McCanna Coaching

McCanna Coaching Through leadership coaching, I work with talented leaders and managers to build their confidence, sk

Luckily I’ve got something that helps in the moment: EFT, Emotional Freedom Technique. Here’s some of what I’ve been tap...
04/10/2026

Luckily I’ve got something that helps in the moment: EFT, Emotional Freedom Technique. Here’s some of what I’ve been tapping on before I even get out of bed this week:

Even though I feel a bit meh, I’m choosing to do what I’m capable of today and not sweat the rest.

Even though I’m tired - and this is where the tiredness sits in my body - I’m learning to look after myself.

Even though the light is dimmer, I’m choosing to embrace the turn of the seasons and all there is to look forward to this Autumn.

I’m not sure Edison invented the light bulb so we could all sit in brightly lit rooms on Teams chat 24/7 and whilst I’m not suggesting we go back to candles only, I do think reminding ourselves that an energy dip as Autumn creeps in might simply be a response to the season and actually a bit of biological wiring, rather than another productivity stick to beat ourselves with.

Do you notice a shift in your energy as the days darken? Is it pronounced or just a sort of creeping ‘meh’?

Do let me know……

(And as ever, if you’re concerned about your physical or mental health, or your energy levels, do have a chat with a health professional.)

A note on the science: I went down a research paper rabbit hole whilst writing this post. The first study I found that backs up the idea that serotonin production is less in winter was, frustratingly, carried out on a group of 101 men. Sigh. (Baker Research Centre, Melbourne, 2002). Then I found a study from University of Glasgow, published in Journal of Affective Disorders, 2018. which analysed over 150,000 UK Biobank participants and found that women - but not men - showed clear seasonal patterns: low mood, tiredness and anhedonia (loss of pleasure in things you’d usually enjoy) all peaked in winter. The effect held up even after they controlled lifestyle factors like smoking, alcohol and activity level.
effect held up even after they controlled for lifestyle factors like smoking, alcohol and

activity level.

02/10/2026

Do you notice yourself resist the feelings you think you ‘shouldn’t’ be feeling?

Interesting that isn’t it?

What might you say to yourself instead?

Today I’ve told myself that this week so far has been packed so I have permission to park a couple of bigger concerns that can wait.

When was the last time you got together as a team and there was barely a slide in sight?Wonderful to put my Positive Dyn...
29/09/2026

When was the last time you got together as a team and there was barely a slide in sight?

Wonderful to put my Positive Dynamics hat on and team up with Julie Gibbons for a truly interactive, thought provoking day all centred around recharging batteries and a newly formed department getting to know each other better.

Brilliant to work with such an engaged and energising team! Thank you Hannah Wilkinson at Breast Cancer Now for inviting us in.

Heads up everyone: if you need a team away day for the late Autumn / Winter now is the time to start planning it. And if you’ve no budget for external facilitation do these two things:

1. Challenge yourselves to show as few slides as possible (and do what you can to create opportunities for connection and conversation.)

2. Download my team day wizard - a template full of ideas. Comment ‘WIZARD’ and I’ll send you it.

Hi, I’m Jen — I help senior leaders recover their confidence and capacity, after a difficult boss, a brutal restructure,...
24/09/2026

Hi, I’m Jen — I help senior leaders recover their confidence and capacity, after a difficult boss, a brutal restructure, or a knock at work. All your emotions are welcome! 1-1 coaching, leadership development, and team away days. 📍 Sheffield

We had some brilliant times, including:- a wonderful week of friends, board games, cheese, cocktails and a healthy mix o...
23/09/2026

We had some brilliant times, including:

- a wonderful week of friends, board games, cheese, cocktails and a healthy mix of sun and drizzle

- our hut in western Scotland had a hot tub

- we got out onto a deserted loch on the paddle board

- catching some awesome shows at the Edinburgh festival - our top pick - Locomotive for murder (we saw it twice - it’s different every time) and being so proud of the kids for launching themselves into festival life with gusto even when it rained!

Yet also:

- thank god for the hot tub because it rained for 4 out of out 6 days in western Scotland. We have not returned with a tan.

- after a busy July, work wise and personal life wise then a glorious week with friends I was exhausted And hormonal when we hit Scotland. I found the rain claustrophobic and felt grumpy about having to dry damp towels on inefficient heaters whilst the rest of the country enjoyed some sun.

We also had some bits which some of us loved and some were agnostic about - family life being about compromise and all that:

- 10 year old loved the arcades on the beach near where we stayed in Edinburgh

- 12 year old enjoyed tracking down as much chocolate gelato as possible

- civil servant enjoyed hunting down books in charity shops and of course Barter Books on the way home.

- I loved being in the bustle of Edinburgh and seeing 3 shows a day after a week of not seeing anyone but my family. Top marks to Tanifiki in portobello for ace coffee. In other spots on our tour coffee was DIY with the portable aero press

Anyway, back into term now. And if you need something to cheer up your Sunday nights, do you get my Sunday night email? Sign up now via the link in the bio, you get invites to free stuff (what that is next is in the planning) insight from folk I rate, and generally a bit of moral support that is in your inbox on a Monday morning waiting to bring you a bit of joy.

Jen

Hi, I’m Jen — I help senior leaders recover their confidence and capacity, after a difficult boss, a brutal restructure, or a knock at work. All your emotions are welcome! 1-1 coaching, leadership development, and team away days. 📍 Sheffield

I don’t chat to many folk on the phone socially. But I love an actual conversation at work if it saves me 762 emails.As ...
22/09/2026

I don’t chat to many folk on the phone socially. But I love an actual conversation at work if it saves me 762 emails.

As well as being time saving, a conversation gives you:

- Tone of voice
- A chance to demonstrate you are human and acknowledge the person you are talking to is also human
- Pace. It’s quicker to have a quick chat than drag it out over a week of correspondence.

And lots more.

Yet lots of folk don’t like phones. Or don’t have phone numbers on their signatures. (Presumably as most of their stuff is internal and they do it via teams.)

But I wonder what you’d gain as a team if you picked up the phone?

Fewer messages?

Less worry that you’d accidentally been grumpy on an email?

More insight into what’s going on for other people?

Sounds good to me….

Hi, I’m Jen — I help senior leaders recover their confidence and capacity, after a difficult boss, a brutal restructure, or a knock at work. All your emotions are welcome! 1-1 coaching, leadership development, and team away days. 📍 Sheffield

Lucy Lucy Gower and I loved spending time with Sue’s team at Young Lives vs Cancer back in January, what a brilliant bun...
17/09/2026

Lucy Lucy Gower and I loved spending time with Sue’s team at Young Lives vs Cancer back in January, what a brilliant bunch of people! And we can’t wait to see what happens next either!

The fabulous Hannah Lavender left this comment on Lucy’s post (reproduced with her express permission)

“I second the feedback! I’ve been here for 15 years and hand on heart it was the best team day - the room was electric with ideas, collaboration and passion. We’re swinging into action to follow up now✌️ Thank you so much again for hosting 🙌”

Do get in touch if you have an away day coming up and you need some help crafting it as well as delivering it. I’d love to hear what your day needs to achieve, and will have stacks of ideas on how to get there.

And if you’re reading this thinking ‘I’ve no budget for Jen’ then I’ve a gift for you - comment WIZARD and I’ll send you the link to my Team Away Day Wizard, a template full of guidance and ideas you can download and use straightaway - it will save you hours of time!

Sometimes you just feel like jacking it all in and starting your own shizzle.Sometimes you’ve taken redundancy and thoug...
16/09/2026

Sometimes you just feel like jacking it all in and starting your own shizzle.

Sometimes you’ve taken redundancy and thought, this is the time to start my own shizzle.

Sometimes you just think - good grief I’m past all this organisational nonsense, the meetings, the dynamics, the endless mandatory training, I’m going to start my own shizzle.

I can’t tell you whether this is a great idea or not, because I am not you. I can however suggest that you get some support, and I’m going to signpost you to:

Sarah Clarke | Identity & Business Coach For Coaches ✨ - who helps people get very clear on their messaging and who their clients are going to be.

Jane Curtis - who works with charity sector freelancers creating successful businesses. I guested on her podcast earlier this year to talk about building my own freelance business and if you want to listen to that drop the word ‘PODCAST’ below.

I do work with founders, freelancers, business owers (however you wish to refer to yourself!) and my work tends to focus on how we move past the beliefs we’ve absorbed from working inside an organisation so we can set up working practices that work for us, our energy and our enjoyment. I also do lots of work with folk to overcome big horrible work challenges which have stayed with them, dented their confidence or left them battered and bruised, whether they go on to set up their own shizzle or head back into a (nicer, more supportive) organisational environment.

For this kind of 1-1 coaching, get in touch and let’s chat - you’re still a leader when you’re running your own shizzle (you’re just coming at it from a different angle!)

Hi, I’m Jen — I help senior leaders recover their confidence and capacity, after a difficult boss, a brutal restructure, or a knock at work. All your emotions are welcome! 1-1 coaching, leadership development, and team away days. 📍 Sheffield

Relationships are nuanced, and the tiniest shifts in our own state can then impact how we feel about those around us.Wha...
15/09/2026

Relationships are nuanced, and the tiniest shifts in our own state can then impact how we feel about those around us.

What to do about that? There’s much you can do on your own - check out my REAL WHEEL of Work Relationships for loads of ways into this one. (Comment RELATIONSHIPS and we’ll get that sent to you via DM)

And of course get in touch if you want to explore this in 1-1 leadership coaching.

Thank you also to Tony, Carol, Sharon, Charlotte and Alison for being such a lovely bunch to sit next to.Some take aways...
10/09/2026

Thank you also to Tony, Carol, Sharon, Charlotte and Alison for being such a lovely bunch to sit next to.

Some take aways for me:

- The difference between me asking my friend Alison Kane ‘was I ok?’ and the lovely things folk came up and said about what they took from my talk and the energy I brought to the room - maybe I need to start talking to myself a bit differently about this kind of gig (more of the excitement, less of the worry)

- A reminder from Sophie on some Time to Think principles, which I absolutely love and incorporate into leadership development and team away days wherever I can, and loved our own experience of using them to reflect at the end of the day.

- I talked in the panel discussion on running a sustainable coaching business about building your own boardroom, and networks like Sheffield Coaching Exchange are a wonderful way of finding new work friends if you happen to work for yourself/by yourself. If you’re a leader in an organisation, I’ve facilitated action learning sets as part of programmes funded by Clore and Lloyds Banking Foundation that give that space to build really meaningful relationships and get support you need. Lucy Gower Lucy Gower and I recently ran a survey for senior leaders in the charity sector and this need for space to reflect, space with peers, spaces to decompress and learn from each other are so desperately wanted.

Thank you to Chloe and Julie for creating that space for anyone coaching - in whatever capacity - in house, newly qualified, super experienced and working globally in the Sheffield area to access. Bravo!

I’m off to talk more positively to myself about quite how much over planning I don’t need to do for speaking gigs, and welcome feedback of all kinds from anyone who was in the room.

And if you’re off to check in on and reflect on your own board room - what gaps are there here? What kind of support might I use more of?

Let me know where you get with that?

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