Battlefields to Boardrooms

This media release, about former British Army Commander, Lieutenant General Ivan Jones, joining us, and Coaching Focus founder, Trayton Vance, as a Senior Partner, went out to press this morning, Monday 10th January 2022.

Former Senior British Army Commander joins leading professional development firm and explains how empowerment is crucial to businesses thriving in these challenging times

One of the British Army’s most senior ranking leaders has joined an internationally renowned Devon-based professional development firm, bringing his expertise on the world’s battlefields to its boardrooms.

Former British Army Commander, Lieutenant General Ivan Jones, 55, has become a Senior Partner with Coaching Focus, an internationally in-demand coaching consultancy which has been based on the outskirts of Exeter since its foundation in 2009, with clients including Tesco, McDonald's, and OVO Energy.

As a former Commander Field Army of 80,000 soldiers, Ivan’s conscientiousness and energy earned him a formidable reputation as one of the most transformative thinkers in the modern-day British Army.  

Founded by Trayton Vance in 2009, Coaching Focus offers business coaching and training, primarily to C-level executives, and focuses on helping organisations build successful, joyful workplaces through empowering individuals to reach their full potential, with high performance a natural by-product.

Ivan’s experiences will complement everything that Coaching Focus has achieved over the last 12 years which includes working with industry-leading companies that share the vision of creating remarkable change and driving success by empowering the people you work with.

“I wanted to join an organisation that shares my passion for empowering people and unlocking their potential while helping organisations make an impact beyond performance in the workplace,” explained Ivan.

“The Army gave me the opportunity to lead at every level, from battlefield tactics in the most demanding and hostile environments around the world to shaping strategic decisions on how Defence delivers Government objectives. Such a journey also helps you appreciate the impact senior decisions have at every level throughout an organisation.”

Ivan’s most recent role as Commander Field Army brought everything he’d experienced over three decades together, enabling him to drive significant transformation across the Field Army, for which coaching was key.

“Culture is key, in particular a coaching culture that empowers people,” he said. “That such change was absorbed across the Field Army at such speed and with such ease reflects what can be achieved if people are empowered and given the confidence, freedom, and resources to make a difference.”

Ivan believes this approach is key to providing businesses with the resilience and agility not simply to ride out the pandemic and other disruptive challenges we are facing, but to thrive.

“We’ve had arguably two of the most turbulent years since the Second World War, and not just because of the pandemic, but economically, socially, and environmentally too,” he said. “2022 is a time for businesses to leverage the potential of their people to grow.

“Coaching creates the sort of leadership which inspires a workforce, enabling people to flourish and allowing organisations to thrive in these disruptive and challenging times.”

In his new role co-piloting Coaching Focus, Ivan will be integral in inspiring organisations the world over to consider their impact beyond the workplace.

“You’ve got to have soul, a purpose beyond the workplace,” he added. “We have to make a difference, wherever we are and whatever we’re doing. There’s never been a more important time in which to make a positive difference to business leaders and their employees, to help them become more outward-looking.

“We all have a responsibility, not only within the boundaries of our business but well beyond. We must use coaching to help create a better tomorrow.”

About Coaching Focus:

Professional development and coaching consultancy, Coaching Focus, was founded in 2009 by former Royal Marines Lieutenant Trayton Vance who has 20 years’ professional coaching experience.

The business is based near Cullompton and is expanding to include an Exeter base this January 2022. Coaching Focus works with companies in the UK, Europe, Asia, and the Americas.

Clients include those within the private, public, and charity sectors such as Tesco, McDonald's, OVO Energy, Aggregate Industries as well as NHS trusts, councils, and police forces.

In 2021 the company tripled its workforce to include 14 full-time staff members (not including associate coaches and trainers) and doubled its revenue, while adapting to deliver 95 percent of its courses online, due to the pandemic.

With a career spanning 33 years, Lieutenant General Ivan Jones, from Taunton, was integral in transforming the British Army into being more progressive, empowered, and agile than it’s ever been. He is lauded as one of the most innovative thinkers of recent times, and one who has instigated impactful change. He is a Companion of the Order of the Bath and was recently awarded the Bundeswehr Cross of Honour by the German Government. He recently won his Age Group at the 2020 Ironman Mallorca and qualified for the World Championships.

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