Alex Smith runs a leadership and coaching business, working up and down the country helping people and places navigate change. His work deals with the intricacies of human relationships and organisational dynamics. Sounds familiar.
Alex has also recently become the vicar’s warden at Nativity Church in Blenheim! His relationship with God is deeply meaningful to him, so I was curious to find out how his faith impacts his work, and how his work impacts his faith. I had a chat with him for our Faith in Business series.
Alex: I run a leadership development and coaching practice. I’m based in Blenheim. Most of my work is with leaders and teams in organisations that are navigating complexity, change, and uncertainty – often in the public sector or in organisations with a strong sense of purpose.
My role is to help leaders think more clearly about the systems they are part of, the culture they are creating, and the kind of leadership that is required for the future.
At heart, my work is about helping people lead well – not just in terms of performance, but in terms of character, responsibility, and care for others. Workplaces can be challenging. I want people to have a fulfilling and meaningful experience of work. I can make a difference by starting with good leadership.
Alex: No two days are quite the same, which is part of what I enjoy.
Some days I’m facilitating a leadership workshop with a room full of managers working through real challenges they’re facing. Other days I’m having one-to-one coaching conversations with leaders who are wrestling with difficult decisions or complex organisational dynamics.
In many ways my work revolves around enabling better quality of conversations – creating enough space and time, listening carefully, asking thoughtful questions, and helping people see their situations from a different perspective.
Alex: Organisations are full of pressures – political pressures, financial pressures, personality clashes, and uncertainty about the future. Leaders are often carrying more responsibility than people realise, and sometimes they feel quite alone. The challenge is helping people slow down enough to think clearly, especially when everything around them is pushing for speed and reaction.
A big challenge, personally, is holding myself in a grounded, non-judgmental, curious and useful posture when under personal challenge or in the middle of team conflict when fears and doubts appear. It helps in anticipation of entering environments where that may be real, that I have moments of quiet reflection and prayer for myself and those with whom I am going to be working with.
Alex: What I love most is seeing the moment when something shifts for someone.
Sometimes it’s a leader who suddenly realises they don’t have to carry everything alone. Sometimes it’s a team that begins to trust each other enough to have honest conversations. Sometimes it’s an organisation rediscovering the deeper purpose of why they exist.
Those moments can seem small from the outside, but they often have a ripple effect that touches many people.
Love is not a word commonly used in “work” contexts, but the best moments are in some way connected to when love shows up in the work. These moments are moments of love. We need more love at work!
Alex: Faith shapes the way I think about people and leadership.
My faith also reminds me that I’m not responsible for fixing everything. My role is to show up with integrity, listen well, offer what wisdom I can, and trust that God is at work in ways I can’t always see. At times this is healing work, requiring compassion, understanding, acceptance and encouragement.
In many ways my work is simply an expression of trying to love my neighbour in the context of organisational life.
Alex: I see God at work in moments of honesty, humility and reconciliation.
When a leader admits they’ve got something wrong. When two colleagues who have been in conflict finally begin to understand each other. When a team finds the courage to speak about what really matters. Those moments of truth, humility, and restoration feel very close to the heart of the gospel.
They remind me that transformation often begins with simple acts of honesty, forgiveness, and grace.
Check out other articles in the
Faith in Business
series below.
More articles in the
Faith in Business
series are to come.
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We have invited these writers to share their experiences, ideas and opinions in the hope that these will provoke thought, challenge you to go deeper and inspire you to put your faith into action. These articles should not be taken as the official view of the Nelson Diocese on any particular matter.
Alex Smith runs a leadership and coaching business, working up and down the country helping people and places navigate change. His work deals with the intricacies of human relationships and organisational dynamics. Sounds familiar.
Alex has also recently become the vicar’s warden at Nativity Church in Blenheim! His relationship with God is deeply meaningful to him, so I was curious to find out how his faith impacts his work, and how his work impacts his faith. I had a chat with him for our Faith in Business series.
Alex: I run a leadership development and coaching practice. I’m based in Blenheim. Most of my work is with leaders and teams in organisations that are navigating complexity, change, and uncertainty – often in the public sector or in organisations with a strong sense of purpose.
My role is to help leaders think more clearly about the systems they are part of, the culture they are creating, and the kind of leadership that is required for the future.
At heart, my work is about helping people lead well – not just in terms of performance, but in terms of character, responsibility, and care for others. Workplaces can be challenging. I want people to have a fulfilling and meaningful experience of work. I can make a difference by starting with good leadership.
Alex: No two days are quite the same, which is part of what I enjoy.
Some days I’m facilitating a leadership workshop with a room full of managers working through real challenges they’re facing. Other days I’m having one-to-one coaching conversations with leaders who are wrestling with difficult decisions or complex organisational dynamics.
In many ways my work revolves around enabling better quality of conversations – creating enough space and time, listening carefully, asking thoughtful questions, and helping people see their situations from a different perspective.
Alex: Organisations are full of pressures – political pressures, financial pressures, personality clashes, and uncertainty about the future. Leaders are often carrying more responsibility than people realise, and sometimes they feel quite alone. The challenge is helping people slow down enough to think clearly, especially when everything around them is pushing for speed and reaction.
A big challenge, personally, is holding myself in a grounded, non-judgmental, curious and useful posture when under personal challenge or in the middle of team conflict when fears and doubts appear. It helps in anticipation of entering environments where that may be real, that I have moments of quiet reflection and prayer for myself and those with whom I am going to be working with.
Alex: What I love most is seeing the moment when something shifts for someone.
Sometimes it’s a leader who suddenly realises they don’t have to carry everything alone. Sometimes it’s a team that begins to trust each other enough to have honest conversations. Sometimes it’s an organisation rediscovering the deeper purpose of why they exist.
Those moments can seem small from the outside, but they often have a ripple effect that touches many people.
Love is not a word commonly used in “work” contexts, but the best moments are in some way connected to when love shows up in the work. These moments are moments of love. We need more love at work!
Alex: Faith shapes the way I think about people and leadership.
My faith also reminds me that I’m not responsible for fixing everything. My role is to show up with integrity, listen well, offer what wisdom I can, and trust that God is at work in ways I can’t always see. At times this is healing work, requiring compassion, understanding, acceptance and encouragement.
In many ways my work is simply an expression of trying to love my neighbour in the context of organisational life.
Alex: I see God at work in moments of honesty, humility and reconciliation.
When a leader admits they’ve got something wrong. When two colleagues who have been in conflict finally begin to understand each other. When a team finds the courage to speak about what really matters. Those moments of truth, humility, and restoration feel very close to the heart of the gospel.
They remind me that transformation often begins with simple acts of honesty, forgiveness, and grace.
Check out other articles in the
Faith in Business
series below.
More articles in the
Faith in Business
series are to come.
