Testimonials

“If you are reading Abby's testimonials wondering if you should do coaching with her: Do it. She is an incredible person and her coaching style is professional, personalised, insightful, practical, and impactful. Abby is an example to me of how you can really leverage your strengths to do the best that you can do – to trust that you’re capable of change, without changing who you are. I had a few sessions with Abby in preparation for a promotion and she helped me. As simple and profound as that sounds - she helps. I am really grateful for the experience of coaching, and I’m grateful to Abby for leading me in that journey. She asks the right questions that lead you to the heart of what it is you need to focus on. Abby has an ability to unlock things in people because she helps you see that you have the key you were looking for. It's weird, and so, so wonderful."

“I signed up for a transformational leadership programme known as Beyond Your Edge whose three-pronged approach included one-on-one coaching. That is how I met Abby. At the time I started the programme, I was in a space of change - I knew that I needed to re-align my personal and career priorities while getting better at setting myself up for success. I had also had a huge work disappointment that made me question my future at the organization where I worked, and frankly, my capabilities too. At the beginning I was unsure of coaching, but in retrospect, it was the most useful part of the leadership programme and journey. Abby was kind and had a listening ear making it easy to open up. She also had excellent empathy and understanding, and an easy conversational style which helped me to understand my way of being while contemplating a new way for achieving better results both at work and personally. In the end, I had not only re-set my priorities, but also found myself easily navigating situations which I would not have been able to in the past. I found that I adopted new habits and new realigned thinking that made my life so much easier, especially when it came to handling difficult work and personal situations. Our interactions led to co-creation and adoption of new techniques and approaches that formed an important milestone which set me apart in my leadership journey."

“Abby is an extremely effective coach who has successfully coached a wide range of our employees with a diverse range of goals. She has a strong psychological and coaching background but couples that with the understanding of the requirements of a demanding business and industry. As a coach, I feel assured that she understands the dynamics of the asset management industry and the behaviours that occur. She is quick to understand situations and the needs of her clients. We have had excellent feedback from employees whom she has coached. We have seen incredible growth in these employees which has helped their development and our performance. Abby builds relationships easily with managers; many have commented on how impressed they are with her as a coach for their staff, so much so that she is often requested as a coach due to her excellent reputation at Coronation Fund Managers.”

"This is a journey to the core of your soul; an opportunity to get in-touch with what really matters; a springboard to inner peace. Abby’s coaching helped grow my knowledge of myself and my impact on others. She has made an impact on me both personally and professionally. Abby is patient, understanding and she has remarkable instincts. She is incredibly skilled at asking the right questions that helped me see things from different perspectives. Thanks with all of my heart for this invaluable journey and for enlightening my way."

"I had the privilege of working with Abby during the Beyond your Edge Leadership Program. Abby was very instrumental in my journey at the time of transitioning from one phase of life to another. Being my first experience of online coaching, Abby made it comfortable and it felt like we were just seated across each other! Experiencing coaching with her helped me grow psychologically and emotionally. She did not only help me have clarity of purpose but also challenged my thought process in dimensions that have now enabled me to be more emotionally aware and influenced my career growth path. The practices we initiated during our sessions are now part of my day to day living, thanks to her insights, encouragement and dares! One of the key things I have grown to appreciate is the connection between our physical and emotional being – something that Abby helped shape and gave great perspectives to during our interactions. Abby’s expertise in the coaching field is evidenced in her engagement, her patience, her poise and knowledge. I am indeed privileged to have had the opportunity of working with her. One amazing personality!"

"Words cannot describe how my encounter with Abby has transformed my life. My heart is free and filled with clarity as a result of the coaching sessions we had. My mind is calm, at peace and I feel top of my game. Abby helped me balance the intricate art of being a go getter, perseverance while at the same time "when to let go" just in seven short months. Abby was the push I needed to reveal the grit in me that had been hidden for so many years. I’m more confident now, more assertive, and I believe in myself more but still know how to be vulnerable. I don’t know what the future holds, but with the quality of muscles I've developed through this coaching I’m ready to face what’s ahead with everything I've got. The time and resources investment with Abby is truly worth it. Abby, keep transforming more lives, you are a gift to this generation!"

"I was very lucky to be on a leadership acceleration programme at my company, which gave me an opportunity to meet Abby, who become my coach specifically relating to how I can grow into a better leader. I chose Abby above other coaches because she had this incredible genuineness and warmth that I was drawn to and I felt like I could open up to her very easily. This is coming from someone who has never really opened up about my life to other people, so it really means a lot. She certainly exceeded my expectation of what it meant to be coached, and opened up important conversations that I never thought I would have. She is incredible at active listening, processing information and asking the right questions to open up my mind to thinking about things in my career and my life that I had not thought about before. So thank you Abby! For all of your energy, efforts and genuine care for me!"

"I met Abby as part of a work leadership development programme, which included 6 sessions with a coach. My time with Abby greatly exceeded my expectations – she is thoughtful, warm and poses very insightful questions that allowed me to fundamentally shift some issues I was getting stuck on. Abby’s ability to integrate work and personal issues was transformative and her gentle kindness, non-judgmental demeanor and genuine curiosity and caring allowed me to open up and share with her experiences and conversations that I usually hold as deeply private. Abby is a wise, considered, calm, sympathetic and deep listener and she also has a great sense of humour and fun that greatly added to my enjoyment of my time with her. I feel like I have gained many useful insights. My time with Abby has unblocked some key personal and work relationships. I am also starting to revisit some tightly held beliefs and ideas about myself and others. I am getting better at pausing and being more mindful of my thoughts and emotions and this is all contributing to a greater sense of well-being, purpose and perspective in my life. I am deeply grateful for the time we spent together."

"Working with Abby has been one of the major game changes in my career so far.  I had never had a coach before and was quite sceptical before my first coaching session. My scepticism disappeared after about 2 minutes into my first coaching session with Abby. It is great to find someone who is such a great listener and who challenged me in ways that really allowed me to grow as a leader. Since starting coaching with Abby I have learnt more about myself as a person and as a leader than I have during my entire career. Through Abby's coaching, I have become a better, more confident and more impactful leader."

"I had reached a point in my life where I was nearing retirement and the financial services business that I was running was struggling due to external economic factors and intense competition. I faced the twin challenges of making sure that colleagues on the executive committee appreciated our situation and therefore gave us the necessary support and at the same time trying to figure out a personal plan allowing for a smooth transition to retirement. I had a number of sessions with Abby and we discussed my business and personal situations and searched for some answers to my “crisis” situation. Her Professional, calm and prodding approach made me feel at ease and helped put my issues into perspective. To cut a long story short, I have been putting into practice the actions and ideas that we identified together with Abby and have been pleasantly surprised with the results.   The business unit that I lead is recovering nicely on the back of support that we are now receiving from the executive committee and I am approaching retirement with a sense of calm and confidence and not trepidation. It all came down to those coaching sessions I had with Abby where she respectfully challenged my views about what I was going through and challenged me to a higher level of perception and engagement with my colleagues."

“Meeting Abby was destiny. She came into my life through the Women in Leadership Programme at the Graduate School of Business in Cape Town, and the timing was perfect.  At every session Abby displayed the highest level of professionalism and used her gift of superb listening, I feel she truly listened to my soul. Not only did I feel heard, but I really felt understood. Euphoric is the word that comes to mind when I think of my time with Abby. She helped shape my perspective on life in a profound way, helping me understand the importance of exercising my metaphorical ‘weak muscles.’ What an amazing experience and I am so privileged to be able to continue this amazing journey with Abby."

“Abby is by far one of the most talented people I have ever come across.  She has the ability to make simple that which seems extremely complex.  She helped me to identify the things I find most important in my life and opened my eyes to new possibilities, both in my personal and professional life.  One of the things that stood out for me about Abby is her strong foundation in a variety of subject fields.  This combined with her gift to relate to my personal situation made me feel like I was in good hands.  I felt like I was being coached by an expert in more fields than one.  I consider the time I was afforded to work with Abby a gift with no equal."

"I started working with Abby on a beautiful sunny April day in Cape Town. That was the first day of a journey full of both sunny and rainy days. Soon after that sunny day in Cape Town, life decided to surprise me with a series of unexpected events, which without having Abby by my side, would have been yet another series of unsolved issues locked in a box somewhere in my heart. Abby coached me to face the reality, get back on my feet and welcome all the surprises that life can have. Although we were thousands of miles apart during this journey, she was always there to guide me, console me and put me back on track, since that very first sunny day in Cape Town."

“I am the managing partner at a medium sized law firm in Cape Town, South Africa, with a total staff compliment of 40. I started seeing Abby in January 2014 for executive coaching to assist me with a number of career related issues I was having at the time. I saw Abby continuously until the end of May 2015 at approximate 3 week intervals. Abby is a caring and thoughtful coach. She is intuitive and able to adapt quickly to deal with a wide range of professional issues, both in a practical way, and also at a more emotional and philosophical level. She is gifted at integrating the personal sphere into the professional sphere, understanding that the two cannot be easily separated. Most importantly for me she inspired trust to take her into my confidence, and by doing so, she enabled me to share more fully my thoughts, emotions, and ideas which made the experience very enriching and meaningful for me."

"I met Abby during a senior leadership program, aiming to further develop woman’s leadership and business skills and prepare them for taking on greater responsibilities within our organization. The personalized coaching was part of the learning experience; it was new to me and proofed to be very useful. Abby is able to build up a close, trustful and professional relationship in short time due to her warm-hearted manner, a strong ability to listen and to ask mind-changing questions. She worked with parables and made me visualise my challenges, which was a powerful way of addressing them. Almost all of our sessions were done by phone, which sounds challenging to do on a busy working day. Amazingly, Abby always managed to bring me within few minutes into a calm and comfortable mood and switched my mind from everyday details to the big picture and my coaching goals. I learned a lot about myself, personally and business related. The coaching helped me to address today’s challenges in a different way and be open minded about future opportunities - not one hour to regret!"

"As an organisation we felt that our General Management leadership team required an intervention with the objective of empowering them to be better leaders, being more self-aware of their strengths, as well as being able to proactively address their developmental areas. This was to improve individual performance as well as that of the team dynamic itself. We approached Abby Malan based on a referral that we had received. Abby’s engaging approach quickly built a sense of trust within the team thus enabling them to be open and honest from the outset. Abby’s professionalism, thoroughness and ability to probe key developmental areas in a safe environment ensured that our desired results were achieved. The cohesion and working relationship within the team members was significantly improved which resulted in us being able to tackle more strategic issues collectively. As individuals, many still make reference to Abby’s program and the impact that it had on their careers. I would have no hesitation in recommending Abby’s coaching, mentoring, leadership as well as facilitation programs."

"I had the pleasure of collaborating with Abby for 6 sessions. She has a wonderful way of 'being' and certainly possesses all qualities sought in a coach such as empathy, compassion, trust and providing a safe place to engage. With the help of her powerful questions and thought-provoking reflections, I was able to build some much needed fun and letting go muscles that I endeavour to strengthen daily. Her reflective questions and offerings sparked a new interest in mindfulness and vulnerability and Daring Greatly. She offered some wonderful symbolic metaphors that I resonate with so well. She was definitely the power behind my shift in thinking and the way I would like to show up (and be). Thank you Abby, I truly loved the time spent and I have no doubt that our paths will cross again….. perhaps even when Braving the Wilderness!"

"My journey with Abby started with me having no real expectations of the coaching sessions and feeling rather blank about what outcomes to expect. During the first few sessions I was worried that I was not 'doing it right'. It is only now, in hindsight, that I can fully comprehend and appreciate the value of the time and effort invested in the coaching sessions. Abby was able to listen with understanding, she prompted and dropped 'pebbles' (including her gentle way of challenging) when necessary and, in the end, she gently tugged all the strings together. Through her patient guidance and prompting I have gained deeper insight, self understanding, and self appreciation than I ever imagined possible within such a (reasonably) short time. I am grateful, thank you."

"Abby has made a significant positive impact on my life through her holistic coaching style. Our coaching sessions have enabled me to view my challenges in a different light - with empathy, gentleness and renewed understanding. She has facilitated the most amazing personal growth. With her guidance she has enabled me to find opportunities and solutions that speak to me. You will never know what you are capable of until you have challenges and the right person to guide you through them! Thank you Abby for enriching my life!"

"I never thought that in one hour somebody you never met before could significantly touch your life. But after my first session with Abby I was radiating a positive energy I had never felt before. I remember the feeling distinctly although it was nearly three years ago. In time I truly transformed into a person I always knew I could be both personally and professionally, but never had the skills to discover. Abby is phenomenal because she combines compassion and humour with an amazing approach that delivers results quickly. And we did all of this over skype! Even though our session are done for now, I think of Abby constantly and draw inspiration and courage from our work together."