Jenny Mackness HR Manager px Limited

Hmm. Would I like to and did I have time, to spend four days in the Lake District learning, being inspired and having fun with Florence? Why would I not?!

And so my fabulous adventure which was the NLP Coaching Diploma began. Set in the magical environment which is Leeming House with its breath taking views, gorgeous open spaces, its own micro climate so you may bask in (October) sunshine and complete exercises outside, eat alfresco lunch on a terrace, whilst discussing the important events in “Bake Off,” where you can consume enough food on a daily basis to feed a small continent and also make the other hotel guests madly curious to know “just what are those people doing and why are we not having as much fun,” whilst the hotel staff just smile and say “ah, they would be on a course with Florence,” a group of seven of us, spent four days completing our diploma.

And what an amazing four days they were. We consciously and unconsciously continually learnt and created safe thinking, considering and coaching environments; discussed how we can only communicate through everything we do and equally what we don’t say or do; we asked considered and provocative questions to gain insight, understanding and to challenge; we considered goals – what we think we want and what we actually want and why the two may not be the same thing – for ourselves as coaches and our coaches.

We realised the impact of our unconscious mind on our map of the world and those we coach, so spent time ‘talking with it’ and trusting it on this journey. We considered how our hope(s) for others are exactly that – ours, and maybe that isn’t the same outcome for our coachee; we practised our coaching with and without knowing what our coachee’s goal was (content free) – with equally effective outcomes !

We considered and demonstrated what really paying attention and having attention paid to us felt like – and proving to myself at the very least, I can say nothing for 5 minutes (I have been timed!) and more importantly that mono as opposed to multi-tasking is a much more effective and respectful way to communicate. (When was the last time you gave someone your full attention, or, had someone pay full attention to you?)

We completed exercises to get us expanding our thinking and using more of our brains, increasing our flexibility, responsiveness and resourcefulness as coaches; we completed coaching sessions both as coach and coachee; told each other stories that resonated with personal meaning and continually created amazingly easy rapport; we laughed (a lot) questioned, learnt, shared, supported and thought about the type of coach we wanted to be, could be and were. In short, we created the best coaching environment we could for ourselves and each other.

And who would have guessed (!), but when we came back after a short break for day three, we shared our stories of how when we had used our learning, we had found that this stuff really does work in our real world – for us and for the people we work with, evidenced by the better results we were getting. It was generous and inspiring and only spurred me on further for an even more confident and productive two days.

So, finally after completing a questionnaire to prove to ANLP that we could write down what we had learnt, (and so I could show work I had actually been externally recognised for spending time in the Lake District,) at the end of the four days we were presented with our certificates, ate yet more scones and hugged each other goodbye, armed with the confidence and knowledge that we had all the resources we needed and were going to be the best coaches to ourselves and to others that we could be.
(Every time I’ve trained with Florence, I always think “how did we get to this bit so quickly,” and “wow, I feel quite sad it’s finishing,”)

I would recommend this course to everyone who wants to create and have better communications, relationships and outcomes at work, home or with themselves. Florence is the most generous and inspiring trainer I know, creating amazing and productive learning environments with an emphasis on the practical and the fun, to achieve your personal goals. Book your place on the next course now!

“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.” -Robert Louis Stevenson