How can we help?
At Darlington Coaching, we partner with organisations and individuals to enable sustainable performance, confident leadership and meaningful progression - especially through key life transitions like parenthood.
Through our work Leading with Balance™, we support organisations to strengthen leadership capability, enable working parents and build cultures where people perform, progress and stay engaged. Through The Happy Mum Project™, we support mothers to redefine success, rebuild confidence and create fulfilling careers without burning out.
Whether you’re a people leader shaping workplace culture, or a mother navigating your next chapter, we help you build the clarity, confidence and strategies to lead with balance - at work and in life..
Hi, I’m Anna Darlington
Founder of Darlington Coaching, Certified Life & Business Coach, NLP Coach Practitioner & CIPD accredited HR professional
With over 15 years’ experience in Talent Acquisition and Talent Development, I’ve spent my career working at the intersection of leadership, performance and wellbeing — supporting individuals and organisations to thrive through change.
Like many women, I’ve navigated the reality of balancing a demanding career with family life. That experience, combined with my corporate background, led me to create work that goes beyond quick fixes or surface-level solutions.
Today, through Leading with Balance™, I partner with organisations to enable sustainable performance, strengthen leadership capability and support working parents through key life transitions. Inside The Happy Mum Project™, I support mothers to rebuild confidence, redefine success and create careers that feel aligned and fulfilling.
Whether you’re shaping workplace culture or navigating your own next chapter, my work is grounded in clarity, compassion and practical strategies that create meaningful, lasting impact - for people and for performance.
Our Services
Leading with Balance™
Enabling leadership, performance and progression through life transitions
Leading with Balance™ is a talent enablement approach designed to support organisations to perform and grow sustainably - by enabling people, leaders and cultures to thrive through key life transitions.
Built for small to mid-sized organisations, this offer focuses on one of the most critical (and often overlooked) leverage points in performance and progression: how people are supported when life changes - particularly during the return to work after parental leave.
At its core, Leading with Balance™ - The Talent Enablement Blueprint combines insight, coaching and leadership development to strengthen capability where it matters most. We start with enabling returning parents - because when they are supported to perform and progress well, the impact is felt across teams, managers and the wider culture.
Our work typically includes:
Return-to-Work & Parent Enablement Coaching
Targeted coaching to support returning parents to rebuild confidence, clarity and performance - reducing disengagement and stalled progression.
Manager & Leadership Enablement
Practical training and coaching to equip managers with the skills, confidence and consistency needed to support people well through transitions.
Insight, Diagnostics & Direction
Light-touch to strategic diagnostics that identify risk points, capability gaps and opportunities - providing clear direction for action and investment.
Culture & Capability Development
Support to embed balance as a leadership capability, creating environments where performance, wellbeing and progression reinforce one another.
By enabling people at moments where performance and potential are most vulnerable, Leading with Balance™ helps organisations strengthen leadership pipelines, improve productivity and create cultures where great talent can stay, grow and lead.
The Happy Mum Project™
Create the life you want while thriving in motherhood and beyond.
The Happy Mum Project is a transformative coaching programme for ambitious women and mothers who want to excel professionally without sacrificing their personal lives. Whether you’re climbing the corporate ladder or building your own business, this programme provides the clarity, confidence, and balance you need to succeed.
Through personalised coaching, practical tools, and evidence-based strategies, you’ll learn to:
Overcome self-doubt and embrace your strengths.
Create space for yourself, your family, and your goals.
Build a career or business that aligns with your values and ambitions.
It’s time to step into your potential and create a fulfilling, empowered life.
Get in touch.
You can book a free clarity call via our booking page
Or request more information about our offers using the contact form below.
We’re looking forward to hearing from you!
“I would highly recommend Anna as a Life Coach. She created a calm and safe space in which I was able to explore issues within my working life and gently led me through a process to help to find ways of building a more holistic and fulfilling future. I thoroughly enjoyed working with Anna and look forward to working with her again in the future.”
Jules (life coaching client)
“Anna was so helpful to me. As a busy mum and business owner, I wouldn’t have got through without her. She provided me with such clarity and calm during a really stormy time. I would recommend her very much. She’s the resource that I didn’t realise how much I needed until after. Worth her weight in gold in all honesty.”
Rosie (business coaching client)