Sheila Panchal
Business Psychologist
“VUCA is a term that is increasingly used to describe the realities of today’s working environments: volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. In an uncertain world, change and transition is the only constant. In a time of political and environmental uncertainty, portfolio careers, longer lives and advancing technology, we all need the skills to adapt and thrive. These themes are more relevant now than ever before, as we all face the realities of dealing with Covid-19 - an unprecedented global transition.”
Sheila is a chartered psychologist, with over twenty years of cross-sector experience. Her career began in management consultancy, and she has primarily worked within global investment banking for the past sixteen years.
Sheila’s work spans coaching, consultancy and coach training. A key focus is transition coaching for leaders, new parents and female talent. Her expertise lies in helping individuals to negotiate personal and professional transitions, through personable, authentic and pragmatic coaching.
Sheila has coached hundreds of women through the maternity transition, and supported female talent to balance the dual-roles of work and family. She increasingly works with fathers, and career returners transitioning from longer breaks. As a leadership coach, she works with senior leaders to negotiate key transitions such as new roles, promotions and international moves. She enables them to reflect on their style, brand and career direction, and above all, maintain well-being.
Sheila’s coaching approach is evidence based, informed by the coaching, positive and developmental psychology fields. She often makes use of psychometric tools such as MBTI, VIA and the Hogan suite.
As a consultant, Sheila advises on large-scale diversity and culture change initiatives, as well as team development. As a coach trainer, she has upskilled both external and internal coaches. She is also a visiting lecturer at Westminster University.
Sheila has a BSc (Hons) in Psychology from Leeds University (First Class), and a MSc in Occupational and Organisational Psychology from UMIST (Distinction). She is chartered by the British Psychological Society. She holds a Professional Development Certificate in Coaching Psychology from the University of Sydney, and Level A and B (Intermediate) Certificates in Psychometric Testing. She is both accredited by, and a Director of, the International Society for Coaching Psychology (ISCP). She is co-founder of the Centre for Positive Transitions.
Products and Services
Sheila offers coaching, consultancy and education workshops, on a range of development topics. Her approach is tailored to meet the unique business and individual needs of each scenario. See below for a flavour of her projects:
Leadership development. Supported leaders to handle stress, engage their teams, create impactful brands, and transition to new roles. Her input has enabled valued, high potential senior talent to effectively overcome career obstacles and succeed. Her coaching approach includes psychometric testing, 360-degree feedback and manager engagement. In addition, she has facilitated senior leader integration when moving to a new organisation and/or industry.
New parent coaching. Coached women during pregnancy, maternity leave and return to work. Her depth of experience allows her to consistently add significant value in 1-2 individual sessions, and delivers clear business benefit by supporting effective transitions back to work, and promoting retention of female talent. She also runs group coaching sessions for women post the initial return period.
Culture change. Advised on large-scale initiatives focusing on changing mindset and behaviour. She has applied organisational development principles and practices in a range of contexts to enable change.
Well-being support. Run mental health and well-being workshops, equipping managers and well-being champions to support the mental health of their colleagues.
Coach training. Co-facilitated a two-day coach development coaching course for independent coaches and coaching psychologists. This provides a range of models and techniques for coaching individuals through personal and professional transitions.
Publications
Change and transition has been a consistent theme throughout Sheila’s academic career, from how to deal with stressful aspects of M&A situations, to handling significant life changes. Two key publications are as follows:
Developmental Coaching: Life Transitions and Generational Perspectives – co-edited with Professor Stephen Palmer (2011)
Turning 30: How to get the life you really want – co-authored with Ellen Jackson (2005)
Further chapters and articles include:
Panchal, S., O’Riordan, S. & Palmer, S. (2021). Life and personal coaching. In S. O’Riordan & S. Palmer (Eds). Introduction to Coaching Psychology, Routledge. Pp. 127-138.
Palmer, S., Panchal, S., & O’Riordan, S. (2020). ‘Could the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic have any positive impact on wellbeing?’ European Journal of Applied Positive Psychology, 4, 10, 1-13.
Panchal, S., Palmer, S. & O’Riordan, S. (2020). Enhancing Transition Resilience: Using the INSIGHT coaching and counselling model to assist in coping with COVID-19. International Journal of Stress Prevention and Wellbeing, Vol 4, Article 3.
Panchal, S., Palmer, S. & O’Riordan, S. (2019). Coaching through developmental transitions. In Green, S. & Palmer, S, Positive Psychology in Practice. Routledge.
Panchal, S., Palmer, S. & Green, S. (2018). From positive psychology to the development of positive psychology coaching. In Ed. Palmer, S. & Whybrow, A. Handbook of Coaching Psychology: A Guide for Practitioners. Routledge.
Panchal, S., O’Riordan, S. & Palmer, S. (2018). Developmental coaching across life transitions. In Palmer, S. & Whybrow, A. Handbook of Coaching Psychology: A Guide for Practitioners. Routledge.
Panchal, S., Palmer, S., O’Riordan, S. & Kelly, A. (2017). Stress and Well-being: A Life Stage Model. International Journal of Stress Prevention and Wellbeing, Vol 1, Issue 1, article 3
O’Riordan, S., Palmer., S. & Panchal, S. (2017). The Bigger Picture: Building upon the ‘Developmental Coaching: Transitions Continuum’. European Journal of Applied Positive Psychology, 1, 6.
Kelly, A., Panchal, S. & Palmer, S. (2010). Physical Health and Well-being: A Life Stage Model. Coaching Psychology International, 3, 2, 13-15.
Panchal, S. & Jackson, E. (2007). ‘Turning 30’ transitions: Generation ‘Y’ hits quarter-life. The Coaching Psychologist, 3, 2, 46-51.
Cartwright, S. and Panchal, S. (2000). ‘The Stressful Aspects of Mergers and Acquisitions’ in ‘Stress in the Workplace: Past, Present and Future’.
Testimonials
"Sheila was instrumental in helping me move to the next level in my career. She has a depth of experience in coaching at the executive level and can really help fine tune your delivery and approach to enable success at board level."
- Managing Director, Investment Banking
"I have had the pleasure of knowing and working with Sheila periodically for over 10 years. Sheila is a highly skilled coach and learning and development professional. She also has a robust understanding of organisational development principles and how to bring about positive change in organisations. In her coaching work her knowledge and understanding of life and career transitions in particular has proved of enormous value to those facing the challenges of work life balance, joining a new organisation or stepping up into stretching situations or roles. Every team I have seen Sheila join has been enhanced by her knowledge, experience and supportive nature. In short, she is a joy to work with and I have seen her add significant value in whatever situation she is placed.”
- Head of Talent (Operations, Services & Technology), Investment Banking
"Sheila was extremely professional and welcoming. She listened and effectively worked through the discussion to come up with some concrete actions. Most importantly it was helpful to have an independent sounding board and activist on your side."
- Maternity Coachee, Investment Banking
