‘Investing in yourself is the best investment you will ever make. It will not only improve your life, it will improve the lives of those around you.’
Hi, I’m Monique.
I’m a certified Performance Coach, Strategy Consultant and Board Advisor with over 20 years of experience in personal, business and organisational development and growth.
I partner with individuals, teams and organisations to make the world a better place, one courageous conversation, one liberating truth, one leader at a time!
My style is intuitive, holistic and creative, described by clients as human WD40. They tell me that I lean into the honest, hard-hitting conversations most coaches, consultants and advisors avoid, but where the seeds of transformation are sown.
Background
I’m a multi-hyphenate with a background in retail, wellness and hospitality who’s navigated her way from a full-time Managing Director role, to founder of a pioneering food delivery business and food education programme, to trusted coach, consultant and advisor.
I spent 15+ years in senior leadership positions and sat on executive committees and boards. I stepped away from a regular pay check, invested in myself and diversified my skill set, and in the process flipped the script on what true purpose in terms of career means. I have spent 10+ years advising and mentoring 100+ founders to turn ideas into investable, scalable businesses, and create a culture of high performance and engagement.
From serving passion-led, disruptive early starts like Hop and ChromaYoga and scale ups like The Detox Kitchen and Sous Chef as a consultant and board advisor, to working for large, global brands including the John Lewis Partnership, Compass Group and Grant Thornton.
By operating and supporting founders under pressure on the ever changing front line in often difficult markets, I have gained clear insights in the challenges and issues faced by businesses and leaders today.
I understand the challenges and blocks you’re facing because I have experienced them too, and the impact they’ll be having, in business and personally.
I’m not a guru, fixer, therapist or a counsellor. I combine real life professional and lived personal experience of overcoming loss, setbacks and mistakes, professional training and working with 100+ founders, to help you understand why you are where you are, explore and map out where you want to go, understand your past and what’s getting in the way, and work alongside you to help you commit to action and stay motivated to achieve your goals.
Mission
My mission is to help you lead and live authentically and with purpose, to create meaningful work and build and sustain a culture of high performance, and do that with ease. At the heart of everything I do is the desire to help individuals and businesses live and work well, fulfil their potential and create freedom and success on their own terms.
I believe that 90% of the game is played above the shoulders and that businesses thrive when individuals do.
Grow yourself, your impact and your business
Decades of research on emotional intelligence have shown that people who understand their own feelings have higher life satisfaction, stronger job performance, and more fulfilling relationships; are more intuitive and creative; and can synthesise diverse opinions and reduce conflict.
And all those qualities make people better leaders.
As an entrepreneur, coach, consultant, advisor to start-up and scale-up founders and former MD, I know only too well how overwhelming it can feel trying to reconcile your high-achieving aspirations with a people-pleasing, perfectionist nature. To be spurred on by a relentless inner critic which both motivates and sabotages you. To feel confident one minute and an imposter the next. To experience fear around being fully seen by others and a lack of boundaries with self and/or others. To be busy but not always productive. Knowing what you need to do, but not always doing it.
Our businesses are a mirror reflection of where we are on our own self-development journey, and can only be as successful as we are aware and in control of our thoughts and emotions.
I have learned that life can be lived differently. That there is a more sustainable and fun way to run businesses and teams. You don’t need to settle, but rather adopt a new way of thinking, being and relating to those around you in order to achieve what you really want.
See yourself so you can see others. That is the greatest gift you can give people.
I help mission-driven leaders and change-makers, including founders, CEOs, doctors, curators, and artists, to identify and inhabit their best authentic selves. My clients are already successful in what they do. They are ambitious, curious and have a strong desire to step into a bigger, bolder and ultimately, more satisfying life, and to do so with more ease and grace.
They are often:
Wondering ‘is this it’?
Overloaded and exhausted
How do I move away from the wounded masculine ‘hustle’ energy to get things done
Experiencing relationship challenges, personally and/or professionally
Driven by a demanding, critical inner voice
Seeking external validation from others
How to work with me
Consulting
The pandemic is a huge re-set unlike any we’ve faced before, forcing an abrupt dislocation of how teams work, how customers behave, how supply chains function, calls to action for fairness and even what ultimately constitutes leadership and business performance.
I love the entrepreneurial journey and specialise in helping high-growth start-ups and scale-ups build, scale and embed a culture of healthy, high performance. I partner with founders to design and align business and people strategies, raise finance and deliver initiatives for impact and growth. If you’re looking for a traditional Marketing or HR Director, I’m not for you.
Coaching for individuals, teams and networks
80% of business success is going within. We have to challenge every belief, choose to check our blindspots and most importantly, take radical responsibility for our own BS.
The smarter the person, the greater the need for coaching!
Telling smart people, who are often the best rationalisers, how to change is usually a waste of time. Coaching activates the brain and changes minds, not just goals agreed on paper. It equips people to navigate change and uncertainty by helping them to go beyond the boundaries of what they think they know.
I run (virtual) leadership and talent development group coaching sessions and workshops for teams, accelerators and incubators. The goal of these evidence-based, practical programmes is to increase engagement, strengthen team dynamics, decrease stress and ultimately equip founders, senior leaders and their teams with the emotional and tactical skills required to navigate challenges and uncertainty.
My style is intuitive, empathetic and thought provoking. Clients tell me that I lean into the hard-hitting conversations most coaches avoid, but where the seeds of transformation are sown.
Neuroplasticity underpins my approach as a coach as it is the key to any deep and lasting shifts in our habits and thinking. Breakthroughs in neuroscience are proving that we can actively alter the way our brains work and how we can harness this amazing potential to transform our minds and as a result elevate our lives.
Advising
We’re operating in uncertain times and now more than ever we need a broader perspective and humility, leaders who take action for the greater good and not their own egos. I partner with investors and boutique finance houses who are looking for their next ‘investment gold’ – young concepts that are fun and interesting, but can graduate into ‘a proper business’. I bring expertise and my network to current and future purpose-driven founders who believe in putting people and impact first, and who are ready to start living and leading from the heart.
If you know there is no such thing as a quick fix or waiting till you’re ‘ready’, you are looking for a thinking partner to navigate the rest of the year and beyond, brainstorm solutions to the challenges your business is facing, are willing to step into your next phase of personal and business development and growth, I would love to hear from you.
Get in touch
Curious about working with me, get to know me better, understand how I can help you achieve your goals and see if it’s a fit?
For bookings, to arrange a free 45 minute clarity call, PR & press, collaborations and all other enquiries, drop me a note or connect with me on LinkedIn or Instagram and I will respond as soon as possible.
If you’re ready to make a big leap please get in touch monique@moniqueborst.com
@Monique_Borst
http://www.linkedin.com/in/moniqueborst
What recent coaching clients have said about working with me
‘I embarked on my coaching sessions with Monique with some reluctance as to their efficacy in helping me achieve my goal; but from the first session, I felt galvanised. Monique has a knack for putting you at ease and making you feel comfortable to share. During each session, she provided support and guidance whilst simultaneously allowing me to work through ideas and find solutions. Even on the occasions when I was frustrated, Monique calmly brought me back on track and I came away feeling enthusiastic and motivated, especially when she highlighted my small victories. I also loved that she sent me encouraging messages and tips between sessions – they were a huge help! I highly recommend Monique. Her guidance helped me recognise and change patterns of behaviour and she ultimately helped me achieve my goal – in a record 4 weeks!!!’
Olivia, London
‘Our sessions really prompted me to ask myself certain questions – it has brought more awareness and has gently implored me to consider things from a different perspective. I often find that I continue to research and introspect long after our sessions. You are a BRILLIANT listener who is able to connect the dots. One of the most powerful breakthroughs for me was you linking how I had approached nutrition with my work routine. This has truly helped me in terms of taking full ownership over the areas that I wish to see transformed. I would 100% recommend you. As much as I have found it challenging to consider all the questions you have posed, it has ultimately been a helpful tool for self reflection and awareness. Thank YOU so much for the gift of your time and amazing skill’.
Winifred, London
‘I highly recommend Monique’s coaching to anybody who values their personal growth. Monique has a gift for putting you at ease and creating a supportive environment that allows you to open up and work through your challenges with more clarity. I initially had some hesitations reaching out for coaching; I didn’t feel comfortable with the idea of sharing my perceived shortcomings with somebody else. I also felt strongly that I needed to get unstuck and to change the way I was approaching my career, but I wasn’t sure how. In short, I needed some guidance. Monique listened carefully to my goals and struggles. She asked relevant questions that helped me reshape my internal narrative and shed some of my limiting beliefs. The results surprised me. Suddenly challenges that I couldn’t bring myself to face didn’t seem so daunting. I started to find pleasure in setting small targets, facing my fears head-on and celebrating the little victories that pave the way to big goals. Her coaching helped me gain the momentum I needed to make strides in both my professional and my personal life’.
Philipp, London
‘I had concerns about time constraints and felt uncomfortable about peeling back layers but you made me feel comfortable and you were empathetic. You helped me challenge myself and made me look at things from a different perspective. I would absolutely recommend you. You have a wealth of experience in so many different areas of life that add depth to your coaching. You are patient and calm and you do not shy away from a challenge. You listen really well and you make people feel comfortable. You are an excellent problem solver and you were able to challenge me to face my issues head on. Thank you for including me in your practice’.
Kate, London
‘I have experienced cbt therapy before but I was unsure exactly what life coaching entailed before I started working with Monique – but feeling a little stuck I was drawn to the program Monique offered. Monique immediately made me feel comfortable and was extremely quick and perceptive in identifying with me the elements that we should focus on. I really enjoyed the results driven process and I also really appreciated that Monique worked with me to get the most out of the number of sessions we had. We worked together on a series of lasting changes that I was able to implement almost immediately in my life in an organic way, immediately easing some of the anxiety around my issues. These changes have been something that I have really come to appreciate as I see how much impact they have had on my life. I would highly recommend Monique’.
Leo, London
‘I think that everyone should experience life coaching at some point if it is available to them. Monique helped me understand how to identify, prioritise and work towards my personal and professional goals independently enabling me to ‘put my own oxygen mask on first’ – this is a phrase I understand in a new way since working with Monique. Thank you, Monique, for helping me understand how to spin life’s many plates more seamlessly. We worked remotely during lockdown and it was a great experience. You can benefit from Monique’s help no matter where in the world you are.’
Araminta, London