Laura Saunders

Throwback for me today to when I was doing a previous postgrad… when my then-fiancé would bring me food in the midst of dissertation writing, wedding planning and a full time leadership job. I remember he’d run in, plonk in top of my papers on the desk and run out backwards (possibly fearing he’d get sucked in if he didn’t exit sharpish). Rather lovely…

11 years on and I’m having the time of my life doing another. This time amongst some rather wonderful client contracts and packing to leave the country with 2 small children for the first time in umpteen years.

Note, amongst the strewn papers, dual screens and feminist-you-can-do-it affirmations plastered on the walls:

- the husband-served dinner (this time fully home grown he’ll have me know - and bloody marvellous it all is too, thank you, husband!),
- the feroglobin for tiredness (any explanation needed?!) and
- the rather fluffy earmuffs confiscated from our 5yo daughter at bedtime (‘my ears get cold, mummy.’ ‘In August?!’)

Who’d have it any other way?! I consider myself extremely lucky for all that I have and am able to do, and mostly for all that I am yet to learn

Not sure where to start with the highlights of my week . Coaching, learning, time with colleagues, governor meetings, and the Best Practice Network NPQ Workforce Conference - what a fantastic group of people working with (pic of the tremendous Toby Greany presenting). Topped only by helping with a D&T sewing lesson in my eldest’s Year 3 class ❤️

Revisiting the simple things… The value we can find in revisiting the most simple of things we already practice is untold. My current formal learning is asking me to look to levels of listening and preparing myself and my environment to be truly present. Resources by Jeff Matthews, James Butcher and Jackie Arnold have scaffolded my renewed attention to these so well in the last few days: “If you are *still* in mind and body you will enable your coachees to expand their thinking…be ‘heard’…and you will notice more of what is *not* said during the session - the real insight.” (Jackie Arnold, 2009).

“A coaching relationship is like no other, because of its combination of objective detachment and commitment to the goals of the individual. It’s a distinct form of support; where someone creates a focus on your situations with an attention and commitment that you rarely experience anywhere else. An effective coach will listen to you, with a genuine curiosity to understand who you are, what you think and generally how you experience the world. They will also reflect back to you, with an objective assessment and challenge that creates real clarity.” - Julie Starr

It’s a learning day for me today ahead of starting my next postgrad qual (hurrah!) next week. And it’s taken me back to my all time hero Julie Start. I will never tire of the way she describes our art form, and how can this statement be argued with?! It’s the reason I love coaching so much - listening with genuine curiosity to understand who my clients are using attention and commitment that one rarely experiences anywhere else.

Bloody marvellous.

And spectacularly enjoyable to engage in… even when it’s bringing up the hardest thoughts and feelings and unearthing emotions you didn’t know were lurking…

What a lucky soul I am. Having all these hats I wear.

I get to spend my days working (though I really feel I can’t call it ‘work’) with educators who continue to strive for the best for our young people. It sounds cheesy as hell but it’s true nonetheless.

I’ve worn several of my professional hats in the last couple of days: coach, learning designer, facilitator, governor, leader, colleague, learner, listener, challenger, creative... And every single hat has offered interactions that have been both a pleasure and an insight.

And then I see my two little tinkers at the end of the day and they ask “Mummy, please can we do some coaching cards, and mummy, today we focused on ‘giving’ for our wellbeing day at school and we learnt about stereotypes - what are they all about?! How ridiculous! Mummy…” and so it goes on, wearing the ‘mummy hat’… (no word of a lie, those were their words - shortly before “mummmmyyyyyyy, she took my pencil, mummmmyyyyy she sat on my head… you get the picture 😂).

All my hats (even the ‘don’t-sit-on-her-head-dear’ hat) are an honour and a privilege.

Excellent day with senior leaders at The Girls Day School Trust on behalf of Best Practice Network. Values-led and culture-facing visions for professional development created for driving practice

What. A. Week. Honestly, at times this week I’ve had to pull hard on this. And then I think of the coaching clients I work with - when we adopt a solutions-focused approach everyone inevitably feels better!

Values work with coaching clients is a favourite for me. And I will never forget the invaluable values (see what I did there?!) exploration I started with friend and colleague Marc Jaffrey OBE a number of years ago to support my leadership journey.

As a few clients are currently doing this work with me, sharing Brené Brown and Barrett Guillen’s podcast (via Spotify) couldn’t come at a better time:

https://lnkd.in/dNHJBj7a



And if you’ve been following the recent Spotify ‘censorship’ dialogue recently, Brené has also released an excellent podcast to discuss her position and gain insight into the nuanced legal picture with Ben Wizner about that as a fantastic accompaniment:

https://lnkd.in/djpXWjDU

Brené with Ben Wizner on Free Speech, Misinformation, and the Case for Nuance Listen to this episode from Unlocking Us with Brené Brown on Spotify. I was looking for some certainty around the tough issues of censorship and misinformation - legal definitions, rules, and clear lines - so I called Ben Wizner, ACLU lawyer and the director of its Speech, Privacy, and Technology P...

Facilitating coaching training all day today = me in my happy place!

Absolutely loving the learning design I’m doing about influencing and inspiring for a corporate client. I’m genuinely curious…what inspires and influences you at work?

Delighted to be working with colleagues from across the globe again this morning about teaching English using active learning with Cambridge University Press Education

Borrowed a Carnegie quote to describe my day today - working with colleagues in several continents about active learning in their classrooms, designing transformational leadership learning for a corporate client through a coaching approach, and spending time with my girlies engaging in learning through play. Happy days…