A first conversation
Email or call, and tell me what has brought you here. You will have a reply within 24 hours.
Coaching · mentoring · team development · Bristol & Bath
The question beneath the others.
I’m Jerry Gilpin. I’ve spent fifteen years and 5,000 hours asking people the question that gets underneath the one they came with.
01 — What we do
Five ways to work at the question.
Perception’s mission is to provide high quality coaching, mentoring and team development to individuals and organisations. There is no one-size-fits-all approach, because each person is unique.
-
Coaching & mentoring
A structured, professional process, focused on clear goals over a defined time frame.
-
Team development & facilitation
Using psychological type to give a team a language for how it works together.
-
Coaching supervision
Time with another coach to look at your practice, and at the questions it raises.
-
Career development
For the point where your trusted skills are no longer the answer.
-
Psychometrics and other tools
MBTI, FIRO-B, 360° feedback, EQi and the Pearman Personality Indicator.
Not sure which one fits? Ask, and we will work it out together.
02 — The question
The question is the work.
People usually arrive with an answer they have already chosen, and a question they have not yet asked. Much of my work is to stay with the question a little longer than is comfortable. An answer closes a subject down. A good question opens it, and the next step tends to become clear once the question is.
-
“Potential is always greater than current performance”
-
“Change begins with awareness: we can’t grow if we don’t grow in self-understanding”
-
“Motivation comes from within”
-
“Each person is a unity: change in one area of life affects all areas”
03 — How it works
Four steps, and no surprises.
We agree the shape of the work before anything begins, so you know what you are committing to and when it will be reviewed.
We agree what you want to change
What is happening now, what you would like to be different, and whether I am the right person to help. If I am not, I will say so.
Sessions over a defined period
A limited period with a set number of meetings, or a more open-ended rhythm. We choose the shape together, and the tools follow the person in front of us.
Review
We look at what has changed, what has not, and whether to continue, reshape the work, or stop.
04 — Who we work with
Senior people, and the teams around them.
Leaders, and the people who carry the organisation with them. Much of the work is with those who have to balance the expectations of two or more very different constituencies.
Talk about your situation- Senior leaders
- Headteachers
- Boards and governing bodies
- Clergy
- University leaders
- Professional coaches needing supervision
Some of the contexts we work in
- A group of managing partners with a strong sense of company profile, and less clarity on organisational or people development
- A family ethos that a business needs to hold on to while it changes enough to grow
- A board of trustees with a strong agenda and little knowledge of commercial demands
- A governing body with a sense of tradition and little knowledge of professional best practice
05 — Fees
Fees on enquiry.
What it costs depends on the shape of the work: an individual programme, a team intervention, or supervision. Ask, and I will set the fees out plainly before anything begins.
Ask about fees06 — About
Two of us, and one question.
Perception is a partnership: a coach who came to this work through teaching and the church, and a coach who came to it through thirty years of school leadership.
Jerry
I set up Perception in 2007 because I knew that focused, affirming and yet challenging support does help people grow. Before this I was a teacher, a parish priest, and a chaplain in Higher Education. In the past fifteen years I have worked with over 350 individuals and teams, and spent 5,000 hours with them.
My practice is based on qualification and accreditation as a coach at Senior Practitioner Level, and on a set of tools I use carefully and only where they fit the person in front of me.
- Coach at Senior Practitioner Level, EMCC
- Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and other Jungian psychological type instruments
- FIRO-B
- Several 360° feedback instruments
- EQi, the emotional intelligence measure
- Full professional indemnity insurance, provided by Towergate Insurance
Elisabeth
I joined Perception in 2022, after retiring from secondary school headship. Thirty years in school leadership, including more than twenty-three years in headship, showed me what a shared vision does for staff and students. Leadership in education can be a tough place to be, and it is a privilege to work alongside the people who hold it.
I coach, mentor and facilitate. My practice is based on training as a National Leader in Education, and on my own experience as a headteacher.
- National Leader in Education
- 30 years in school leadership
- Over 23 years in headship
- Coach, mentor and facilitator
07 — In their words
The question, from the other side.
Quoted as published, with the role labels given on the Perception site. Everyone’s experience is different.
“For fifteen years and more Jerry has provided me with a sustained conversation that has transformed my understanding of my working life. If I had to pick out one gift that he has (amongst so many) it is the startling ability to ask the question that lies beneath all the others.”
“Working with someone who really ‘gets’ us and our aspirations is great and every session leaves us motivated and committed to the next phase…”
“Jerry’s empathy, insight and understanding – shown every time we have met – have never prevented him from offering the challenge to me to be honest with myself, and to make helpful changes to my behaviour and practice when they are needed.”
“Working with Jerry was a real pleasure. The value for me was his ability to listen to what I said (and what I didn’t say), think about it and formulate the right challenges and questions to help me grow. As a result, my self-awareness increased considerably and I was able to take braver actions than I would otherwise have considered.”
“Jerry was my coach supervisor early on in my coaching career. I found his feet on the ground, head in the theory style incredibly powerful. Our meetings were informal and relaxed, but the learning was powerful and stretching.”
08 — Questions
A few things people ask.
If your question is not here, email me and I will answer it.
What coaching is not
It is not advice, and not a taught course. You can only do so much with training: you can teach processes and skills, but often very competent people reach a sticking point that training does not reach. Coaching is a structured conversation about your own situation, and I won’t claim to be able to do things that someone else can do better.
How long a programme runs
It varies, and we agree it before we start. Some work suits a limited period with a set number of meetings; mentoring and supervision often settle into a longer, steadier rhythm. I will not give you a number before I know what you are bringing.
Is it confidential
Coaching conversations are private between us. If you need the detail before you begin — how I keep notes, and what I would have to pass on — ask me and I will set it out plainly.
Do you work with teams
Yes. Team development and facilitation is one of the five things we do, often using MBTI to give a group a shared language for how it works together. Teams usually begin with a conversation about what the group wants to be different.
Supervision for coaches
Yes. Coaching supervision is part of the practice, for coaches at any stage — including those early in their careers who want a place to think about their work with someone else.
Where do we meet
At Steam Packet House in Bristol. Meetings are face to face, with email and telephone support between them, so the work does not stop when the session ends.
09 — Contact
Tell me what you would like to be different.
To discuss your opportunities for growing and changing, use the details here or send an email. You should have a response within 24 hours.
- Practice
- Steam Packet House
3 Bathurst Parade
Bristol BS1 6UB - Phone
- 07905 280115
- Reply
- Within 24 hours
The question is the beginning.