Anticipating Issues and Moving Challenging Investments Forward– Dealing with Difficult Conversations Well

For Investor Directors, Chairs and NXDs

The investment journey will always meet with unexpected issues, some of which can have a serious impact on the founding team, business and investors and their ongoing relationship. It can be challenging for investor and non-executive directors to anticipate and identify issues early at arm’s length and deal with them effectively without these escalating into battle and confrontation.

Designed to support investor and non-executive directors in anticipating pressure points and potential conflict,or who have identified that an invested business is not currently deliveing as expected and there are current or anticiapted challenges with the Founder, CEO or Exec Team. It will look at how to identify potential issues, recognise triggers and symptoms and how to engage early, hold difficult conversations and take appropriate action.

Key Outcomes

Identifying stress and pressure points
Identifying symptoms, triggers and anticipating conflict and confrontation
How to deal with these effectively
Identifying support and development options
Effective conversations and dialogue

Facilitator and Coach

Kirsty Bathgate is the founder of Gearing for Growth, a strategic business consultancy supporting growing businesses to develop strong leadership; values led cultures, high performance teams and effective boards. An experienced SME MD, having built, led and exited a leading short break tourism business, with over 20 years experience in growing businesses, leading and coaching both, individuals and teams. An accredited executive coach who is passionate about supporting founders and leaders to achieve their potential and that of their business and team and having started her career in sales and marketing she still has a strong commercial and customer focus.

She is an Association for Coaching accredited executive coach, an accredited user of DISC psychometric profiling an experienced user of 360 degree tool and also holds a Certificate in Coaching from the University of Strathclyde, an International Coaching Federation Accredited Coaching Practice Certificate and a Chartered Institute of Marketing Postgraduate Diploma. Kirsty also actively participates in ongoing CPD and mentors for the Princes Trust Youth Business Scotland, E-Spark, is a trustee for Cyrenians and a module Leader for MSC in Entrepreneurial Leadership at Edinburgh Napier University.

Anticipating Issues – Dealing with Difficult Conversations Well