Ian Higginbottom
Ian Higginbottom is a coach dedicated to unlocking potential and transforming the way people lead, collaborate, and achieve results. With over 15 years of experience building and developing teams as a business leader and senior executive, Ian knows firsthand how powerful coaching can be in expanding leadership capacity and helping individuals discover new possibilities for themselves and their teams. Ian’s approach to coaching is grounded in practical wisdom and a deep understanding of human behaviour.
His work is rooted in ontological coaching—focused on how language, emotions, and physiology shape who we are and our leadership presence. Ian’s coaching is profound yet accessible, blending respect and insight to create immediate, sustainable change. What sets Ian apart is his focus on the conversations that matter most. He helps leaders and teams improve productivity, navigate change, and foster high-performance cultures by transforming the quality of their interactions. Ian partners with individuals and organizations to create environments where relationships thrive, challenges are embraced, and success is built collaboratively.
Whether working one-on-one with leaders, facilitating team development, or guiding cultural transformation, Ian’s coaching empowers people to grow, adapt, and achieve their goals in meaningful ways. For those seeking to lead with clarity, build strong teams, and create lasting impact, Ian offers a powerful partnership for growth.
Areas of Expertise
Coaching for high performance with teams and individual executives
Developing quality working relationships and resolving conflict
Dealing with self-doubt and anxiety (e.g. interviews, new promotions, new projects)
Leadership Training, Productivity Coaching and Career coaching
“When I initially engaged Ian, my objective was to improve my confidence as the leader of a complex technical team within a large, new, programme of work where I was starting to question my ability. Through a respectful and trusting coaching relationship, Ian has assisted me in developing a level of resourcefulness that enables me to operate confidently and effectively in situations that would previously have caused me to falter. I have developed significantly as a confident leader and am now driving outcomes that I once felt incapable of achieving.”
”Before working with you, if an exec spoke to me I would be doing 7 other things at the same time. [You have] made me think about what I am doing and I am now giving that person 100% of my attention. The result is an increase in the feeling of worth by staff as well as an increased willingness to engage in important conversations.”
”Thanks so much for the awesome coaching session. I am still buzzing from our conversation – we covered a hell of a lot of ground in a short time. I loved the bodywork. I keep going back to that moment when it all came together and we laughed at how obvious the answer was. I can now explore my future with confidence and curiosity. Everybody deserves some of your special brand of help!”
”My coaching experience with Ian was excellent. From the first session I sensed that he grasped clearly my difficult work situation brought about by tensions between the Principal and me. Ian and my discussions focused on ways that my work contributions could be more valued, my expertise more recognised, and my role in the school community better safeguarded. We canvassed strategies to protect my professional and personal wellbeing. I found my discussions with Ian about these matters very useful.”
“I was fortunate to be given 5 sessions with Ian. I have never had coaching before, and it was a wonderful opportunity to stop and consider my work and life outside the demands of day-to-day requirements. I discovered I could draw a different picture of the future that I would enjoy moving towards. It was very hard to see at first, it started off as a tentative sketch and by the last session it looked like a map with the details still to come. 7 months later it’s happening!”
“Thanks so much for these and for all your help. My interview went worlds better than the previous one. I managed to tamp or ride the panic mostly (but not all) during the week before and went into the interview with a full nights sleep and no panic the night before. And I answered all questions on the day with at least vaguely relevant examples! While I don’t think it will result in success this time, I feel it was wildly successful for me anyway. I felt so much better in myself and have the confidence that with a bit more practice and work on the grounding techniques I’ll get there soon.”
"I had been in the Australian Public Service for around eight years when I was offered the opportunity to do five coaching sessions with Ian. I was finding it difficult to offer honest feedback. These sessions were instrumental in building my confidence in assertively communicating with colleagues, including senior executive staff, managers and direct reports. I appreciated the mixture of theory, strategies and opportunities to trial these with him, before taking them back to my workplace. It was incredibly useful to problem solve scenarios with Ian, put into practice my learnings between sessions and then debrief together at the following session.
At the end of my time with Ian, I had learned practical techniques to equip me to walk into situations with confidence, that had previously felt daunting. I developed a stronger sense of self, with Ian helping me to be mindful of moods and posture. Ian also helped me to reframe situations using the power of positive language.
I highly recommend Ian. Anyone seeking to sharpen their communication, develop greater self awareness in the workplace and build more effective workplace relationships should book in some sessions with Ian".
-Testimonials from coaching clients