Meet Jill Maidment, Founder & Director at Natural Talent, a leading consulting firm providing Executive Coaching and Mentoring, Career and Outplacement Coaching, Leadership and Management Development, and performance improvement services to many top global organizations.
Reading a Coaching book while watching a sunset on a beach in Australia, Jill Maidment got the idea of becoming an Executive Coach, Leadership and Management Consultant, a Career, Outplacement, and Resilience Coach. Coming back to the UK, she registered her company Natural Talent, and that’s how she started. Prior to this, Jill worked in senior roles in sales, marketing, and account management. The job required her to travel a lot, which she already loved, along with getting to meet new people and learn about different cultures. She wanted to help people lead healthier and more fulfilled lives, both in and outside work. This is why she also trained to become an assessor and a coach.
The qualities of being kind, helpful, and empathetic towards others were instilled in Jill by her parents. Her father taught her about the power of the mind, and her mother was an unofficial coach, alongside being a teacher, helping everyone in need by providing empathy and solutions to any problems. Growing up, Jill was involved in many activities to help people in the community, from raising money for charities to helping run the local youth club.
Talking about Natural Talent, she says, “My mission is to help individuals, teams, and organizations to become more engaged, productive, and happier. I do this by resolving key issues at the executive level and with their teams, from improving hiring, onboarding, training, and strategy alignment. I also assist with improving delegation and empowerment, as well as providing tools and techniques to manage high workloads and stress. In particular, recently, I am helping clients with their remote leadership and management and the issues around hybrid working. I also assist clients in improving their confidence to overcome any imposter syndrome, as well as being able to deal with performance management issues and conflict. In particular, I help executives to be able to lead and manage change, to build high-performing teams, and create great cultures.”
Jill considers herself fortunate to have a positive and enjoyable career. She was brought up to believe that everyone is equal, so she did not become aware of the glass ceiling until later in her career. As she set up Natural Talent, many people told her that it would never work and she wouldn’t be able to compete with global consultancies. But she proved everyone wrong. Her ongoing challenges are always around finding honest, trustworthy, reliable suppliers.
Jill works hard but always makes a point of maintaining a work-life balance. She practices what she preaches and has had the chance to work with many top executives globally. She tries to manage her time well, as she works across different time zones. Like all entrepreneurs and working professionals, she too had to make sacrifices, but she feels rewarded with her work.
Jill and Natural Talent love to receive positive feedback from their clients. Her business and clientele grow through referrals and word of mouth as people in HR leave their organizations, and once they join new ones, they call up to ask her to work with them. She has been working in partnership with some of her clients for the last 20 years. Her story inspires us to do everything we believe in. She had an idea, believed in it, worked for it, and achieved what she aspired to. Leaving a short but inspiring message for her readers, she says, “You have to back yourself and aim high. Follow your dreams and believe in yourself. Don’t listen to the critics; usually, they are only jealous or don’t feel able to achieve what they want to achieve. Keep telling yourself- You CAN do it!”