Summer Newsletter 2024
Catch up with Bright Lead
What’s been happening?
For Bright Lead, June and July saw a fair bit of travelling…
to Birmingham for the ASCL EDI conference raising peri/menopause awareness,
a couple of trips to Bristol for the preparatory work before undertaking some team coaching and to facilitate a Leadership Development Programme for aspiring leaders,
also a couple of trips to Cambridge to facilitate a Leadership Development Programme for senior leaders,
to Rickmansworth for the #WeCollaborate conference at the Royal Masonic School for Girls for more peri/menopause awareness raising work, and
online with the Acorn Education Trust on behalf of Diverse Educators.
1:1 coaching continued throughout, and at the end of July I finally took my International Coaching Federation exam and achieved the ACC (Associate) accreditation. I have enough coaching hours for PCC and so just need to do the extra training, which I’m planning for early next year…
At the start of the summer holiday, Rob and I restarted our walk along the Camino in Northern Spain – we’ve got about 300km left to get to Santiago de Compostella which we’ll do in a few more stages. As I’ve explained in a previous blog, the Camino shell is incorporated into the Bright Lead logo to symbolise the journey of discovery of leadership development work and coaching, and because it means something to me. We started the 825km route back in 2013 and haven’t gone back since before the pandemic so it was wonderful to be walking with that purpose again – some friends being in the area at the same time and the excellent food and drink were a great attraction too!
We then had a crafty few days at home with my nieces making patterns and shapes with sun reactive fabrics and sewing them into outfits and accessories for their rabbits, some bags and so on.
Afterwards, Rob and I took Eurostar to visit an old friend and her family in Belgium, seeing the delights of Bruges, Brussels, and walking in the countryside. And now, after a lovely sun-drenched weekend of camping with extended family, I’m enjoying the last few days crafting with another old friend.
Things start in earnest again as the examination results come in and people start thinking about their development needs for the Autumn having reflected upon life with friends and family over the summer.
These seasons of reflection and activity are important!
“I am only sorry that I didn't do the programme earlier! Nicky has created a course that helps you to penetrate some of the ideas that have been presented to us in the enormous amount of leadership research. In just an hour a week you are given the opportunity to explore these ideas in a constructive way that is useful to you in your setting. The opportunity to network with others outside of your setting is also invaluable. You won’t have any regrets about doing this, the personal and professional development opportunity is not to be missed.”
Laura. Senior Leaders’ Group Coaching. Cohort 6.
What’s coming up?
The spaces for the Group Coaching programme, run in association with GSA, are filling up with a great cohort of Senior Leaders starting on Tuesday 3rd September and Middle Leaders on Wednesday 4th September at 4.30pm. This is a great opportunity to develop personal and professional leadership skills and achieve your goals with a like-minded group of leaders from across the independent schools sector. We follow a curriculum designed to ensure you gain clarity of direction and develop awareness to bring the most positive energy possible to really inhabit the roles you have with confidence, leadership presence, and persuasive influence. To sign up please follow this link, or, to find out more, contact me on nicky@brightlead.co.uk or book a 15 minute conversation with me via my Calendly link here. You do not need to be from a GSA school to join these programmes, they are open to all Middle and Senior Leaders in education.
"I highly recommend this course. It is an excellent platform to reflect on and develop your practice and draw on Nicky's expertise, while meeting and working alongside people from different settings. Having completed the course I now look at my professionalism and performance in a different way."
Emily. Senior Leaders’ Group Coaching: Cohort 6.
We’re increasingly being asked to provide team coaching, for teams that want to maximise their performance together, perhaps teambuilding, or further enhance their way of working to the next level, or simply to iron out some communication difficulties. This is a powerful and growing new type of coaching, and is distinct from the facilitation work we undertake providing leadership development programmes for senior, middle and aspiring leaders. Working with one of my associates, Ros Sutton, who has a background working with corporates such as PWC, start-ups and tech firms, we work with teams during the normal course of their meetings together, and perhaps also supplement with development facilitation. The work we have been doing building psychological safety has been particularly well received.
All our leadership development facilitation is bespoke to the needs of the team and leaders involved. As well as our gaming companies, we have several 6-9 month projects for this academic year with schools and organisations in Bristol, Oxfordshire, Cambridgeshire and London. These can be tailored for aspiring leaders, middle leaders, aspiring senior leaders, or senior leaders to enable skills development and an understanding of the needs of leadership roles at any level.
Linked to this are the one-off CPD sessions for training days or twilights, on any aspect of leadership including Leadership Presence, Developing Awareness, Resilient Decision Making, Establishing Psychological Safety, and Successful Challenging Conversations. An example of this is the GSA webinar on Thursday 10th October 2024, which can be booked here.
I get many requests for 1:1 coaching services, both in person and online, and again devise bespoke packages for leaders depending upon their needs – some want support establishing themselves as they take on new roles, others as they consider the different direction they want their career to take, and some are at critical times and want to process what is happening and gain clarity of direction.
In addition to the GSA group coaching, the Positive Intelligence group coaching programmes have also been very well received by the individuals and groups that wanted to develop confidence, beat imposter syndrome and reduce the negative impact of our ‘judge’ and ‘accomplice saboteurs’ in our brains. These will be running again during Autumn and we are finalising dates.
And the peri/menopause awareness raising continues. This term I will be running a webinar for ASCL as part of their ‘Leading on…’ series, a workshop at a large London school and online sessions for various organisations. You can also access the #Diverse Educators Menopause toolkit I wrote here (please insert the link
Lifelong learning is part of my DNA – a core value. As well as various crafting projects from a personal point of view, this term I’m going to be developing my facilitation with actor facilitators with Steps Learning Development, and get my PCC coach learning underway. Travel is learning too and so I’m also fitting in a cheeky trip to Cyprus with some dear friends at the end of September. So, lots to look forward to!
"Definitely do it if you have the chance - you won't regret it and your life will definitely be enriched as a result."
Polly. Middle Leaders’ Group Coaching: Cohort 1.
Sign Up and Contact Us
If you would like to sign up to one of the Group Coaching Programmes, please follow the link. Alternatively, if you would like to discuss how Bright Lead can help you and /or your team, please do not hesitate to contact me, I’d love to hear from you.
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