Strategic coaching, incisive thinking, and the power of narrative - to lead with clarity and impact

We create the space for leaders to step back, think clearly, and navigate complexity with confidence. By sharpening the narrative that drives decisions, teams, and performance, we help leaders move forward with clarity and impact. Our approach blends:

• Narrative Coaching: Working with the narratives shaping your leadership, team and organisation.
• Commercial Focus: Cutting through complexity to strengthen decision-making and drive results.
• Challenge & Space: Asking the questions that lift your thinking while creating the space to reflect.

Through this, you strengthen your leadership impact—whether leading a business transformation, aligning your team, or making critical decisions at board level.

Numbers and logic influence—but stories move people. As a leader, you don’t just set the direction; you shape the meaning. Leadership isn’t only about plans—it’s about the narrative you create around them. Shaping narrative is not spin; it’s a leadership skill. It’s how you:

• Clarify the future in times of uncertainty.
• Motivate your team under pressure.
• Set vision and galvanise action.
• Navigate change when resistance builds.

Whether in executive coaching or leadership development, we work with you to sharpen your narrative—so your leadership is clear, confident, and compelling.

Listening Partnership was founded by Nick Isbister and Jude Elliman after decades working with senior leaders. They saw that traditional coaching often focused too narrowly on individuals—missing the wider systems leaders operate within: the teams, the organisation, the narrative shaping both.

They developed narrative coaching to change that—helping leaders step back, sharpen their thinking, and align the narrative that moves people forward. Because change doesn’t just come from action. It comes from shifting the narrative that shapes the action.

Listening Partnership is a team of senior executive coaches and coaching supervisors, each with deep expertise and broad experience working with leaders, teams, and other coaches. Founded by Nick Isbister and Jude Elliman, the business has grown into a collective of respected practitioners, working with CEOs, executives, teams, and coaches across professional services, corporate sectors, finance, high-growth businesses, and not-for-profits.

We are based in West Oxfordshire (Eynsham) and London (Liverpool Street), meeting clients face-to-face in both locations and working virtually with leaders across the UK and internationally. Every coach brings their own expertise, but we share a common belief: Leaders thrive when they create space to think, strengthen their narrative, and step forward with clarity and confidence.