About us

The Whole Human Coaching model and Whole Team Coaching were developed by Neil Atkinson - a highly experienced business and development professional and Executive Coach. 

Today, Neil and his associates work with clients across the UK and internationally to help leaders and teams reach their full potential. 

Neil developed his unique approach to coaching after more than 30 years' experience of working in business at a senior level. He also has many years’ coaching experience and training to Advanced/PCC level in Executive and Team Coaching. 

Neil has been a Director in communications and marketing agencies, run his own business and led a department in a large multinational. Throughout his career, he has been known for his passion for supporting people to achieve exceptional business results and their personal/professional growth. 

Neil is currently Director of Team Coaching at the AoEC. In his one-to-one coaching practice, he also supports people excel in their roles, develop their careers and meet the many leadership challenges typical of the 21st Century business environment, of which he has direct experience. 

Drawing on a diverse range of knowledge and skill

Neil draws on a range of techniques to support clients clarify their goals, plan for success, and achieve personal and professional fulfilment. He has studied positive psychology and mindfulness and created training programmes in wellbeing and resilience. He brings these interests to his practice, as well as substantial experience of leading digital communications for organisations of all sizes. 

He also enjoys developing workshops and facilitating teams in creating plans, strategies and new ways of working, and has developed and run Coaching for Managers programmes for international businesses.

Background & coaching experience

Neil worked in the business world in communications and marketing for three decades before moving into coaching. During ten years leading digital communication at Unilever he became interested in coaching and set up an internal coaching programme, through which he trained an international group of in-house coaches and provided executive coaching to managers and directors. 

During this time, he studied to Diploma level with the Association of Executive Coaches and has since gained the Advanced Practitioner qualification and Masters-level Diploma in Systemic Team Coaching.

Coaching outcomes for clients include:

• A senior director promoted to head up a new function successfully integrates two existing teams, defines a compelling vision to unite them, while simultaneously leading the delivery of business-critical projects
• A CEO builds a new management team with a strong team-work culture and creates clear and effective ways of working together to achieve stretching objectives
• The leader of an IT /Digital department defines the ideal structure for their team and refocuses them on the challenges of the future while being in the best position to deliver business as usual
• An executive identifies their key strengths and experience to redefine their role to deliver maximum value for their business - and open up an exciting international career move for them in the process
• The owner of a professional services business reshapes their product offering, clarifies how to best work with key clients, and secures several valuable new contracts as a result
• An executive in the charity sector successfully leads their operation through a period of rapid change while clarifying their own career development goals

Training overview 

• Advanced Practitioner Diploma (AoEC, 2016) 
• Systemic Team Coaching Diploma (AoEC 2018)
• Hogan Assessments Certification, Level 1 (2019) 
• Practitioner Diploma in Executive Coaching (AoEC, 2014)
• Somatic Coaching Skills workshop (2016)
• Gestalt Coaching workshop (2015) 
• Mindfulness for Coaches (2018)
• Positive Psychology, University of London

Find out more about Neil on LinkedIn