Sophie works with leaders and teams who are trying to make change in the kinds of systems that don’t behave as they should. The ones where the politics are knotty and progress depends on people finding new ways to work together. She is most at home in the moments when things feel uncertain or stuck — when the invitation is not to impose control, but to notice what is really happening and to act from there.
Before joining Mayvin, Sophie spent years in international development, leading and supporting cross-cultural teams under pressure, often in highly political settings. These experiences taught her that complexity isn’t something to be solved once and for all; it is something to be worked with, relationally, step by step, staying close to human connection and grounded purpose.
At Mayvin, much of her work has been in and around the UK Civil Service, where she has designed and delivered leadership and OD&D programmes for the Cabinet Office, MoD, HMRC, DWP and DESNZ. As a faculty member on the Civil Service Core and Advanced OD&D programmes, and part of the Director Leadership Programme, she supports senior leaders in seeing beneath the surface of their organisations: the informal systems, the hidden forces and patterns, the anxieties that so often determine whether transformation sticks or falters.
Her facilitation style is practical, playful and human. She brings artful and embodied practices into her work — not as decoration, but as ways of helping teams and organisations to shift perspectives and connect differently. At the same time, she holds a tight focus on what really matters, and a knack for asking the question that shifts the room.
Alongside her client work, Sophie contributes to Mayvin’s collective learning and teaches on the MA in People and Organisation Development. She convenes conversations on systems leadership, complexity and AI, exploring how to translate abstract and emerging ideas into useful practices that meet the demands of unprecedented times.
At the heart of her work is a simple philosophy: leadership is not about mastering the chaos or holding answers. It is about how you show up in the midst of it — with presence, awareness, curiosity and a willingness to meet others authentically in the uncertainty.