Meet Sheena Polese

Sheena is a leadership and development coach who has worked extensively with people and executives at all organisational levels, varied industries and broad professional and life experiences.

Explicitly informed by her experience and education, Sheena works with clients to help them achieve their goals, short and long term, while helping them deepen their confidence in their own abilities and talents.

Working with a clients strengths, experience, values and priorities to support their goal achievement and where needed, coaching clients to improve their life satisfaction and wellbeing. She is committed to helping people lead a good life that is richly satisfying professionally and personally and has a particular interest and personal experiences in career development, career pivot, coping with and thriving in complex work environments, navigating the challenges of work and personal life and overcoming some of the struggles that life throws at us.

With qualifications including an MBA from Macquarie Graduate School and a Master of Science, Psychology of Coaching, from Sydney University and extensive life experience, Sheena is highly effective as a coach while also serves as a qualified sounding board for “what’s next in life for me and how do I achieve that?”

She believes everyone has access to choice and the power to create their best life possible and works closely with clients to develop their thinking and behaviour in order to thrive and flourish.

Sheena is a qualified athletics coach who has participated in many adventure events including ultra-marathons, high altitude trekking and an environmental leadership expedition to the Antarctic.

Sheena opened FitMind Coaching in 2016 after a long career in commercial and NFP sectors and is a Senior Associate at the Positivity Institute and Your New Gig. She is also an associate at Centre for Leadership Advantage, a leadership program director and facilitator for Leading Women Uganda for Australia for UNHCR and a facilitator for Behind Closed Doors.
  • The Leadership Circle
  • Your New Gig
  • The Positivity Institute
  • Search Institute
  • Mental Toughness
  • MEWS
  • HOGAN Personality
  • MTQ48
  • Fitmind MLQ logo
  • University of Sydney Coaching Psychology Unit
  • James Farrell, Board Member
    "Sheena has the ability to listen, ask the right questions, and give space to reflect, at the same time as building rapport - a rare combination, especially when considering the complexities of adolescent developmental coaching and adventure education. Sheena is an explorer with a natural affinity for leading and coaching teens in the outdoors. It was a real pleasure to co-coach with Sheena on The Helmsman Project Outward Bound adventure."  
    James Farrell, Board Member
    The Helmsman Project
  • Siobhan Bryson, Operations Manager
    "Sheena generously volunteered her time and coaching skills pro bono to our Weave clients. Feedback from clients was overwhelmingly positive.
    One young man with long-term mental health issues said the sessions with Sheena had boosted his confidence and made him realise that he has lots to offer an employer. He reported feeling much clearer about his career goals and how to use his strengths in the workplace. Prior to his coaching sessions with Sheena he had felt unfocused and overwhelmed at the prospect of entering the workforce but he now feels energised, positive and focused. He really enjoyed the sessions and got a lot out of it".
    Siobhan Bryson, Operations Manager
    Weave Youth & Community Services
  • Becky
    I sought FitMind Coaching because I needed assistance to clarify and re-establish my personal goals. Sheena helped me to identify and recognise patterns of behaviour and long-held belief systems that were not in line with my current aspirations and objectives. Becoming aware of these old patterns enabled me to question then let go of anything that no longer served me. I am now free to create new objectives. By taking time to reflect, I now have the skills to recognise old habits and ensure that the steps I take are in line with my life’s goals. I feel happier and more focused. 
    Becky
    of Melbourne
  • "Sheena has no difficulty asking the hard questions to make a person think about their situation.  Sheena works to help the group understand the complexities and identify any hidden agendas.   Sheena is skilled in endeavouring to seek out the best qualities a candidate has to offer and help them channel their energies"
  • "Sheena is passionate, authentic and driven.   A strong team player.  She is focused on having a meaningful impact and getting results and importantly doing so with integrity and in the right way".
  • "I now manage a team of 25, a 60% growth and I needed help. I did the psychometric testing. I needed to know what my strengths and weaknesses were to help me become a better leader. Knowing what the effective leadership traits are to drive peak performance, has enabled me to know what I needed to change. No boss in my entire career has ever articulated these to me in the same way Sheena did. During the debrief, Sheena provided me constructive action plans that are now helping me achieve my goals to become a more effective leader. Thank you, Sheena of FitMind!"
  • "I engaged Sheena for a number of coaching sessions in order to help my transition into the Head of Marketing role within the organisation. Coaching has helped me with both my technical and psychological leadership skills, with a particular focus on creating a vision for my leadership and thereby a blueprint for success in my first year.   I am better able to relate to team members, through a collaborative approach and subsequently an empowering and supportive environment for the predominantly female cohort. Trust has grown immensely and I can see team members are much more engaged and subsequently productive, as they too experience success"