Ah, time for a mince pie and a cuppa!

Hello Everyone,

Well, as we stagger to the end of 2010, it would seem it has been a year of upheaval and change for many people in the UK.

The last few weeks have seen growing anger and frustration amongst the student community here in Brighton around the increase in tuition fees and the continued Government failure to address bonus culture, tax evasion and other perks of being a big business in Britain.

Our community here at the Young People's Centre continue to feel uncertain of their future in the face of spending cuts, with the Connexions service awaiting the January consultation and redundancy package and many community projects needing to urgently explore their sustainability, as funding becomes more scarce.

Top Five Suggestions on Dealing with Uncertainty:

1. Focus on the solutions, on what you can do.
2. Remember, in every crisis as an opportunity
3. Explore forming partnerships with other able people or organisations in the same boat
4. Go back to the drawing boar d- what is your key aim or objective? how successful is your approach in achieving it? What could you do to be more successful? Perhaps this is a chance to refine your strategy?
5. Pray, laugh, spend time with small children, in nature and with animals, have faith.


Meanwhile in house, we have a few things to celebrate:

Our beautiful new website is up - thanks so much to web designer Steve at Hagler Media, artist Nick Adams of Neek Creative and all the team in-house.

This means that our conference is also live and those early birds among you can go a-ticket buying! www.thelifeproject.co.uk/conference.php

Our BuzzBnk crowdfunding has also gone live - https://prod.buzzbnk.org/ProjectDetails.aspx?projectId=13

We have received funding from May Gurney to roll out subsidised Find Your Vocation workshops for teachers and for students in 2011.

And we have been invited to design and roll out enterprise education projects in Africa and Asia - keep an eye on the site for more details - going international innit!

Best wishes for the season

Erica xx

Inspirational Education interactions...

Teach First conference - my third year running working with these inspired and passionate young teachers - this year we explored Careers Coaching tools and Creative Classroom skills - the handout from the latter will be on our new website when it launches at the end of the month.

We have a location for the conference - Pimlico Academy! This stunning new school is right in the centre of London and funded by an innovative charity: http://www.pimlicoacademy.org/. We really look forward to working with Colin and the team to deliver the very best Soul of Education Learning Festival we possibly can for our participants.

Spent the afternoon on Friday ( after moving house!) at Hillside Special School in Portslade, The students and i were devising a stall for the Christmas Fete - complete with costumes, homemade products and of course, a till! I go back next week to develop their thinking and practice keeping shop!!

On Thursday I spent the afternoon working with a group of alternative education providers from Sussex Downs College. We explored helping the youth to teach one another through peer to peer learning, explored coaching and active listening and much more. Top tips on interactive learning:

1. Students teaching Students - my friend Dan Marmar introduced me to this - train the students in how to put together a lesson plan based on their passions and interest and then have them deliver that to their peers. In the States, this method has resulted in whole school improvements in performance and participation.

2. Use art, writing, song, collage and personal story to bring lessons to life.

3. Listen 70% of the time talk 30% of the time and encourage the young people to tell you what they most want to learn.

another busy week!

Goodness gracious - i have been slack in writing to you all! Apologies!

Here are the highlights:

The Good Deals conference:http://www.socialenterpriselive.com/section/news/money/20101116/good-deals-10-club-together-get-investment-say-experts

A conference to discuss investment in social enterprise. I said there was a "language barrier" between the investors and the entrepreneurs. We need to find ways to meet and understand, one another's value system and ways of communicating. Look, social enterprises ARE less likely to be highly profitable than hedge funds. Both are done for different reasons, in different ways. We are primarily motivated by instigating a social change and social impact, the hedge funders and investors are interested in tactical bets on the market to facilitate the highest return possible. Different sphere, different aims, different words.

Wednesday I ran a Find Your Purpose workshop at Sussex University as part of their Global Entrepreneurship Week. As a female social entrepreneur I feel passionately that it is possible to combine people, purpose, planet and profit. The workshop generated a lot of interesting career possibilities for the participants - many that they hadn't of. Perhaps they will invite me back to run a workshop on how to get your idea from concept to business plan? If you are at Sussex, I am running two workshops this Wednesday via CDEC: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/careers/newsandevents/events, these are free to Sussex students! One is on Presentation Skills and the other Innovation Tools.If you'd like me to run a workshop at your careers service, do let me know.

Stay in touch - need to know you are out there!

Coaching for Counsellors

Today I delivered my first course on coaching skills for counsellors. It was a really interesting opportunity to compare notes. There is a lot of synergy between coaching and some counselling approaches, particularly integrative and CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy).

Being excellent listeners, the group were already ahead of the game. We explored the GROW model, where you look at goals, the current reality of the situation, options and opportunities and your will to make the change you want happen. We also practiced using the Worst Case Scenario, a tool to explore how our fears can stop us from taking action, positive or negative.

Adding coaching to counselling can seem quite contraversial - coaching is a very active and empowering tool, whilst counselling offers more opportunity for reflection. Coaching is pro-active and structured, whereas counselling is more experiential and travels in the direction of the mind and thoughts of the client, regardless of any "focus" for the conversation.

It seemed that the counsellors who use their skills in a broader framework, such as supporting foster carers or working with young people's mental health, would find it easier to integrate the tools than those who have a one to one practice based on a particular approach.

Everyone has gone away for a month now to practice their new found skills in their respective environments - I will update once we have had our second session in December.

For more information about coaching skills for teachers, managers and counsellors, please get in touch or visit our new website, due to be launched in the next few weeks!

What is a Soulful Education?

http://www.sec-ed.co.uk/cgi-bin/go.pl/article/article.html?uid=42963;type_uid=2

So i have been spending the last few weeks exploring this question, as it is at the heart of the event we are running next June.

To me, soulful means - deep, relevant, useful, personal, passionate and values driven. As many as one in five young people will suffer from mental ill health during their teens, so something is definitely missing from the support they are offered in society.

Yes, young people are more sophisticated and technically savvy, yes they are exposed to more information, media, pornography, all sorts, but they are still people and people search for meaning, for connection and for a sense of self.

How far would you say the current education system takes care of this?

One could also argue that soul has no place in education. That this should come from outside hobbies, from the family, from religion. But young people spend 30 hours a week in school - do they deserve for this to be a staid, disciplined, unquestioning environment? Are we preparing them for a world of work that feels just as dry?

The article above is about Passeageworks, an organisation devoted to developing programmes that meet the spiritual needs of teenagers. I came across it via the hugely inspiring work of their founder, Rachel Kessler. By allowing young people to develop their own curriculum based on their "Mystery Questions" - the questions of their hearts, she found that they had a very deep desire for transcendence, connectivity and an understanding of relationships, philosophy and life itself.

The organising of our "Soul in Education" conference is putting us in touch with such a lot of interesting and inspired educators.
From Kiran Sethi and the Design for Change programme, that empowers youth to solve the problems of their communities ( including teaching their parents how to read and write), to the work of Graeme Whiting at the Acorn School - where there are no Alevels or GCSES yet no student has ever been refused a University place.

If you know of any soulful educators, please do get in touch and share their work with us.
If you'd like to join our steering group for the conference, please do get in touch and
If you know of a venue or venue partner, in the education arena, please do let us know!

With best wishes from an inspired office. Erica x

Supplying a Dwindling Sector

Hey,

Who else out there is a public sector supplier feeling the pinch? Over the last few weeks I have spoken to colleagues in web design, marketing, training, consultancy and recruitment, all of whom are really suffering from an absence of paying customers. If the same is true for you, here are a few tips to try and turn it around:

1. Consider your paradigm - who else would find your service useful? What would happen if you presented it to a different market?

2. Ask your existing clients to nominate others who might like your work and make a personal introduction for you.

3. Pull back from the business and look at the whole picture - are there new services that would be more in demand as the climate changes?

4. Who is doing well? What can you offer them? Remember, not everyone experiences a downturn as negative.

5. Stay calm, positive and determined - the worst that could happen is that you might need to find yourself a new role and a new direction. Within every crisis is an opportunity.

Improving Employablity - Uni's take note!

Developing life and employability skills

Erica Sosna

Erica Sosna is a life skills educator with a background in public policy. She coaches care and educational professionals, young people and organisations. Her approach utilises innovative ways of improving focus, direction and productivity through enhanced self-awareness and emotional literacy.


Background

This article focuses on issues raised during my research into improving the employability of students on Foundation degrees at the University of Brighton. Top of the list of ‘asks’ from students was the desire to build confidence, decide on direction and develop the skills necessary for successful self-employment and entrepreneurship.

With more adults than ever having access to higher education and with the cost of obtaining a degree increasing every year, this article explores how far we are meeting the expectation that a higher education means greater employability. We will explore what can be done to give students more skills, improve their sense of purpose and direction, and turn out more employable, well-rounded graduates.

It is only in recent years, since the development of the widening participation agenda, that university has been an option for the many rather than the few. The cynics amongst us may argue that this drive for participation came not so much from an idealistic zeal for accessibility as a desire to rake in the funds generated from another recent development in education, namely tuition fees and loans.

How can educators enhance employability?

Nevertheless, the government’s drive to have 50% of adults participating in higher education by 2010 appears to be on its way to fruition. Yet, as more and more people come to hold a degree, how are employers to discern which potential employees will serve them best? Furthermore, in an increasingly competitive market, what can we, as educators, do to fulfil our duty in enhancing the employability, and therefore the future, of our graduates?

Increasingly, careers departments and student experience Deans are acknowledging the need for careers guidance and employability skills to be included in the curriculum of existing degrees. The problem here is that the embedding of these skills requires academics to stretch a different set of muscles.

First, to be able to coach their students into identifying their specialist area or vocation, then to use interactive and dynamic methods of teaching to increase their ability to perform the ‘soft skills’ activities such as project management, networking and innovation that employers are increasingly seeking. The nature of academia does not necessarily lend itself to these education styles.

These evolutions in the curriculum, useful as they may be, put increasing pressure on academics to move into interpersonal and vocational areas where they may feel both reluctant and unsure. Far better, would be the employment of cross-curricular coaches and ‘add ons’, run by specialist vocational skills professionals.

Certainly, the university experience, as it stands, does generate increased abilities and there is strong evidence to suggest that these skills are transferable. The university experience enables students to master the arts of research, of meeting deadlines, independently managing their time, presenting ideas, and persuading using cogent argument and an evidence base. But in the arena of social skills, such as networking, is it really fair to expect an engineering academic to be able to instruct their students on how to charm, influence and persuade at board level?

The meeting of this expectation is where a crucial role is played by the careers service and other supporting advice and guidance. The careers team can offer extra-curricular opportunities to develop skills beyond those traditionally acquired in academia. Moreover, the hosting of university-wide workshops enables students to move out of Humanities or Science silos and be exposed to others with different interests, approaches and views on the world – a useful skill for coping with the wider world beyond the university bubble.

Such programmes also benefit the organisation through economies of scale – saving time and money through developing a ‘whole school’ approach rather than developing these abilities through a tailor-made, subject-specific addition to the curriculum.

Effective programmes

So what kinds of programmes could really add value to the employment chances of our many new graduates? Certainly the development of work-based learning opportunities, pioneered within the Foundation degree model, offers a valuable opportunity to experience theory translated into real-life practice, to learn from practitioners and businesses and to begin to form the networks that can play such a crucial role in securing the job of your dreams in the future. At worst, a work placement will help you to realise what you don’t want to do – at best, it can be a passport of entry into a specialised and niche field.

Secondly, the evolution of personal development and self-awareness programmes can play a valuable role in increasing the confidence and motivation of students. Very few of us, prior to adulthood, were given a chance to really explore in depth our key talents, passions and skills, bar the usual cliché of “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

Now, universities, careers services and employers can make use of an extensive range of personality typology tools including Myers Briggs, PRISM and Wealth Dynamics. These psychometric tests enable students to develop a better understanding of their own strengths and weaknesses and give some clue as to where they may best be applied. This opportunity to understand your ‘type’ not only provides tremendous relief and esteem - for example to an artistic child, beleaguered and undermined by rational parents – but it also enhances people’s ability to understand and value difference and diversity, a crucial skill for successfully negotiating the relationships forged in any workplace environment.

Thirdly, there are the practical skills for employment, such as developing a great CV, acquiring relevant work experience, presentation and dress – these may seem outside academia’s remit, but they are truly crucial for employment in a world where appearances count. Bringing in outsiders – recruitment consultants, style advisors, last year’s graduates, vocational coaches – can all help build confidence, improve presentations and help new graduates showcase their talent in a compelling way.

Lastly, there is the need to address the skills gap for entrepreneurs and the self-employed. As the concept of ‘jobs for life’ moves further and further away from our focus, many of our graduates, particularly in the creative industries, media and design, will expect to become freelancers, sole traders or entrepreneurs. They will be working on short-term contracts, developing their marketing and brand in order to ensure a pay cheque at the end of the month, and developing the products and services of the future.

Currently, even our business studies education is rarely vocational enough to meet the concerns of the young entrepreneur. Can we train people to become risk takers? To act strongly on their intuition and to trust it? To hold strong to a visionary idea for the future even in the face of adversity and disagreement? To persuade their bank manager to part with a start-up loan?

Student expectations

Increasingly, the young adults and graduates I work with are looking to hone these skills. And they expect their place of study to support them by signposting to funders, networks, competitions and opportunities that may help them to get started in their area of choice.

Many of the under-19s I work with offer the opinion that formal education cannot offer them the experience and exposure they feel they need to succeed. They will cite Branson and Sugar as inspiration, men who have no formal qualifications, and Anita Roddick, a visionary social entrepreneur, who set up The Body Shop without business plans, a degree in finance or significant venture capital backing.

As the world of work becomes more complex, diverse and fast-moving, so too academia is required to shift to provide adequate preparation for future entrants into this world. Arguably, the more clear our students are on their direction and vocation, the more motivated they will be to take the required steps and the clearer the path on which they need to tread will be.
If we are to support them in acquiring this clarity, moving forward and succeeding, we need to look seriously at what we consider to be the life skills, self-awareness and employability talents they will need to possess to succeed.

As educators, we are being called to explore, in a collaborative fashion, how we can meet these needs. This is crucial, not just for our graduates’ success but also for the success of our institutions that, in a competitive market, need to prove their value and performance to the student marketplace, funders and employers.

my tips on becoming a great presenter

so i went to Toastmasters yesterday evening for a gander on how they improve presentation skills. Enjoyed listening to all the talks, except the last one, which was delivered in a pitch that only dogs and bats could bear.

So you can go to Toastmasters for months. Or you can watch and action this 5 minute vid.

Your choice! Let me know how you get on!

for those of you who want to practice with me in the flesh, I'm holding an Art of Presentation session from 5-7 at The Hub in London on 19th august from 7-9. Call to book - 01273 724050.

Yay!

Woohoo (punches sky!) We got a new grant, we got a new grant! So excited! Awards for All have given us a grant that kick starts our Putting Soul Into Education conference!

It's been a dream of mine for four years to have an event that brings together the most cutting edge, effective, engaging and meaningful work in the education field and show cases and shares it for the sector to learn from and celebrate. With Parliament recently passing ( like yesterday), legislation to enable the setting up of free schools, with Home Education increasing by 300% over the last year here in Sussex alone and with the debates ranging about Academies and the value and cost of a degree, this couldn't have come at a better time!

My vision is to create a conference that runs in real time as well as being virtual - so people all over the world can participate from their desks - both as speakers/workshop leaders and as participants. Luckily for me, Brighton is rich with the kind of geek that can make this happen!

How often do we connect education with soulfulness? And when we do, how much of that is tempered with fear and anxiety about religion/newage/heebeyjeebey not-the-place-for-it worries? But there are pioneers, who are bringing:

A deepening relationship with nature
A sense of freedom, fun and creativity
An exploration of meaning and purpose
A youth led curriculum

into their schools and environments.

Imagine what a soulful school would look and feel like? Maybe not for everyone, but very exciting to me!

Does anyone have any examples of practitioners, educational organisations, teachers, who ought to be on the rostra? Answers on a postcard!

Thanks Awards for All! x

Power Hour Launch

So on Monday we had our launch event for our Power Hours - one hour, high energy trainings that give creatives professional skills. We've been a bit under the radar with regard to creative and media companies in Brighton and we felt it was time to introduce ourselves and what we do.

The event was held at I-Crossing's gorgeous meeting room on Black Lion St, which has a roof terrace and lots of glass boards to replace flip charts ( the modern take on the paperless office it seems). We had 30 people signed up and eventually 15 in the door, which, for a free event on a very sunny day, in a seaside town, is good going.

We started off with tools to make meetings work. Only 2 people confessed to actually falling asleep in a meeting. One woman described how the man next to her actually thumped his head on the desk as his eyelids fell! There was general agreement that competing priorities, agendas and politics, as well as having a few too many people round the table, could all cause complications.

We split into groups and used the 6 hats technique to plan the agenda for our respective meetings. In a real Power Hour, you would then run that meeting, with everyone practicing keeping the right hat on - for those unfamiliar with the hats:

Blue - control hat - why are we here?
White - information - what do we need to know about this?
Red - feelings - what do we feel about this?
Yellow- positive -what is positive about this?
Black - critical - what risks do we need to consider?
Green - ideas - what solutions could we come up with.

Meetings start and end with Blue. You don;t need to use all the hats. The secret is that everyone puts on the same "Thinking Hat" at the same time, so critical thinkers learn to be creative and not impede the creative process and everyone takes the same approach to the conversation, making decision making a lot more structured and timely. Everyone benefits from the opportunity to have their say at every stage.

Then we whizzed into the Art of Persuasion - tools for improving pitching and presentation skills. There was a great moment, where I worked with Angela, from Wired Sussex, who can seem a little nervy in her presenting - same for lots of us. We had a go at using long pauses to add gravitas and help you stay calm. The transformation in under 5 minutes as she presented her ideas with clarity and calm to a rapt audience and a round of applause!

The result - two strong leads to pursue offering this work in exciting, creative organsations and a decision to pilot open courses for freelancers to drop in and build their skills. Exciting!

I'd really recommend a launch/intro event for any new business or business relaunch - it's a great way for people to touch and feel what you do, especially important if you work with intangibles.

Off to the Cotswolds to celebrate this weekend, but quite a few proposals to write before then - glad to be busy again! Phew!

Erica x

How to get funding, The Hunger Project and clever conversations

This week ….
Went to see Sally at Funding Central. Funding Central is such a great website - it combines a funding search with listings of tenders, contracts and loans available to the Third Sector and aims to educate the sector in partnership working, variations in financing and strategic planning as well as making the life of anyone involved in funding that little bit easier. They’ve got lots of interactive tools like this one: http://www.fundingcentral.org.uk/page.aspx?sp=6347
That help you think through your strategy.

Looks like we’ll be making a film for them to make using the site a little less daunting for the many staff in the voluntary and community sector who are intimidated by Internet and IT. That certainly isn’t everyone, many people are great with technology, but the sector does have a large number of smaller groups who may not even have a website. It’s worth spending 15 minutes on your profile though, once it’s done it’s done and then you get weekly updates on grants that meet your criteria – bit like internet dating!

Met with Helen Guiness, chair of The Hunger Project on Friday. The Hunger Project has been delivering empowerment training through local volunteers across several continents for over 30 years, ending persistant hunger by empowering women and communities to better address their needs and solve problems. Very inspiring work. Helen is now taking their Leadership training, Vision for Action, out into the world. The one day training helps transform a vision into an action plan that all staff can commit to. We’ll be having a training session to get to grips with the process here at TLP, but if you’d like one of your own, please contact her on helen@vision4action.co.uk. I’ll report back once we’ve had one!

Inpsiring chitter chatter on the web front with the guys from The House , discussing how we forgive Apple their mistakes but not Microsoft – interesting to reflect on how the personality of an organisation makes you more or less forgiving. Brands are almost like character traits now aren’t they? We see Microsoft as “a bit up itself”, whilst Apple is “ a bit chaotic but so exciting and sexy.”

Note to self, if you can’t be clever, or have the right connections, try being exciting and sexy.

Friday night drinks in Highgate woods café with my dear friends Josef www.uniteddiversity.com and Gloria ( www.kidsfirsttrust.org.uk) Aside from being delighted that the week was over, I got a speed download education in the Industrial Provident Society and Development Trust. I finally understand what these things are and how useful they are. Basically, members buy shares in a local service like a farm or a school or a local shop or pub, but there are restrictions – like it doesn’t matter how many share you have, you still only have one vote. Very interesting - basically a very old school form of crowd funding. Wonder what we can do with this…

Big lecture from Grandma because I don’t document my workshops and she says I need to. My Russian Grandma is a PhD physicist so she is a big believer in an evidence base. She says I could have a publishable report by now if I’d documented the 250 workshops and consultancy projects I’ve done over the last 4 years. She’s right. I am abashed! I’ll start with tomorrow.

Power Hour Launch Event

Top tips for interview sucess!

If you are having trouble landing that job or you have a really important interview coming up then take a look at then take a look at this video.



Good Luck xx

Week in the Life of....

Another exciting Life Project week, starting off with a flight in a Tiger Moth – a birthday present from a good friend. Got to wear the jacket, but sadly no Biggles glasses. I hadn’t realised that the cockpit is open to the air – you could drown whilst in the sky! But my mate Allan says that’s why there is a hole in the bottom of the plane. Gearstick sits between your legs and you look out to the horizon to gauge your course. The slightest breeze has you tipping.My co-pilot said I was a natural! Amazing to think of men crossing the Channel in such a vulnerable manner.

On Tuesday, Ian and I went to visit with David and Cherry from the fabulous www.icould.com. They have this great resource, with hundreds of people talking about their work – how they got into it, what their day looks like. You can search by all sorts of useful terms, from where they are located in the UK to the sector they are in or the age they left school. I love using this resource with my career coaching workshops and recommend it to schools and Unis across the land. We met to explore how we might collaborate – using their films and our coaching tools to support teachers in delivering careers education and students in working out what they want to do.

Then we met with Michael and Qiaoling from Buzz Bank, Michael Norton’s latest project, Buzz Bank enables the crowd funding of projects, that is a lot of people, giving a small amount of money, as a loan or in exchange for special gifts and services. We went to discuss the launch of our pilot personal development seminar for young people: 7 Project Tools to Create A Better World, which we hope to hold next Summer for 100 16-18 year olds.

Busy bidding for another year’s funding for BSCENE our free network for Brighton’s Social and Creative entrepreneurs. We’ve devised a format that takes the scaryness out of networking and enables strangers to become friends, whilst learning business skills. We want to keep it running and use the second year to develop a replicable and sustainable model that can be used around the country to keep social activists and creatives inspired and effective.

Went to look at a house in the country. I am dreaming of a rural idyll, with mini pigs and chickens. So far most of what we have seen is more like road noise and car parks. Hmmm.

Had a lovely conversation with Julie from the VT company. VT are responsible for the Connexions Service, giving life shaping advice to young adults across the country. An important role and one we want to support.

Spent the weekend on Beth’s allotment and admiring Caroline’s new hens.

Guest Blog Spot - Find Your Vocation Train the Trainer - Ro's take

I was the last to arrive at the training session, when I did I was greeted by six happy, relaxed but professional, but not stuffy, tea sipping faces. Nice. A quick round of intros, for my benefit, revealed a university career guidance tutor, three professional coaches and an ex-lecturer, (soon to be trainee teacher). Needless to say I felt welcome and at ease despite my I-Phone related tardiness.

The ease-putting continued as Erica initiated a story telling warm up game whereby we each were charged with producing coherent nuggets of narrative, coherent with the previous persons nugget that is. Our story was immediately about a dragon that played chess. My turn came second and I spoke of the dragon’s trip to the world chess championship in Beijing, and his intimidation of all the more learned and older dragons when he arrived.

It was only after about five minutes that the poignancy of my addition occurred to me that what I had said referred directly to my own current and wider professional situation, blinkered or what?! There I was sitting in a room with a group of professional and learned elders talking about a scared little dragon playing chess. I suddenly felt a bit exposed and violated by my own brain and mouth. But I realised in a quick fire game trying to temper your response would end up sounding contrived. This was not just a game (or are all games like this?) so from then on I became hyper-attentive and interested in the rest of the exercise.

I observed what people were bringing up. New media became a hot topic perhaps mirroring both the current obsession with and most people’s horror and revulsion towards it. So after the dragon and tweeted, played chess and written a blog he came up against some more challenges such as loneliness and writers block and these were solved through the creation of a support network for dragons and other creative reptiles.

And then he fell in love – and although I may not buy the happy ending per-say, what I do believe is the power of coming together to support each other as a group, or a network or even a couple.

This feeling of being united, which was evidently also valued by the other players and made explicit through the story of the dragon, who was named Bertie by the way, stuck with us throughout the session.

The day continued and the attendees explained and the group examined how the tools they had been given by Erica in the previous two sessions had facilitated their group work over the past month. Some had not previously done group work, but had felt that the tools gave them the structure and confidence to do so. What really shone through was the use and even necessity of the feedback session.

Despite my not being a coach it became apparent that when you take responsibility for a group you need someone to fall back on yourself, for reassurance and guidance. All the members of the group had issues and it was obvious that talking them through with Erica and having the support network of the group was exactly what a coach of any level needs access to.

Thank you to this blog for the picture

Glitzy do's and those that have done well

Thursday evening – attended the Teach First -Awards dinner. Quite exciting to see what can be achieved with the right support and the right strategy. Teach 1st was set up by Brett Wigdortz, a former McKinsey consultant, to bring excellent teachers into challenging secondary schools. The Award ceremony had lots of great examples of very inspired and enthusiastic teachers, giving it their all. Great canapés, very glitzy do. Had to get myself an emergency frock from my stepma so I didn’t look terribly scruffy as it was a last minute invite.

Phew – finally got to Friday. Final training day for the first cohort of Find Your Vocation Train the Trainer-. That’s our course for equipping careers advisers and coaches with a toolkit to help people find their ideal work. This was the third day of a three day training. The first two days take participants through the course materials. Then they get to practice facilitating these tools in a group setting. This third day comes after a month’s break, in which they have to deliver some of the tools in a real world setting and then return to feedback and share their experience. It was such a buzz to know that 6 people are out in the world, using my toolkits to support young people and adults to become more confident and more employable. Very chuffed! Last minute meeting on Friday afternoon with Whizz Kidz – a mobility charity for young people, to explore designing a life skills programme for them. All in a week as a social entrepreneur.

Graduation Entreprenurs and Activists course!

Wednesday – the last day of the four day long Entrepreneurs and Activists course I have been teaching, for the third year, on behalf of the Friends Centre. The Friends is a local adult education provider from the third sector, offering a wide range of low cost and free courses and has its origins in the Quaker faith practice. This is the first course that I have had people not complete and I felt a bit odd about that. Those whose achievements we celebrated included: a community events and festivals organiser, a choirmaster and a Swedish handicrafts importer. I love this course. We take up to 18 people from concept to business plan over 4 days. Of 85 completers, we’ve had 20 odd new businesses over the last three years. And the course is free to attend. This year we piloted charging for it. It didn’t work. Those who most need it often can’t afford it. So we ended up giving everyone a free place.



Weds Eve – toddle off to London to hang out with Venture Lectures, Unltd, School for Social entrepreneurs and Cambridge and Oxfords Entrepreneurs Society. The topic for discussion – does a social enterprise have to choose between ownership and impact? Do you go down the investment route, to achieve speedy growth or do you grow organically, retaining ownership, but perhaps developing at a slower pace But for me, this was not the primary question. The primary question is deciding on and clarifying which on the many options you can choose in terms of revenue is the right one. See, because of the nature of the work social enterprises do e.g. associated with health, education, the environment, social disadvantage, they tend to be either:
a. funded by grants or
b. earning money by delivering services to the public sector or
c. operating as a normal business and using the profits to provide a social benefit.
d. A combination of a, b and c.



See my article on The Trouble With Social Enterprise for more if you want to geek out on this.


Anyway, the delightful and capable Lily from MyBnk was there. MyBnk offer financial education to young people and enable them to set up their own FSA approved banks. Amazing. We didn’t get to catch up then, but soon!

Two new Life Projecters

On Tuesday, Ian and Roisin started working with The Life Project. Their task…to get our voice heard, our name out there and our message loud and clear. It has come to my attention, that while I am very good at identifying the core of the problem and developing a training or product that cures it and I also great at presenting and teaching in a simple and accessable way, I am not quite so hot on the selling of that training or product. Thankfully, there are other people around with other skills. I can do the vision and the strategy can be informed and implemented by others with stronger talents in that area. This is so important to learn. How to be able to get help from those who excel in the skills you lack. Of course, I’ve had to become proficient in the worlds of say marketing, or accounting, in order to survive. But to thrive, the key has to be a crowd of talent, to push the new idea up the hill and set it rolling. I’m lucky. They are a talented pair.

Meetings and leads - The Life Project

People may think it is all glamour and glitz (but most wont) here's the truth!

Plunged into despair on Monday from the ongoing budget situation. It is the first time that economic forces have really hit my business, sheltered as we were by offering training, research and coaching to the public and education sectors. And it couldn’t be at a worse time, as we had invested lots of time in developing and launching a training course for youth workers, careers advisers and JobCentre staff. Who wants training when you are not sure you even have that job for much longer??

Perked up on Monday evening, when I recognised that within every crisis there is an opportunity. I’d always wanted to muster the courage to offer our brilliant workshops to aid productivity and increase wellbeing in the private sector and now, I was presented with a need for which taking this step could provide a solution! And then my lovely researcher Helen sent me a funding form for a Government stream that fits exactly with delivering Find Your Vocation training for free to our lovely but cash strapped clients in the public sector. So I was stoked.