Management Consulting and Executive Performance Coaching | Reading and UK-wide
Mon-Fri 8am-6pm GMT info@mfperformancecoaching.co.uk
About the Practice

About MF Performance Coaching

A UK management consulting and executive performance coaching practice for senior leaders and leadership teams. Confidential by default, senior in the room, and calibrated to the seniority of the client.

What the practice is

MF Performance Coaching is a UK-based management consulting practice focused on executive performance coaching. The practice sits at the intersection of two disciplines that are usually held apart: senior consulting on how a leadership team actually runs, and one-to-one coaching on how the leader inside that team actually decides. We treat them as one problem, because in practice they are.

The work is deliberately senior. Clients are founder CEOs, VP-level executives, partners in professional firms, and full leadership teams inside growth-stage and mid-market UK organisations. The practice is not calibrated to the manager promoted last quarter, nor to leadership training programmes for large cohorts. It is calibrated to leaders whose next set of decisions carry real weight.

Why the practice exists

The starting position is straightforward. Leadership performance is a discipline, not a personality trait. It can be studied, held to a cadence, and improved on purpose. Most senior leaders have never been given the room to do that: the calendar is full, the promotion happened without a handover, the operating cadence is inherited from someone whose priorities were different, and the coaching on offer is either too generic or too commercial to be useful at seniority.

The practice was built to close that gap. To be one senior room, held over a defined engagement, where a leader can look at how they are actually operating, what the team is actually holding to, and where the next call needs to be sharper. Nothing more elaborate than that.

The founder

The practice is led by Martin Fenn, its founding and senior consultant. Martin runs every engagement personally: there is no bench of associates being briefed once a week, and no sub-contracting to an external coach the client has not met. When a client engages the practice, they engage Martin. When the engagement widens to a leadership team, Martin holds the room.

Martin's professional background is in senior operating roles and management consulting, and the practice reflects that. The work is conversational, but it is not soft. Sessions include diagnostic work, calendar and cadence review, honest naming of the decisions being avoided, and a clear set of commitments each side is holding to.

What the practice does

  • One-to-one executive performance coaching for senior leaders in defined three-month or six-month engagements, and on an ongoing retainer basis.
  • Coaching for full leadership teams, including operating cadence design and light consulting on decision rights and team rhythm.
  • Founder-specific coaching for founder CEOs navigating the transitions of a growing company.
  • Targeted decision-making and judgement work ahead of a strategy cycle, a board year, or a major capital allocation.

What the practice does not do

  • Generalist life coaching, wellness coaching, or personality-profile-led programmes. The work is anchored in the operating reality of the leader's role.
  • Large-cohort leadership training programmes. The room is small on purpose.
  • Case studies, testimonials or client name-dropping without explicit written consent. Confidentiality is the default, and it holds.
  • Therapy or clinical work. Where a client needs that, we are candid about the boundary and, where appropriate, help them find the right practitioner.

How the practice is delivered

MF Performance is a UK practice. In-person sessions are held in Reading. Remote sessions are held by video with clients across the United Kingdom. Most engagements combine both, with occasional in-person sessions anchoring an otherwise remote cadence, and full-day team sessions held either at the client's site or at a neutral venue.

Engagements are shaped and priced on a per-engagement basis. The three standard formats are a three-month intensive, a six-month engagement, and an ongoing retainer, and the choice of format is made together at the outset. There are no packages, no tiers, and no bolt-ons.

Confidentiality as the default

The whole practice depends on being a room in which a senior leader can be candid. Everything discussed in session is confidential. Where a client's organisation is sponsoring the coaching, we agree the scope and outputs of any reporting to the sponsor at the outset, in writing, and hold to it exactly. That is the standard the practice was built on, and it is not negotiable.

Working with the practice

Every engagement starts with a short, confidential introductory conversation. The purpose is to work out whether the practice is the right fit for the leader and the moment, and to be honest with each other about it. If it is, we scope a diagnostic together. If it is not, we say so.

Talk to the Practice

Bring the Decision in Front of You to the Room

Arrange a short, confidential introductory conversation. No obligation, and if the practice is not the right fit we will tell you so.