Movers and Shakers: Jean Balfour, Director, Bailey Balfour Consulting, Ltd.
By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)
“Dare to dream,” advised Jean Balfour, Director of Bailey Balfour Consulting. As an organizational development consultant and coach for executive women, Balfour has extensive experience working with women across many industries, and she said one of the key things she has learned from them is the importance of developing your aspirations.
“Dare to think big and dream big,” she continued. “And along with that, find a mentor and sponsor right from day one, who can help you achieve your dreams.”
She advised senior women to “really, really proactively support younger women, and encourage your male peers to mentor or sponsor young women as well, so they have as much support as they can get to move along in their careers.”
Organizational Development and Coaching
Balfour, originally from New Zealand, started out as a teacher. Wanting to travel, she moved to the UK and soon began working for Local Government in London. “There I discovered my ambition and decided I wanted to move to health care.”
Balfour took an organizational development role in the industry and eventually became part of the executive team for her company. “It was a great experience. We merged twice during that time, and I had the experience of organizational change, politically, and all that goes with organizational shifts and mergers.”
But, she continued, “I became unhappy, finding it difficult to reconcile people decisions with the decisions I had to make as an executive. But I loved coaching and team development work.”
Based on that experience, Balfour decided to go into consulting. “It’s been 11 years,” she said, now running her own business, Bailey Balfour Consulting. “Setting up and running my own company has been a huge achievement and I’m proud I’m still here. There have been storms along the way in the past few years, and I’m proud to get a sense that I’m making a difference.”
Currently she is particularly excited about an organizational design program she is developing for an international financial services firm. “It’s the coming together of my skills, the right time, and the right company,” she said. “I also do a lot of executive coaching for women – every single one counts as being very exciting.”
When it comes to coaching, Balfour continued, every case is different. “I don’t believe there’s one glass ceiling,” she said. “I believe there are many blocks along the way and women experience blocks at different stages of their careers. I believe we need to help women very early in their careers and try to help women, as soon as we can, to seek out mentors to find a way around those blocks.”
“I think it takes all types to create the organizations we need,” she continued. “When I was younger I felt I had to compromise myself. I wish I had brought my whole self. I had strong people skills that I didn’t focus on, and could have helped our organization more effectively.”
Balfour said she feels that, as a lesbian, the biggest block for LGBT individuals is often an internal one. “The biggest challenge for us as gay women is an internal journey of whether it’s okay to come out.”
She continued, “Very, very seldom do women say that when they came out there was a problem. But there is that internal anxiety.”
In Her Personal Time
Outside work, Balfour spends her time networking and building relationships within various organizations. She is a founding member of the Gay Women’s Network for LGBT women in London. Last year Balfour also helped found a new charity, Diversity Role Models, which she also chairs.
She lives with her partner in London and keeps a flat on the southern coast of Spain. “We enjoy going for the sun, and to get out of the London rain!” she added.