I listen for what's underneath.
Chas Lamont — facilitator and executive coach. Based in London, working wherever the room is: in person across the UK, by video anywhere English is spoken.
Where this comes from
Much of what I know about people, I learned in life before I learned it in a training room. A family of professionals and social workers, failed businesses and successful ventures. And church, which is where it deepened: committees and contested decisions, change nobody asked for, weddings and funerals, the beginning of life and the end of it, all held in the hope of new life. I've watched groups become teams, grief turn into something living, the dispassionate find their passion, and people who'd been pushed out find their way back in. That is still how I understand the person in front of me.
The rooms have broadened since. Boards and leadership teams, charities and community groups, public bodies and businesses. I've designed and delivered a 17-module facilitator training programme for an international leadership-development network, run community conversations that fed real local decisions, and been shortlisted by a UK research council for multi-stakeholder round-table facilitation. Different sectors; the same humans.
I'm accredited by the Association of Facilitators and trained in coaching by the British School of Coaching. The two disciplines feed each other. Facilitation taught me to hold a room; coaching taught me to hold a question. Both come down to listening for what's underneath the conversation — not just what's being said.
I won't tell you what to think, and I won't let a room settle for false agreement or a nice day out. The result has to be one the group — or the leader — actually owns.
- In person
- Based in London; I travel to wherever the room is, across the UK and internationally. Coaching in person is often a walk, built into your working day.
- Online
- Most coaching happens by video, fitted around your diary rather than mine — a launch into the day, a lunch hour, a gap between meetings, or the wind-down at the end of it. Wherever you are, whatever the time zone.
- Facilitation
- Accredited by the Association of Facilitators (AoF).
- Coaching
- Trained by the British School of Coaching.
- Sectors
- Boards and leadership teams · charities and non-profits · churches and dioceses · communities · public sector · business.
Recent work
- A 17-module facilitator training programme, designed and delivered for an international leadership-development network
- Community conversations for local decision-making, commissioned and delivered
- Vision and strategy days for boards, leadership teams and charities
- Executive coaching for a head of procurement, team leaders and an executive at a large UK trade retailer
- Executive coaching for a charity chief executive and five senior leaders in national institutions
- Shortlisted by a UK research council for multi-stakeholder round-table facilitation
“When Chas leads the room, he creates a space where people feel both comfortable contributing and encouraged to think differently. His facilitation is warm, inclusive and purposeful.”
Not sure I'm the right person?
Ask. Tell me about the room or the decision and I'll say honestly what I'd do — or if someone else would serve you better. I reply within one working day.