Sarah Griffen

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Sarah Griffen Executive Leadership Coach and Strategic People Consultant

Helping Leaders lead with clarity, ease and impact.

This is one of those coaching moments I love. 🤍When this client first came to me, difficult conversations were hard. She...
22/09/2026

This is one of those coaching moments I love. 🤍

When this client first came to me, difficult conversations were hard. She would get frustrated, react in the moment, and later wonder if she had handled things the right way.

Over the course of our coaching, we worked on slowing that process down.

Instead of going into a difficult conversation focused only on what she wanted to say, she started thinking about what the other person needed from the conversation, what message she wanted to get across, and how she wanted to show up.

By the end, her confidence had gone from 5/10 to 10/10.

This is what I love about executive leadership coaching. We can take the real situations you’re dealing with at work and actually work through them, whether that’s difficult conversations, decision-making, self-doubt, overwhelm or stepping into a bigger leadership role.

If you’re a newly promoted or senior leader and something at work keeps getting the better of you, DM me. Let’s see what’s possible for you. 🤍

Ever feel like your HRBPs are bringing you every tricky problem?They’re smart. They know HR. But the really valuable par...
21/09/2026

Ever feel like your HRBPs are bringing you every tricky problem?

They’re smart. They know HR. But the really valuable part of business partnering is knowing what to do when there isn’t an obvious answer.

How do you challenge a senior leader without losing the relationship?

How do you influence a decision you don’t actually own?

How do you coach someone through a problem instead of taking it off their hands?

How do you get out of the weeds and see what’s really going on?

Those are the skills I wanted to build into my HR Business Partner Capability Series.

There are six practical workshops, each focused on a different capability, so you can choose the ones that make the most sense for your team, whether that’s one workshop, a couple of them, or the full series.

They’re built around real workplace situations, real conversations and plenty of practice.

If you’re a senior HR or People & Culture leader thinking about developing your HRBP team, DM me, and I’ll send you the details.

18/09/2026

If you’re thinking, “I should be better at this by now,” there’s one thing I’d look at first.

What is actually happening here, and what am I adding to it?

For example, you might be frustrated because your team keeps coming to you with problems.

The facts might be: They’re bringing me problems I should probably be helping them solve themselves.

The story might be: They can’t cope without me.

Those are two very different things.

Try separating the two the next time something gets under your skin:

What are the facts?
What am I feeling?
What am I assuming?
What do I want to do differently next time?

That pause can change the response you choose.

It’s something I work on a lot with newly promoted and senior leaders who are dealing with overwhelm, self-doubt, difficult conversations and the pressure of stepping into bigger roles.

You don’t always need a better answer.

Sometimes you need to look at the situation differently.

If there’s a leadership situation you keep going around in circles with, DM me. 🤍

How many steps did you recognise yourself in? 😂Leadership has a funny way of turning capable people into chronic overthi...
15/09/2026

How many steps did you recognise yourself in? 😂

Leadership has a funny way of turning capable people into chronic overthinkers.

You say yes because you want to be helpful.

You stay available because you don’t want your team to struggle.

You avoid the difficult conversation because you don’t want to make things worse.

You take things back because it feels quicker to do them yourself.

Then you wonder why you’re exhausted.

None of this makes you a bad leader. It usually means you care, you’re used to being the person who gets things done, and you haven’t yet found a better way to lead at this level.

This is where leadership coaching can help.

We can work on the boundaries, delegation, decision-making, difficult conversations and self-doubt that keep pulling you back into overwhelm.

So, be honest... which step are you most guilty of? 👀

And if you’re a newly promoted or senior leader who is tired of running leadership on overdrive, DM me. Let’s talk.

14/09/2026

Maybe you’ve got the executive title, the responsibility and the career you worked hard for.

But if you’re constantly exhausted, carrying everyone else’s problems, struggling to switch off and wondering when you’ll finally get a chance to breathe, does it actually feel like success?

For me, this is what “rich” looks like.

A career you’re proud of without it consuming your whole life.

Feeling confident in your leadership decisions instead of second-guessing yourself.

Having boundaries you can actually stick to.

Leading your team without feeling like everything has to come back to you.

And still having energy for the rest of your life.

This is a big part of what I work on with women in executive leadership, especially newly promoted leaders who are feeling overwhelmed, burnt out or unsure how to navigate the pressure of their new role.

Through executive coaching, we look at what’s creating the pressure, what you’re carrying that may not actually be yours, and how you want to lead going forward.

You don’t have to wait until you’re completely exhausted to change the way you lead.

If you’re ready for leadership to feel more sustainable, send me a DM and let’s talk. 🤍

I think good executive coaching should leave you with more clarity, not more dependence on your coach.That’s why my sess...
13/09/2026

I think good executive coaching should leave you with more clarity, not more dependence on your coach.

That’s why my sessions don’t look like someone handing you a list of things to do.

We talk. I ask questions. I challenge the assumptions behind what you’re telling me. And sometimes I’ll ask something that makes you stop and go, “Oh. I hadn’t thought about it like that.”

That’s especially valuable when you’re a newly promoted executive dealing with overwhelm, self-doubt, difficult decisions, or the pressure to get everything right.

The goal is to help you trust your own judgement, find your own leadership style, and lead with more confidence.

And sometimes the best coaching outcome is simply knowing what you need to do next.

If you’re a newly promoted or senior leader who wants support with the messy parts of leadership, send me a DM and let’s have a chat. 🤍

12/09/2026

The real reason leaders struggle to set boundaries?

Often, they’re not actually clear on where their responsibility ends.

This can be especially difficult when you’ve recently stepped into a bigger leadership role.

You’re used to being the person who gets things done, solves problems and steps in when something needs fixing, so it can feel uncomfortable to let someone else own it.

That’s when the workload starts creeping up. You take things back, become the person everyone comes to, and slowly end up carrying things that were never really yours to carry.

That’s why I don’t see boundaries as simply learning to say no. A big part of it is getting clear on your role, trusting other people to do their part, and being comfortable not fixing everything yourself.

One question I often encourage leaders to ask themselves is:
“Is this actually mine to carry?”

It’s a simple question, but the answer can change a lot.

For the leaders who always seem to be the person everyone turns to...A quick reminder:You can care deeply about your tea...
11/09/2026

For the leaders who always seem to be the person everyone turns to...

A quick reminder:

You can care deeply about your team without carrying everything for them.

You can be committed to your role without being available 24/7.

And you can be ambitious without running yourself into the ground.

I see a lot of newly promoted and senior leaders who are capable, committed and incredibly hard-working, but are also overwhelmed, stretched thin and struggling to switch off.

Leadership needs more than your time and energy. It needs space to think, make good decisions, set boundaries and lead your team well.

You’re allowed to protect that space.

10/09/2026

Sometimes I look at what I’m doing now and think, how did I end up here? 😂

After 25 years in HR, I never expected coaching to become such a big part of my life.

But the moment I started training to be a coach, it started to make sense. I realised I could bring everything I’d learned from working with leaders, organisations and people into a very different kind of conversation.

Now I get to sit with leaders who are overwhelmed, second-guessing themselves or unsure how to navigate their next step.

We unpack what’s really going on, challenge the assumptions they’ve been carrying, and work out what they actually want to do next.

And if I’m being honest the feeling of watching someone walk away from a coaching session seeing themselves, their options or their leadership differently never gets old.

Yes, I love my job and I’m so very glad I took this leap. ❤️

If that kind of work sounds like your thing, you’ll probably enjoy following along here.

09/09/2026

When everything starts to feel urgent, it is easy to slip into reactive leadership.

You move from one email to the next, jump between decisions and keep picking up problems because they all feel like they need your attention right now.

That constant pressure makes it harder to think clearly, prioritise your time and focus on the work that actually moves things forward.

When you notice this happening, pause and ask yourself:

What actually needs my attention right now?
What can wait, be delegated or be dropped?
What is the next most important thing I can do?

These questions can help you clear some of the mental noise and get your focus back.

As an executive leader, your time and attention are valuable. Being intentional about where you put them is a big part of leading well.

Save this for the next time everything feels urgent, or send it to a leader who needs to hear it.

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