A FORMER chief executive turned business coach has turned to technology to keep his business leaders’ mentoring business going through the coronavirus crisis.

Karl Beckett uses the North East countryside to help business leaders grow and develop with ‘walk and talk’ coaching.

But when the coronavirus outbreak required everyone to stay at home, he was forced to innovate or watch his business dry up.

Mr Beckett, who lives in Northumberland but works across the North East, has turned to technology to allow him to help business leaders in lockdown whilst keeping his own specialist business going.

Using a PDF map on ViewRanger software, he sends his client a detailed walking route starting from their front door and sets out on his own daily walk at the same time. Headphones and audio-video technology such as WhatsApp and Skype allow Mr Beckett and the client to communicate throughout the walk.

He said:" “Leading an organisation can be isolating at the best of times and now more than ever that pressure is increased tenfold through enforced isolation. Add into the mix the worry for their business’s survival and the health and mental wellbeing of their teams, and you have a recipe for real stress.

“Determined to help, I developed an approach for business leaders that addresses not only the necessity to exercise each day physically but also to exercise their brains. This solution takes away the pressure that can be associated with making decisions alone – big and small.”