive coaching works on the shift in identity, keeps the plan live and holds the leader to what they said they would stop.
  • Same-seat mentoring offers the lived experience of someone who has done the job, with no stake in your business.

What rests on evidence, and what is our design

The plan, the coaching, the stop-doing statement and putting the team first all rest on strong evidence. The number, length and timing of sessions, the three delivery modes and the requirement that a mentor has held the same seat are our design choices. No study has tested them, and we will review them as we learn.

How we built the evidence base

What stays confidential

We report to the sponsor only progress against the milestones agreed at the start, and whether sessions are running as planned. We never share what is said in a session or written in the executive's workbook. The one exception is a serious legal or safety concern.

Before your next hire

Ten questions to ask before your next C-suite hire

Drawn from our review of the research. They work whoever you choose to work with.

Have the board, the chief executive and, if PE-backed, the sponsor agreed in writing what this role must deliver at 90 days and at 12 months, before the search starts? That is question one. Most failures begin with a mandate nobody agreed.

Read all ten questions

For search and consulting firms

You place the leader. We help them land.

We do not run searches. Our question is not "who should we hire?" but "will this leader succeed here?" We work alongside the search or consulting firm that has the client relationship.

Talk to us about working together

The team

Leadership, integration and coaching experience combined

ETC is a collaboration between Found:Re Limited and Anvower Advisory Limited. Between us, our experience spans professional services, technology, telecoms, financial services, consumer and retail, and PE-backed businesses.

Gareth Lewis-Jones

Gareth Lewis-Jones

Managing Director, Found:Re Limited

Gareth is a qualified executive coach and senior executive with extensive experience supporting C-suite leaders across sectors on strategy, change and transformation. He has directly supported over 60 C-suite leaders, helping them navigate complex organisational environments and translate strategic priorities into measurable delivery.

His coaching practice is grounded in real-world leadership experience. Gareth brings a consultative rigour to coaching that connects personal development directly to organisational value creation.

Tim Bardell

Tim Bardell

Managing Director, Anvower Advisory Limited

Tim is a board adviser and senior leader with deep experience in professional services, technology and telecoms. He has led multiple integrations of acquired businesses and scale-ups, giving him a practitioner's understanding of the pressures new C-suite leaders face in change-heavy environments.

Tim brings management consulting rigour and board-level advisory experience to ETC, helping organisations define what value creation looks like and making sure new executives are aligned to deliver it from day one.

From our experience

ETC is new, but the work behind it is not. Three examples from the coaching that shaped the programme:

Premium automotive

Chief Information Officer

The challenge
Landing in a new role at a business under heavy pressure on cost.
The outcome
A smooth handover with no disruption to operations. The board agreed the cost plan in month 2.

FMCG

Chief Information Officer

The challenge
Joining to lead global IT operations while moving work offshore and reducing headcount.
The outcome
A steady core team throughout. The move offshore finished on time and key people stayed.

Global engineering consulting

Chief Data Engineer

The challenge
Joining a new business in an economic downturn, with the task of deciding which business outcomes came first.
The outcome
A focused plan agreed quickly across the executive team, leading to material changes that drove profit by month 3.
See all five examples

Get in touch

Planning a C-suite hire?

Start with a 30-minute conversation. We will talk through the role, the timing and whether ETC fits. If we are not the right answer, the ten questions work whoever you choose.

Book a conversation

Thirty minutes, by video or phone, at a time that suits you.

Book a 30-minute conversation

Get the field guide

Our field guide, The Transition Gap, sets out the full evidence. Register to receive it when it is published.

Register interest

Email us

gareth.lewis-jones@foundre.co.uk
tim.bardell@anvower.com