Personal Note from Rachel
Facilitating Client Growth: How Leaders Turn Insight into Sustainable Progress
October 2025 Edition — The Value of Positive Practice | With Rachel Dungan, The Pharmacist Coach
Welcome
Momentum. Movement. Meaningful growth.
As we enter the final quarter of 2025, many of us are asking: How can we finish strong? What still matters most? What needs attention, nurturing, or renewal? This month, we explore Coaching Competency #8, 'Faciliates Client Growth.' What does it really mean to facilitate client growth, whether your "client" is an individual, a patient, a team, an organisation, or the community ecosystem you serve?
The Power of Growth-Oriented Environments
One of the things we’ve learned through the September 2025 cohort of the LCI Certificate in Coaching for Leaders (LCIF) is this: growth doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It requires a container of trust, challenge, relevance, and reflection. In other words, a culture that actively facilitates growth, not just in theory, but in practice.
Our participants came from pharmacy, engineering, construction, media, healthcare, and beyond. Their stories highlight a powerful truth: when a leader pauses to create space for meaningful dialogue, ask open questions, and stop solving everyone else’s problems... growth happens. Confidence builds. Capacity expands. People step up.
As one participant shared:
"This programme opened my eyes. I know what I’ve learned will be of enormous benefit in the future. By asking open questions, I’m getting more detailed answers, and more trust."
—Finance Leader
Another reflected:
"I gained a deeper understanding of my leadership style and the importance of emotional intelligence. I’ve started using active listening in safety committee meetings to create a safe, trust-based space."
—Senior Safety Officer
These moments aren’t just personal wins. They are the seeds of cultural shifts.
Growth at Every Level: A Vertical and Horizontal View
At LCI, we use the cruise ship metaphor to describe leadership growth. Picture it:
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Horizontal growth happens when we build skills: better communication, stronger delegation, clearer planning.
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Vertical growth expands our capacity: to hold complexity, embrace difference, navigate ambiguity, and lead with wisdom.
Facilitating client growth means navigating both. From the lower decks of security and compliance, through the mid-decks of developing subject matter expertise and learning to achieve results as a team, to the upper decks of purpose, wholeness, and regeneration, our role as LeaderCoaches is to help individuals, teams, and organisations climb with intention and purpose.
Facilitating Growth in Healthcare Leadership
In Irish community pharmacy, October is a month of high activity. Flu and COVID vaccination clinics are in full swing. It’s also a time when burnout can surface, especially if team cultures don’t support rest, reflection, and realistic expectations.
The WHO defines burnout as a workplace syndrome resulting from chronic, unmanaged stress.
Leaders who facilitate growth in a way that protects against burnout are doing more than hitting KPIs. They’re:
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Supporting neurodiversity and flexible working
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Celebrating strengths rather than penalising difference
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Protecting the inner pharmacy (mental fitness and resilience) as much as the physical one
Growth, here, looks like sustainability.
That’s why more healthcare leaders are prioritising the kind of support that sustains them. One such leader shared:
“Weekly coaching with Rachel is a non-negotiable anchor in my week. It helps me reset, reflect, and lead from a place of clarity, alignment, and intention – for myself, my team, and the legacy I want to leave.”
—Pharmacy Owner
In a system that often demands output at the expense of wellbeing, making space for this kind of pause is not indulgence. It’s wise leadership. It’s how leaders build the vertical and horizontal capacity to stay connected to purpose, hold complexity, and cultivate cultures that can thrive through seasonal surges and beyond.
Observing the Heart of Growth – October Reflections
World Mental Health Day (10 Oct)– Access to Services: Mental Health in Catastrophes and Emergencies
Source: World Health Organization
As pharmacists, coaches, and leaders, we are often the ones others rely on during times of stress, grief, illness, or uncertainty. It’s a privilege to hold that space—but if you're not actively tending to your own mental and physical wellbeing, the demands can quietly eclipse your capacity.
You’re not just holding your own concerns—you’re holding the weight of your team, your patients, your family, and sometimes even the wider community. For those navigating personal loss or supporting loved ones in areas of humanitarian crisis, the load is even heavier.
This year’s WHO theme—Access to Mental Health in Catastrophes and Emergencies—is a timely reminder that when systems falter, so too can the scaffolding of personal resilience.
That’s why, in my 1:1 executive coaching practice, mental fitness is not a luxury—it’s foundational.
As my client, you don’t just receive space to talk.
You receive structured time to think differently—about your energy, your leadership, and your legacy.
For high-performing professionals, especially those carrying a lot, creating space to bring your vision to life takes more than willpower. And if you’re already stretched—juggling work, care responsibilities, team dynamics, or decision fatigue—it’s nearly impossible to change how you work without fresh input.
If that kind of shift were easy, you’d have made it already. You’re smart. You’re resourceful. But insight rarely comes from pushing harder. It comes from pausing, being heard, and partnering with someone who can see what you’ve stopped noticing.
I know this not just as a coach—but as a coaching client.
One of my family’s badges of honour is being ‘busy.’ I’ve habitually worn the label of ‘strong’ with pride. And that has served me well… until it didn’t. Until I was burnt out, depleted, and holding myself to an impossible standard. Achieving on the outside. Invisibly struggling on the inside. That gap is why I became a coaching client over 15 years ago—and it’s why I continue to invest in being a coaching client today.
Because in the right coaching partnership, what starts as “I need help with X” evolves into something much deeper:
→ A new way of making decisions
→ A clearer map of what energises you—and what drains you
→ A re-alignment with what success actually looks and feels like now
In our sessions, we often integrate tools like the Positive Intelligence (PQ) programme to reduce the mental drain of overthinking, perfectionism, and internal saboteurs. That reclaimed energy? It fuels clarity, calm, and values-aligned action.
You don’t need to carry it all alone.
And you don’t need to keep leading in ways that leave you behind.
On World Mental Health Day, we acknowledge the leaders invisibly carrying more than most will ever see. Coaching supports these leaders not by adding more to their load—but by creating the space to offload, realign, and lead from clarity, not depletion.
World Menopause Day (18 Oct 2025) – Lifestyle Medicine
Source: International Menopause Society
Midlife can be a perfect storm—especially for women in healthcare leadership roles. In the space of a single week, a woman may be navigating:
- A dispensary running at full tilt during vaccination season
- A teenager's crisis
- Her parent's hospital discharge
- A sleepless night due to night sweats or racing thoughts
- Business uncertainty and relentless responsibilities
For many pharmacy owners, this pressure becomes unsustainable. One client—an experienced pharmacist and business owner—reached out when she was at breaking point. She had started exploring how to sell the business because, as she put it:
“The way I was working wasn’t working anymore. I was snappy with my children, constantly worried about making a dispensing error, and so far down the list that I wasn’t sure who I was outside of work. I couldn’t see a way through.”
Before we focused on tactical options for selling, we paused. For the first few weeks, coaching focused on re-establishing a baseline in her physical, mental, emotional, social, financial and spiritual wellbeing. As energy leaks were plugged and clarity began to return, so too did her original inspiration for becoming a pharmacist.
She shared:
“For the first time in years, I felt like I was a priority in my own life—not just someone to fit in if there was time. Coaching gave me the space to think clearer, reduce energy drainers, and reconnect with what fulfils me.”
Rather than exiting pharmacy altogether, she is now redesigning her business model to align with her energy, values and vision. From exhaustion and hopelessness to renewed purpose, this client’s journey reflects the kind of vertical and horizontal growth that coaching can uniquely facilitate.
On World Menopause Day, we honour the women navigating transformation not just in their bodies, but in their businesses, homes, and hearts. Coaching creates the conditions for this growth—not by offering solutions, but by holding space for clarity, compassion and conscious choice.
Where Might Facilitating Client Growth Show Up?
💼 In Business Leadership
As a business leader, I’ve seen how easy it is to confuse action with impact. Sometimes facilitating growth means stepping back. Recently, one client said:
“I realised I don’t need to have the answers—I need to make it safe enough for the right answers to emerge.”
👥 For 1:1 and Team LeaderCoaches
Team growth often reveals our own edges. Facilitating client growth in a team means being present to the system’s needs, not just individual preferences. It means asking:
- What kind of culture are we co-creating?
- Where are the blind spots?
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How do we grow in ways that serve both the business and the people?
🩺 In Healthcare Consultations
Facilitating client growth includes supporting patients to take ownership of their health. In consultations, this looks like:
- Listening for pain that isn’t verbalised—irritability, a grimace, or a sigh.
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Asking scaling questions: “On a scale of 1–10, how would you rate the pain before and after the medication?”
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Creating safety to discuss not just symptoms, but hopes, fears, and quality of life.
Strong Finish: Q4 Strategic Coaching
Now Booking: 1:1 Executive Coaching (Premium Package)
3 spaces available for Q4 2025
If you're ready to reset, realign and lead from purpose—not just pressure—my premium 1:1 executive coaching offer might be the right next step.
Together, we’ll integrate vertical and horizontal growth, using tools like Positive Intelligence Mental Fitness Programme, MyWorldView Assessment and systemic coaching to support:
✔️ Strategic clarity
✔️ Sustainable energy
✔️ Leadership maturity
✔️ Culture and team transformation
✔️ Navigation through transitions
🔹 These 1:1 coaching partnerships are high-touch, bespoke, and limited to a small number of clients each quarter.
🧭 First step? Book a 90-minute strategy session
This is a stand-alone session to help you clarify what matters most right now and explore whether deeper coaching support is a fit.
➡️ Click here to book and pay for your session
We'll spend 90 minutes focusing on your most pressing priorities, followed by up to 30 minutes to explore what ongoing support could look like—if that feels aligned.
💬 If you experience any tech challenges, simply reach out to me directly:
📧 rachel@racheldungan.com
📱 WhatsApp: +353 86 602 5584
Let’s create space to lead with clarity and purpose.
Professional Development Opportunities
These offers are intentionally designed to facilitate growth by providing the safe, structured, and supportive environment needed to think clearly, reconnect to purpose, and take aligned action:
Want to Expand Your Leadership Growth Journey?
If you're finding value in this 4Front newsletter and want to expand your leadership growth journey in a broader context, I’d love to introduce you to the Lead With Coaching Institute (LCI) Leadership Community.
💡 Who is LCI Community for?
The LCI Leadership Community is designed for:
→ Business leaders, team leads, and decision-makers committed to scaling through people and purpose
→ Healthcare leaders navigating complexity, burnout, or culture change
→ Professionals embedding a coaching and learning culture in their teams
→ Senior leaders and emerging talent preparing for their next leadership growth edge
If this sounds like you, we’d love to stay connected and welcome you into a growing ecosystem of leaders committed to developing healthy leaders, building high-value creating teams, and scaling sustainable, thriving businesses.
About the Lead With Coaching Institute (LCI)
LCI is a values-led leadership development partner offering:
- Flagship, internationally ICF-accredited Certificate and Diploma programmes to help leaders embed a coaching style of leadership within their organisation
- 1:1 Executive Coaching to support whole-person, vertical leadership growth
- Strategic Team Coaching Days to unlock systemwide trust, purpose, and performance
Whether you, or someone you know, is preparing for your next role, supporting your team through change, or redesigning your business model for sustainability, LCI is here to support you in leading with clarity, courage, and connection.
Why We Created LCI – A Note from the Founders
Rachel Dungan, Co-Founder & Director of Education
"As many of you know, I bring a breadth and depth of experience as a pharmacist, executive coach, parent, family business owner, and leadership educator. Over the past decade, I’ve supported hundreds of leaders—particularly within pharmacy and healthcare—to lead more sustainably, and to grow in a way that’s aligned with their values, vision, and wellbeing. At LCI, we’re taking that even further and to a wider audience, creating a place where leaders and teams can grow together—intentionally and systemically."
James Martin, Co-Founder & Director of Growth
"My background is in strategic team development, where I’ve led coaching engagements across engineering, healthcare, manufacturing and creative industries. For almost 20 years, I’ve worked with leadership teams who want to move beyond survival mode, build leadership maturity, and truly scale. At LCI, I bring a systemic lens to team dynamics, helping leadership teams create the internal trust and clarity needed to navigate the external complexity of today’s world."
Together, we co-founded LCI after reuniting post-pandemic and realising our shared mission: to create a trusted, professional ecosystem that equips leaders and organisations to grow with purpose, lead with coaching, and serve with integrity.
LCIs Flagship Programmes
Programme Spotlight: LCIF February 2026 Cohort Now Enrolling
Our internationally (ICF) accredited LCI Diploma in Coaching for Leaders is designed for professionals who want to embed coaching into their leadership style, improve results, and empower others.
After our September 2025 cohort, here’s what we’re celebrating:
- A healthcare participant shared how the programme helped them lead their teams with more confidence and clarity.
- Several cross-sector leaders are now building coaching cultures in engineering, electrical services, and healthcare.
- We are officially ICF-accredited—meaning your diploma aligns with gold standard international education standards for leading with a coaching style of leadership.
If you want to cultivate a team culture that facilitates client growth—internally and externally—this programme is a powerful next step.
📅 Early Enrolment Benefit
Secure you and your team's 2026 places in the upcoming cohorts (Module 1 next runs in Feb 2026) by 30 November 2025 and lock in 2025 pricing.
Spaces are limited. If you're considering this for yourself or your team, now’s a great time to 'schedule a call'
Email institute@leadwithcoaching.org or visit LCI's Flagship Coaching Diploma for Leaders to learn more.
Want to Stay Connected?
We’re currently welcoming leaders into the LCI Leadership Community—an early access list for reflective resources, leadership tools, and invitations to exclusive events, workshops and future newsletters.
➡️ Join the LCI Leadership Community
…and be among the first to explore the future of leadership education at LCI.
Whether you’re preparing for your next leadership role, rethinking your strategy, or supporting your team to thrive—we’d be honoured to walk alongside you.
With warm wishes,
Rachel & the LCI Team
Lead With Coaching Institute
Let’s keep growing together.
📩 Ready to explore which path will help you listen more deeply and lead more powerfully? Email me at rachel@racheldungan.com and let’s start the conversation.
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