About Firefly Coaching & Training
Kia ora, hiya, I'm Marie-Louise. I'm glad you're here, taking a little break in your day.
I started Firefly Coaching & Training when I put myself through a career-coaching and soul-searching bootcamp after leaving my last role in 2024. I realised that while I loved doing strategy, performance and policy work in the public sector, I loved coaching others in the public sector to do their work and achieve their goals even more. And if you're struggling at work - you're not the only one!
In spite of this, women working in the public sector remain committed to doing great work and having an impact. They’re motivated to hone their skills, move up and progress their careers. A lack of career progression opportunities was the number one reason people cited for wanting to leave their job in the 2025 Public Service Census.
But it’s hard, isn’t it. The job market is constrained, promotion rounds don’t happen like they used to, public sector cuts do away with roles people had their eye on.
All is not lost though! My mission is to help women diagnose whether there is scope to craft their current job, to reshape it so it better matches the work they most want to do, to give them stretch opportunities, and to minimise the parts of the role that leave them uninspired. And then to help bring their re-crafted job into being.
It’s not always possible to improve a role, as sometimes it’s the organisation that’s the problem, so a complete change is needed. But in many, many cases it is, whether through small tweaks or a more substantial adjustment. I look forward to helping you do great work and progress your career.
About Marie-Louise Siddle
Helping others learn and improve has been a theme in my career. I worked across New Zealand's public sector - in departments, Crown entities, and universities - for 20 years, mostly in the areas of education and tertiary education. Before that, I coached French business executives in English at Accenture, BNP Paribas, LVMH and Sanofi, and taught English in Japan.
I graduated with a Master of Public Management (Distinction) from Te Herenga Waka | Victoria University of Wellington, completed Train the Trainers training with Grow, and coaching and mentoring training with the New Zealand Coaching & Mentoring Centre.
I'm also a mum, and know first-hand the juggle of meeting work expectations, my own career goals, and trying to be a present and engaged parent. I live and work in Te Whanganui-a-Tara | Wellington, New Zealand. You can find me at marie-louise@fireflycoaching.nz.