Beyond skills: How Baringa built a coaching-powered leadership culture

How one consultancy invested in developing coaching capability, fueled leadership promotions, and built a scalable culture of coaching.

Since 2021, Baringa Partners has redefined what leadership looks like. By embedding coaching at the heart of its people-first culture, the management consultancy has created a high-impact development strategy that’s as good for business as it is for people. The result? By focusing coaching investment towards building internal capability, the organisation achieved an 81% reduction in external coaching spend - unlocking greater impact, with 47% of internal coachees progressing into more senior roles.

This is the story of how coaching became the catalyst for cultural transformation, leadership growth and long-term success.

From vision to action: Embedding coaching in the heart of Baringa

The coaching journey began in 2019 when managing partner Adrian Bettridge and chief people officer Emma Pace took part in the AoEC’s open Practitioner Diploma in Executive Coaching. Inspired by the depth of reflection and impact, they saw an opportunity to scale coaching across the organisation.

With a long-standing reputation as a ‘Great Place to Work’, Baringa’s values – Be kind. Be curious. Be great at work – already aligned with the coaching ethos. Adrian and his leadership team wanted a practical, sustainable approach that would nurture individual growth and fuel business performance.

“As part of our leadership response, we asked all our partners to complete an external executive coaching diploma, and to use the skills they learn internally with our people and externally with our clients. Mentoring is easy – we share our experience and find answers for others. But coaching is more challenging, demanding kindness and understanding. Coaching means asking the right questions and really listening to the responses, while suspending personal judgement. We want our leaders to listen and coach first, before directing and managing, and more than 97 partners have completed the diploma – with more following suit.” explains Emma Pace, chief people officer at Baringa.

Working in close partnership with the AoEC, Emma and Angel Conley, head of leadership development, led the charge to weave coaching into Baringa’s leadership DNA. Today, coaching is core to how leaders engage teams, build relationships and spark collaboration.

Angel Conley elaborates: “At Baringa, our vision is to bring coaching into our everyday language and skill set —whether in client interactions, or leadership and people management. Our Internal Coaching Network enables us to develop our internal talent pipeline of future leaders expanding coaching opportunities across all our Business Units. Coaching is integral to our culture and leadership at Baringa, our three-step ‘Listen, Coach, Lead’ model, is founded on the idea that being heard must come first. Deep, active listening to understand an individual’s strengths and challenges is the first critical step to making change and progress. It’s a sign of great leadership and of a kind leader.”

Building leaders for the future

At the centre of Baringa’s approach is its T-shaped leadership model, which champions deep expertise combined with broad collaboration.

Coaching brings this to life. Angel explains that: “The Practitioner Diploma in Executive Coaching is available to all partners and particularly supports our leadership models.”

Angel adds, “Our leaders enable and drive our strategy, empower people, and create an entrepreneurial environment where innovation can thrive. Coaching helps them stretch and support others, drive performance and learning, and create meaningful career growth opportunities. Just as importantly, they listen – building a more inclusive, more human culture where people can do their best work.”

Despite time being the biggest challenge in building internal capability, 97 of Baringa’s leaders have participated in the programme. And the change is clear. “Our partners have become evangelists for coaching,” says Angel. “It’s encouraged our partners to ‘be themselves more...with skill.’ They have gained more confidence, strengthened their networks and a greater willingness to be more open and vulnerable.”

Angel expands this point further: “Strengthening connections with your peers, cultivating trust, and fostering a sense of community are key elements in enriching our unique Baringa culture. The programme actively promotes engaging in open and honest conversations, encouraging you to share your experiences and challenges openly. Lastly, you are urged to recognise the value of slowing down, engaging in thoughtful reflection, and appreciating the importance of deliberate contemplation.”

Sam Thornton, one of Baringa’s consultants, agrees that “the partners are more effective and more confident in the entirety of their role – not just in using a coaching leadership style.”

Shifting mindset, redistributing responsibility

For Adrian Bettridge, coach training changed his perspective. “I really enjoyed learning a different type of leadership skill – how to coach, how to ask better questions, and how to help people find the answer for themselves,” he says.

This emphasis on empowerment is now embedded in how Baringa develops its people. “Progression at Baringa is about spending more time with clients and coaching the next generation to deepen their expertise and deliver even more value,” Adrian adds.

Sam Thornton notes another important shift: “The psychological ownership of some of the problems has actually shifted to the people asking the questions. That fatigue is more evenly distributed now.”

One course participant reflected on their experience: “I went into this with an expectation that coaching would be more of an instruction process. My coach’s approach has massively helped me to understand how my own self-confidence, and confidence of self, played a big role in some of the challenges I experienced last year, and how I can re-focus to avoid some of those issues in the future.”

Delivering impact and saving money

Today, 70% of all coaching at Baringa is delivered internally – a move that has significantly strengthened internal talent. The result is an 81% reinvestment in external coaching spend and 47% of those coached internally promoted to senior roles with coaching now an integral part of the firm’s leadership approach.

Improving engagement and retention

Angel comments: “As we have embedded coaching into our culture, I’ve seen our leadership skills flourish and our consultants grow and unlock greater performance. It’s more than just a strategy—it’s a catalyst for retaining talent and empowering every individual to achieve their best.”

Emma adds: “The transformation we’ve witnessed reaches beyond skills—it’s about building confidence, resilience, and lasting connections, all while fuelling innovation and driving measurable business performance."

One course participant shared their feedback: “Profound! I can’t find a better word to describe the impact my AoEC coaching diploma has had. It’s opened my eyes to a whole new leadership model and enlightened me with new tools and perspectives to inspire and empower.”

Another comments: “This programme is achieving something very hard to achieve – it’s delivered a culture change in an organisation which advises its own clients on change.”​

Creating client value through coaching

Baringa’s people-first ethos has always set it apart. But now, coaching isn’t just supporting internal development – it’s creating value for clients, too. Adrian says, “What I enjoy most is asking insightful questions that get to the heart of a client’s challenge – understanding what’s really going on in their business.”

By weaving coaching into consulting conversations, Baringa is helping client leaders unlock their own insights, navigate resistance and take action. Sam adds, “We’ve seen them uncover new avenues of work for themselves during coaching conversations. They’re identifying opportunities they weren’t aware of before.”

Scaling sustainably with the AoEC

Baringa’s partnership with AoEC has built a powerful coaching foundation that now drives leadership capability and business performance. This foundation continues to evolve, with the recent addition of supervision and plans underway for a platform to manage coaching more effectively.

Karen Smart, AoEC’s head of consultancy, says: “Our work with Baringa shows the power of coaching when it becomes part of how leaders think and act. Our partnership with Baringa has allowed us to collaborate with a team that truly understands the value of coaching, not just as a technique but as a way of being. They’ve created a sustainable model for growth – one that’s people-centric, empowering and truly future-focused.”