About Us
Our work began with individuals navigating difficult working environments and career change.
Something became clear very quickly: that many talented people, across all levels of seniority, were never taught the skills to lead and manage.
They had been promoted because they were good at what they did.
Through careful listening and coaching, we supported them to regain clarity, confidence and agency.
Our individual coaching and career support service remains a central part of our offering, and further details can be found here.
Expert-to-Leader Accredited training
What became clear was that individual struggle is rarely an individual problem – and usually indicates something is happening systemically.
So, we created our “Expert to Leader” programme: a 6-month leadership development pathway designed for technically-skilled professionals who have transitioned into people management roles without formal leadership training.
It equips first-line managers, team leaders, supervisors and billable consultants with the practical tools, confidence and behavioural capability required to lead effectively in fast-paced, client-focused environments.
Sarah Wright, Co-Founder
Sarah is a qualified, advanced, accredited Coach with more than 25 years experience in HR, People Management and Personal Development. Her experience spans a range of sectors including retail, technology and consulting.
Andy Holmes, Co-Founder, Coach and Trainer
Andy set up CareerSpace with Sarah following 25+ years experience in legal, commercial, compliance and media roles in the SME and corporate sector. An accomplished mentor and advisor, he is a qualified executive coach and holds a certification in Ikigai coaching (the Japanese concept of guiding people towards finding their purpose).
Liz Crutchley, Associate Trainer and DEI Leader
Liz has worked alongside CareerSpace since 2025, bringing a wealth of training and personal development expertise. She works with Andy to provide a range of training, culture workshops and keynote speaking, underpinned by a strong background in HR and inclusion. Her company, Orange Orchid, is a leader in changing the narrative about workplace culture.
We have sat at senior tables, made mistakes, learned hard lessons and worked in environments where people felt undervalued, unheard and psychologically unsafe.
That experience matters.
Our approach
Our ‘expert to leader’ programme blends neuroscience-based learning, structured leadership models, and monthly 1:1 coaching to create measurable, sustainable improvements in leadership behaviour. It is intentionally designed to minimise disruption to billable work while maximising development impact.
This approach works because
- psychological safety is not a soft concept. It is a serious business issue.
- understanding human behaviour is central to effective leadership.
- how people experience trust, threat, fairness and belonging directly affects decision-making.
- performance and resilience are most powerful when they are discovered, not imposed.
- listening is a leadership skill, not a nice-to-have.
- when people feel safe, trusted and well led, performance follows
Read more in our FAQs here, and if you’d like an informal, no-obligation chat, please drop us a line and we’ll get back to you.