Space + time - coaching programme for education

The Space + Time coaching programme is part of our broader range of insightful and experiential development programmes designed specifically for our education clients. Our coaches look to help leaders achieve their full potential by providing them with those precious commodities - space and time.

Coaching can help leaders find the space and time to prioritise, to reenergise and to reflect on what they have learnt, how they see the future for their organisation as well as the opportunities and risks the broader landscape presents.

We pride ourselves on helping you to do what is fundamentally right for your pupils and organisation. Always ahead of the curve, we provide fresh ideas and out of the box thinking to ensure that your school trust is prepared, and able to take advantage of sector developments and opportunities. Coaching is one of the ways we seek to deliver on this commitment.

Coaching is a powerful method of ensuring that people achieve their full potential. All too often, coaching is only proposed when there is a specific issue to be addressed and an individual wants (or has been advised to get) support. Coaching can be so much more than this. We highlight below just a few scenarios where coaching could add value for you and your organisation.

• Leadership can be lonely at the best of times. Throughout the pandemic school leaders have had to ‘don their superhero cloaks’ for the benefit of the school community with little time to look far into the future.
• Over ten years into the expanded academies programme, an increasingly new cohort of executive leaders and CEOs will take the sector forwards. Unlike their predecessors who often grew the trust from one school or a small group, these leaders will be stepping in to lead complex organisations from the outset, possibly in their first leadership role.
• In education terms, the last five years have been relatively stable from a policy perspective but looking ahead we are likely to experience a more dynamic policy environment.

Our coaching service is ideal for:

• CEOs and trust leaders who want to find the space and time to reflect and ensure they are working to their full potential and to see clearly where their priorities should lie;
• CEO/trust leader designates as part of their development journey;
• helping new trustees, who are experienced in other sectors but new to education, quickly get to grips with their new role;
• Chairs of Trustees, particularly when the trust is about to embark on a period of significant change.

Process

Successful coaching relies on a strong relationship of trust between you and your coach.

We’d arrange an initial free of charge chemistry session to see that both you and your coach (and if your trust wants to be actively involved as sponsor then your sponsor too) are confident that the relationship will work.

In this session we’ll agree an approach and any parameters for future sessions.

Following the chemistry session, we’re able to offer a term’s course of four sessions (usually three weeks apart) or a programme (12 sessions) over an entire academic year. A review will be scheduled half-way through the coaching period, to check that you’re happy that the sessions are achieving their objectives.

Our coaches would work with you to provide the support and challenge you need to move forward with your goals. Our approach is designed to help ambitious leaders drive forwards with increased awareness and focus.

Each coaching session will last between 60 and 90 minutes, but you and your coach would design an approach that best meets your needs. Coaching would be delivered through a mix of face-to-face and online sessions.

Our coaching team

Our team of qualified executive coaches has a wealth of leadership, education, crisis and project management expertise to draw upon.

Iain spent the first part of his career specialising in corporate transaction work for both private and public sector clients. In May 2009, he took on the role of Managing Partner and over 11 years presided over a period of unprecedented growth and activity for the firm, before stepping down in April 2020. Iain wanted to take what he had learned from his time as Managing Partner to support leaders and decided that an executive coach qualification would be the best route to delivering this, which he does as part of his focus on Governance and Leadership.

Emma has over 15 years’ experience in generalist HR in both the private sector and the public sector. Emma has worked as HR Director and regional HR Business Partner for two large, national school trusts and she has held various governance roles including Chair of a 16-school trust. Emma has led the HR consultancy practice at Browne Jacobson since 2017 and as well as providing HR services to education clients, Emma also provides executive coaching as a qualified and accredited coach.

Nick is an education lawyer with significant experience of advising executive teams and boards in the social housing, corporate and, for over 10 years, education sectors. Nick works with boards and executive teams in the education sector to help them navigate the landscape together with helping them spot and take opportunities. In addition to providing corporate and governance advice to education institutions, Nick also provides executive coaching support as a qualified executive coach. Nick sits on the firm’s board and in 2019 was invited to join the board of the Foundation for Education Development.