Team Boo’s trip to Amsterdam
Sharing our story of the impact of coaching in education
Team Boo were thrilled to present at the European Mentoring and Coaching Council in Amsterdam. Becci and Karen were accompanied by Louise Gohr and Helen Morris, two Head Teachers from Cheshire East. We have been collaborating with Louise and Helen to develop a coaching programme for senior leaders in education.
The trip was a perfect opportunity to combine the sharing of a story we are really proud of with a visit a beautiful European city! It was great to come together with colleagues from across Europe who share our passion for coaching and mentoring.
Highlights from the conference included the opening speech from the EMCC President Dr. Riza Kadilar who spoke about the significant role coaching can play in the challenging global climate. This really struck a chord with us as we gathering lots of evidence around the impact coaching can have beyond the boundaries of organisations. We are developing a model around coaching for Social Impact and agree with Riza that this has never been more important.
We also enjoyed a key note speech from Joyce Farrel and Paula King from Irish Energy Company ESB. Their presentation used great story telling techniques, highlighted the importance of reciprocal trust within organisations and demonstrated how coaching can support the process of major organisational change.
We presented on the second day of the conference, taking a relaxed and informal approach. Our Headteachers used their fantastic story telling skills to showcase the transformational effect that coaching has had on themselves, their teams, their schools and the wider school community. We were excited to shout about the impacts the coaching programme has had in just one year, including:
- A culture shift from tell to ask
- An increase in staff happiness and wellbeing
- Improved staff retention
- Becoming an employer of choice
- Higher performing leaders and project leadership
- Improved relationship with parents and carers
We also shared a tool we use to demonstrate the importance of self compassion and the need to concentrate on renewal time to avoid burnout.
The presentation was really well received and sparked lots of interest. Delegates from Poland, Romania and the Netherlands plan to visit us here in the UK to find out more!
Of course, as you might expect Team Boo also took the opportunity to explore Amsterdam! In our down time we took a boat trip on the canals, strolled though the beautiful streets and parks and enjoyed some fantastic food (and drink!). The conference dinner was held at the beautiful Vondelpark 3, in the heart of the famous Vondelpark. We were treated to delicious food, stimulating conversations and made some great connections with coaches from the UK and across Europe.
