Catherine Piana

Recurring themes include: (self-) confidence / self-esteem; identifying and pursuing goals; mobilising resources; leadership soft skills in general; including presence & charisma, influence and negotiation skills; team leadership; work delegation; and work-life balance.

Catherine sees a Coaching journey as a Treasure hunt. Her role is to help the Coachee find the Treasure based on incomplete information: he/she doesn’t know where it is hidden, and how to dig it out. But the journey is based on the Coachee’s choice: a Coach doesn’t give advice but rather helps the Client find in him/herself what he/she really wants and then go get it.

After 20+ years in the EU public affairs environment, Catherine discovered NLP, which is a key tool of influence, communication and personal development. This has proven particularly useful in her work as a lobbyist and has made her think about the process of influencing the self and others. Catherine has completed the NLP Master Practitioner Certification with a number of additional certificates, including Life Coaching, Trainer, Hypnotherapist, Fundamentals of Therapy, and NLP for businesses. She has developed her coaching / training / consultancy activity and became freelance in 2014 under the corporate name of Gecko Strategies.

The red thread in what Catherine does, how she does it and who she is, is a drive and strong energy to help individuals and organisations use complex or uncomfortable issues to move to the next level.