More Than a Workshop: Forging Connections and Coaching Cultures

There’s a unique energy in a room at the end of a five-day intensive workshop. It’s a mix of deep learning, tired-but-energised minds, and the genuine sadness of saying goodbye. This past week, I had the privilege of facilitating our 'Coaching Skills for Educators' programme with a remarkable group of school leaders and teachers.

As always, I am left feeling inspired, optimistic, and more certain than ever of the power of this work.

When educators first come together for a coaching programme, we begin by exploring a fundamental challenge. As school leaders, we are professional problem-solvers. We are hard-wired to be in "PUSH" mode: we advise, we direct, we mentor, and we fix. It’s what we’ve been celebrated for.

The core of our week was exploring the profound, transformative power of the "PULL".

This is the conscious, intentional shift into a coaching stance. It’s the shift from “listening to fix” to “listening to understand.” We spent our days in deep, practical, and sometimes challenging professional dialogue, building the core skills brick by brick:

Presence & Rapport: Learning that connection isn't a technique; it's the result of our choice to be fully present with another human being.

Active Listening: Moving beyond hearing the problem (Level 2) to hearing the person (Level 3)—their values, their assumptions, and the things they weren't even saying.

Non-Judgement: This was perhaps the biggest challenge. We practiced quieting our "inner judge"—that voice in our head that’s busy formulating a response, sharing our own story, or deciding if we "agree."

Powerful Questions: We discovered the simple magic of shifting away from "Why?" (which invites justification) and towards "What?" (which invites exploration).

The real "a-ha" moments didn't come from my slides. They came from the practice.

In our coaching triads, I watched participants experience, many for the first time, what it feels like to be truly listened to—uninterrupted, un-judged, and un-fixed—for six solid minutes. The feeling in the room during that debrief is always electric. It’s a mix of "That was so simple, yet so hard" and "I've never felt so heard." That's the moment the why of coaching lands.

But this week was, as all good European programmes should be, so much more than the content discussed in the training room.

The schedule was intensive, but it was purposefully balanced with cultural experiences, shared meals, and a visit to a local Irish school. And this is where the real learning was cemented.

You cannot practice rapport in a sterile environment. You build it by sharing stories over dinner. You cannot practice non-judgemental curiosity in a textbook. You forge it by listening to a colleague from another country describe their school system, their challenges, and their hopes—and seeing the shared humanity in it all.

The friendships forged this week weren't a "nice-to-have" by-product of the course. They were essential to the learning. They are the very essence of coaching in action. By the final day, the trust in the room was so deep that the coaching practice became more honest, more vulnerable, and infinitely more powerful.

We leave not just as individuals with a new toolkit of skills, but as a connected network of colleagues. We’ve equipped ourselves with a way of being that will not only build capacity in our staff and students but will, I hope, make our challenging roles in school more human, more sustainable, and more joyful.

Thank you to everyone who brought their full selves this week. I'm excited to see the impact you will undoubtedly make.