Get to know Rich Littledale – Facilitator and Coach

What’s your view on the current state of gender equity?

When I look at the current state of gender equity I feel frustrated, but optimistic. Frustrated because the numbers tell their own story – not enough women at the top, particularly in technology. I still think there’s a problem in our homes, with inequalities in domestic labour generally and childcare in particular. I feel optimistic though for two reasons.  If you take the longer view, the trend line is clear: over generations, progress on gender equality has been steady and transformative. I’m optimistic that will continue. The second reason is the inspiration I get from the female leaders I work with – I get to work with amazing women doing spectacular things, and it’s hard to feel pessimistic with them in the room.

As a coaching psychologist, how do you help leaders become more aware of the unconscious biases that shape their decisions – particularly around gender equity?

For me, challenging my coachees’ thinking is at the core of what I do. My role is to surface assumptions, test them, and to rebuild their perspective with greater clarity. When challenge has been normalised generally, it’s much easier to tackle biases in a way that drives action not shame. What I also pay close attention to is the language people use. Words like “emotional”, “lacking gravitas” or “lacking confidence” are applied to women far more often than men. When I hear those labels used about women, it prompts me to dive in more forensically and assertively, separating genuinely useful feedback from unhelpful stereotypes.

You’re at the forefront of integrating AI into coaching. What excites you most about this intersection of technology and human development?

I’m exploring how AI can become part of my toolkit as a coach: analysing my conversations, giving me feedback, and helping me reflect more deeply on my practice. Every responsible coach has a supervisor, but supervisors are rarely in the room, and our memories are never perfect. AI offers a “second opinion” – surfacing patterns, highlighting blind spots, and sparking richer conversations with clients about what’s really happening. What excites me is that this makes coaching more dynamic and reflexive. Too often we fixate on the risks of AI, especially in a profession not naturally drawn to or comfortable with technology. We worry about being replaced, when we should be thinking about how these tools can make us even better.

What’s the value of having a career-planning conversation with an expert coach as part of a Leadership Development Programme?
I see the value in two key places. Firstly, a good coach helps turn a stuck conversation – where someone feels limited by their environment, assumptions, or imagination – into one filled with confidence, energy and self-efficacy. Secondly, a coach helps a leader get to the real exam question: what do they truly want at this point in their career? Not what they think others expect, and not what they’ve persuaded themselves to settle for. When the plan is anchored in something they genuinely care about, it has energy and direction. That’s when career development becomes transformative.

What have you read recently and any top takeaway that our audiences might benefit from?

The most challenging book I’ve read recently is The Sugar Barons , a history of the British sugar plantations in the West Indies. At times our colonial past can feel like an abstract thing – particularly from a position of distance and privilege. This book replaced the abstract with shockingly concrete realities. I was grateful for that even if I didn’t enjoy it. It also struck me how brutal and precarious life was for everyone in that world, regardless of background. It was a story of the system as much as it was of the actions of individuals, and of the power of the system to shape behaviour. A useful reminder that as a coach you can’t properly support individuals without seeking to understand – and helping them understand – how their context is acting on them.