About me

I learned this lesson young

My father smoked. I begged him to stop. He didn't. It took me years to understand that no amount of pushing, pleading or good arguments changes someone's mind if they're not ready, and that trying harder often just entrenches people further.

Years later, working in a behaviour change service, I met that same pattern in adults who didn't feel they needed to change either. That's where I learned the actual skills for working with resistance instead of against it, and where I first understood that the people who seemed most "stuck" were usually protecting something that mattered to them.

Hi, I'm Emily

I work with leaders, teams, organisations and founders where there's a move that keeps not happening. Often because moving forward feels just risky enough to keep pushing it down the to-do list. And because human beings are remarkably good at finding convincing reasons why now isn't quite the right time.

I'm fascinated by the gap between knowing the next move and making it. That moment where capable people know exactly what needs to happen, yet still find themselves pulled back just as movement matters most.

I know that space well. I've spent years in it as a manager, leader, coach and founder. I've been the leader who softened messages that needed saying. I've watched teams agree on a direction and quietly continue as before. I've carried responsibilities that should have been shared because it felt easier than asking someone else to step up. Once I applied behaviour change approached to to leadership things changed. 

It wasn't until I started applying the same behaviour change principles to leadership that I realised the problem wasn't a lack of motivation or capability. It was that something important was getting in the way, and once I understood that, everything about my conversations changed.

Of course, understanding the theory doesn't make us immune to being human. When I started my own business, I again found myself delaying important moves. I knew I had the skills to do the work, but what I wasn't prepared for was how often building a business would ask me to step outside my comfort zone. Daily.

That's where I met my own Ministry of Not Yet.

How I Got Here

My background is in motivational interviewing, solution-focused practice and behaviour change, which shaped my understanding of why people can know exactly what they want or need to do and still find themselves unable to move on it.

For almost a decade I've worked in behaviour change, leadership development, coaching and training, helping people navigate difficult conversations, uncertainty and change across health, social care and organisational settings.

That observation eventually became The Ministry of Not Yet. my framework for naming the protective patterns that sit underneath resistance.

How I Work

I ask helpful questions and I use a lot of silence, because busy minds rarely get the chance to slow down and think, and some of the most important insights happen in those moments.

I'm also listening carefully to the language people use. The words we choose often reveal where we're feeling stuck long before we recognise it ourselves.

I'm not here to tell you what to do. Lasting change rarely comes from somebody else's answers. My job is to create the conditions for you to find your own.

What people can expect

When we work together, my aim isn't simply to help you make one difficult move. It's to help you understand the patterns that keep pulling you back, so future decisions become easier too.

Whether I'm working with a founder, a leadership team or an organisation, I want people to leave with greater clarity, better conversations and the confidence to move forward without needing certainty first.

Outside work you'll usually find me baking sourdough, dancing salsa, or trying to keep up with two small humans. Occasionally all at the same time.