Practitioner Diploma / “As a coach, I can help a client transform their lived experience”

André Bright is an accredited executive coach, architect and dancer from Sierra Leone, now based in London. With a background in architectural design, he transitioned into coaching after completing the AoEC’s Practitioner Diploma in Executive Coaching. Now running his own practice, André specialises as a corporate burnout prevention coach and facilitator. We spoke to him about his journey, his experience with coach training, and his work in the field.

Prior to developing yourself as a coach, you worked as architectural designer at Tyburn Management LLP. Who or what introduced you to coaching and led to you signing up for coach training with the AoEC?

I had three different friends (who didn’t know each other) ask me, around the same time, if I’d ever considered coaching, because what they were being taught, was what I do naturally. After the third person, I looked into it and looked around.

Honestly, as an idea, I thought it could be my avenue to freedom. I wanted something I could do remotely, with clients who could pay well, and use the money for the social impact projects I always had to apply for funding to deliver. I wanted to be able to spend more time with my grandma in Sierra Leone and live a lifestyle that could accommodate the family I one day wanted to have.

I found a (open event) webinar by AoEC for its diploma and was the only person who raised their hand to volunteer for a demonstration of coaching. In those 15mins, I got more clarity than in the last few years and decided then I wanted to be at this level of effectiveness in other people’s lives, so I enrolled onto the course that week, for a course that started a few weeks later.

What were some of the positives and challenges you experienced while doing the diploma?

The main challenge for me was time. There was a lot of material and books to read, but I was in a full-time role at work which required a lot of brain space, so sometimes I struggled with my early or late shifts, to concentrate while I studied.

But the course itself was great. Most of the theory was done outside of the training days, which I took off as annual leave, and which focused heavily on practical exercises to test out what you’d learned. I also felt I connected with much of the cohort and facilitators so was comfortable enough to take risks and receive feedback, which ultimately improved my abilities as a coach.

What is your top advice to others considering coach training?

Know that coaching isn’t just a professional skill but a personal one too, so see it not just as a potential revenue stream but as a way to connect with anyone. Once I realised that, I found the world to be the classroom and could try different approaches wherever I went, which allowed me to develop my practice further.

Looking back at doing your diploma, what has been its lasting impact on you as a person and you as a coach?

I listen better now, not just to what is said by words, but what’s not said, and what’s said by the body. I pay more attention and approach conversations with curiosity and less judgement which means people feel safe to be vulnerable with me, which allows deeper connections to grow. I think I’m a better friend as a result of many of the tools applied and take more time to understand as opposed to responding. I pause more, now.

Can you tell us more about your personal coaching model and how this has evolved since doing the diploma?

My biggest challenge was that I was a chronic people pleaser. I felt like my value came from what I could do for other people. All this came up in therapy before realising that actually, it meant people didn’t get the real version of me, and neither did I, but also, this didn’t serve the very people I was trying to please in the long run, because I was in a cycle of burning out. So, in the course, I developed what I called the H.E.R.O model, which empowered the client (me) to take the stage as the main character of your story, by finding and accentuating your gifts and strengths, as superpowers.

You now work as a corporate burnout prevention coach and set up your own practice Ebunola Global in 2023; can you tell us about the type of clients you are working with?

Since then, I’ve realised the issue is much deeper. I become more solely focused on burnout prevention. I found that as a topic, it kept coming up with professionals I was working with, especially middle managers who might take time off, but come back to work immediately back to square one. Stressed. I found that many of them were only thinking or finding support on what I considered to be surface issues - self-care, breaks, boundaries etc. So, I developed my R.E.L.I.E.F. framework that looks at what I now consider to be the core elements that will lead you towards or away from burnout.

A Resilient mindset helps reduce the gap between a crisis and recovery; Efficient stress management techniques allow for immediate relief in the middle of a crisis; Lifestyle optimisation cultivates long term wellness; Inner alignment connects a client back to their core values and purpose; Emotional mastery helps you understand what is happening internally and how to deal with it; and Focused action looks at what you will actually do, to break the patterns.

I help individuals and businesses because a team is often only as good as its most stressed member.

What are some of the issues and opportunities you coach people around?

Recent client issues have included conquering their negative thoughts, procrastination, and developing a work/rest/play balance that allows them to be fulfilled at work and at home. Usually, they would come with one thing but realise there’s something behind it. Ultimately, because the R.E.L.I.E.F. framework works so much on the internal, instead of helping to make the problem smaller, I help the client become much bigger, so everything, not just what they came in for, seems much smaller.

Looking ahead, what are your aspirations for Ebunola Global? Are there any particular goals or dreams, such as expanding your work internationally or contributing to your roots in Sierra Leone, that you’re excited to pursue?

This December, I delivered workshops for leaders of businesses in Sierra Leone in partnership with Ngadi Kamara (Co-MD of Hotel Barmoi) and Aderonke Bademosi Wilson (Leadership consultant from Bermuda), which was my first international role. I want to continue that growth. As the name suggests, I want Ebunola to be Global - to get my framework accredited so I can train others in it to serve leaders worldwide. This year I’ll launch my podcast interviewing two types of potential clients:

1. Individuals (1:1 coaching clients) - High-performing professionals struggling with stress & burnout.

2. Corporate Clients (HR, L&D, and senior managers in high-pressure industries) - Companies investing in employee wellbeing to reduce turnover and improve productivity.

Can you share a success story or testimonial from one of your clients that highlights the impact of your coaching?

One client always jumps to mind at this question. She is a young single mother who was struggling to maintain performance, because she was struggling with negative thoughts. This was impacting on her career, and her self-esteem, but most of all, her relationship with her daughter. It was only a 30-minute coaching session, and I didn’t know how much impact our session would have, but when I checked in a week later, her response had me close to tears. There had been a huge shift which had fundamentally changed her approach to how she thought, which was transforming her relationship with herself and her daughter, which were the two biggest priorities for her and gave her the capacity to improve her performance at work. She was emotionally exhausted but did the work and got her mojo back.

What do you find most rewarding about your work as a coach?

Transformations like the above. As an architect, I can help improve the built environment, and as a dancer I can make you feel something, but as a coach, I can help a client transform their lived experience more directly, and that, to me, that is everything.

Our deepest thanks to André for sharing his personal journey and experience of coach training at the AoEC.