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Gretchen young consulting

Coach | Facilitator | Consultant
Unlocking potential for individuals and teams to thrive at work

About me

Originally from Southland and now Wellington-based, I have studied, lived and worked in Aotearoa New Zealand’s four main centres.

Long ago I made the leap from being a commercial lawyer to what really interests me – the “people” business. Since then, my work has been all about helping individuals and teams to thrive at work. Knowing that work can be meaningful, valuable and fun inspires me to want that for all my clients.

My career traverses a range of industries (legal services – sport and recreation – public sector – private sector – non-profit) and a variety of roles, including people leadership, thought leadership and governance. For most of my career I have been a working parent, balancing work and family responsibilities. This broad experience helps me understand client challenges from multiple perspectives and bring empathy, fresh ideas and practical solutions to the table.

I am a qualified executive and team coach with the Institute of Executive Coaching and Leadership, and with Deeper Signals. I’m on several coaching panels, including Fire and Emergency NZ, Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision, and the Wellington City Council.
I am experienced in designing and delivering team collaboration and leadership development programmes, tailored to meet the specific needs of participants and their organisations.

What I do

I work with individuals, teams and organisations to identify what’s possible and how to do that well.

I do this through executive coaching, team coaching and facilitation, and delivering tailored leadership development programmes. What drives me is a deep belief that we all deserve the opportunity to contribute to something bigger than ourselves, and in a way that is meaningful to us. At work that’s about being clear on purpose and doing work that matters, having a great boss, and a work environment that is inclusive, empowering and focused on delivering results.

I can provide both in-person and online coaching and facilitation experiences.

Executive Coaching

For emerging, mid-level and senior executives who want to transition to a new leadership level or be more successful in their current role.

Using a strengths-based approach, I help clients to crystallise their goals and address barriers to success. I work with clients to identify fixed and unhelpful thought processes, and to draw on their strengths and wisdom to improve performance, influence and relationships at work. 

Executive coaching engagements are typically over a period of several months.

Team Performance

For leadership and operational teams motivated to: 

  • get clear on purpose and results
  • strengthen team culture
  • establish better ways of working together

I design and deliver tailored programmes to help teams gain insights into their diverse strengths and values, and establish ways to improve collaboration, innovation, decision-making and performance. 

I can provide ongoing team coaching to embed team culture and keep the team on track.

Leadership Development

For organisations that want a more strategic and sustainable approach to developing their leadership culture and capability. 

I design and deliver aligned programmes and frameworks to get people on the same page about what effective leadership means in their organisation.

Career coaching

For anyone who wants to take a more informed and deliberate approach to navigating their career journey. 

I guide clients through a structured programme to better understand their strengths, values, skills, network, and other resources available to them – and how to use these to set and achieve career goals. 

I also provide outplacement coaching to help organisations support staff affected by change. 

My focus is on empowering clients to understand their choices and navigate the future of work.

My Accreditations

Strategic Partners

I love to work with…

Melissa Hare

Two heads are better than one: Whenever I get the chance, I work with Mel Hare to deliver team collaboration and leadership programmes. We’ve been told our styles combine well for engaging, inclusive and practical workshops that are also fun.

Deeper Signals

Real change is only possible with self-awareness. My clients love the insights they get from using Deeper Signals’ cutting-edge personality and values diagnostic tools to understand their individual and team strengths and avoid those potentially derailing blind spots! The Deeper Signals experience is a great way for teams to “jump start” a more inclusive, collaborative and successful working environment.

FEATURED REVIEWS

“Working with Gretchen has been invaluable. She's helped me test my thinking and leverage my strengths to make improvements in the way that I act as a leader, a colleague and a working Mum. I did all the hard mahi, but Gretchen shone a light on the way forward as an incredible coach. I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to work with her.”

Engagement Manager,
Communications and Engagement,
Government Agency

“Gretchen’s Emerging Leaders program was one of the best courses that I have attended. The content was cutting edge, the environment she created was engaging and supportive and as a result it managed to do what very few courses have done before, it changed me. In her natural and thought-provoking way, Gretchen challenged my thinking about myself, about others, and about leadership, which has ultimately led to lasting, positive change”


Martin Field-Dodgson,
CEO, Mainland Football Federation

“NZ Football engaged Gretchen to create and deliver an Emerging Leadership Programme which we are gradually rolling out across the football system in New Zealand. At all times we have found Gretchen to be flexible, accommodating and inclusive, and she has been able to adapt the programme to meet the needs of all participants (and the organisation too). The programme content has been well-researched in a way that is fresh, relevant and immediately applicable to everyday work, and she has been able to help participants understand how to lead from their strengths and define the impact they want to have. Feedback from those who attended the first cohort of the programme has been overwhelmingly positive, with participants rating the programme as ‘extremely worthwhile’ and the tools participants were given as ‘hugely beneficial’. Gretchen combined with Melissa Hare to facilitate the programme and their style was described as ‘superb’. Thanks Gretchen, and we look forward to continuing our partnership with you in this space.”


Margaret Nimmo
HR Manager, New Zealand Football

"Gretchen has a strong commitment to the development of strong and collaborative teams. Recently, Gretchen assisted me in standing up a new leadership team. I valued Gretchen's knowledge and experience around leadership development and her ability to offer up suitable and useful tools that assisted us with navigating the challenges we had and with prioritising our work. She helped us to develop a decision-making framework to operate within. Having Gretchen's active input as a practitioner in her field certainly assisted the team to come together quickly and start performing early in its formation."


Marcus Nalter,
Head of Operations Group, WorkSafe NZ

Gretchen Young facilitated a brilliant leadership workshop for our Women Who Lead 2022 programme – for young women leaders in cricket. Drawing on her extensive knowledge of the Deeper Signals Core Drivers diagnostic, she helped participants gain insights into how to lead from their strengths; explore, unpack and tame Imposter Syndrome; and to understand that leadership is everyone's responsibility - it is not a job title. I was lucky enough to experience Gretchen’s workshops first hand in 2019 as a participant of the College Sport Wellington Youth Sport Leadership Development Programme. Demonstrating comprehensive knowledge of coaching models and Puna (the Leadership Framework for Sport and Recreation in Aotearoa New Zealand), alongside her own working experience, Gretchen’s facilitation style is warm, engaging and personable. I have deep respect for Gretchen and her mahi. I wholeheartedly recommend her as a brilliant leader, coach and facilitator.

Frances Stewart
Community Manager – Women & Girls
Kaiwhakahaere Hāpori – Ngā Wāhine me ngā Kōtiro
Cricket Wellington

 

Gretchen is a valued partner of Nuku Ora in the areas of leadership development and coaching. Through her mahi and commitment we are now able to offer formal leadership development to our region and nationally. Her knowledge, experience and willingness to support people on their development journey is at the very centre of who she is and what she does.


Phil Gibbons, ONZM
CEO
Nuku Ora

Gretchen is one of the most insightful and impactful coaches I know. Leveraging scientific and data-driven tools, she creates lasting change and improvement for individuals and teams. She is able to get to the heart of an issue and provide practical solutions that drive performance. I highly recommend choosing Gretchen to be your executive coach!


Reece Aktar, PhD
CEO
 Deeper Signals Inc

Get in Touch

Send me a message if you want to chat about how I can help you, your team and your organisation be more successful in your work.