Letting my EGO out..
Because some time we need to celebrate ourselves
Not fully sure why I’m writing this or what it will achieve, beyond getting it out of my head thus I will stop wondering if I should have done it, as it will be DONE…
You know when you get such awesome feedback from a session you have done that you just want to tell the world because it feels good and it feels good to celebrate. It feels good to know your efforts of getting to this point have contributed to this memorable moment…thats how I have felt ever since working with stuart.ferrier at the UK Coaching Summit 2017. Yesterday we received that feedback in its raw form, which may well be why I’m writing now.
On the 7 and 8 June at the Tollymore National Outdoor Centre, Northern Ireland, Stuart and I ran a session that began life as 5 words on a post-it note (I wish I had kept it)… those words were:
‘The Michelin Star Coach Developer’
For months I was fixated on this post-it note and would badger Stuart to spill his thoughts. I am so pleased he did and even more pleased that we could co-pilot this session at the UK Coaching Summit 2017.
In relation to the content of the session I’m not going to share much more than the short description below, especially as Stuart is in the process of writing what will be an fantastic read around this subject.

What I will shares is some thoughts around why it may have been so successful…
Why did it work – some items of influence
- The deliverers: My ego will stop short of saying we were the reason, because this blog is not about that.
- The topic: it seems to be of interest to our audience right now so it must have been a draw. Some people may have simply picked the session based on the venue or the title alone – we don’t know.
- The venue: we were lucky to find ourselves in the breathtaking views of the Tollymore Forest Park (Game of Thrones territory). Thanks to Simon Toole of Sport NI for encouraging us to use this space.

The learners: were small in number (group of 6 and group of 12), had all chosen to be there, were active, asked question, listened to others and more importantly offered up personal thought. They advocated their position and were open to the influence of others.
The Methodology: Perhaps this was the magic ingredient to the memorable experience – the ‘Chautauqua’, a mobile form of education. Using nature and the movement within it to leverage learning. Fostering community sense-making together. This item thus deserves more word count so here is our interpretation of this approach:
The Chautauqua – Using cycling as a relevant ‘life as a journey’ metaphor, to encourage enlightened thought through observation, refection and slow thinking. We will generate dialogue through improvisation, conversation and experimental knowledge. Using interpretation, semi-structure enquiry, indeterminacy and celebrating being ‘lost’ in order to find our way with identified leverage points for improvement. And those who remain lost, remain lost and enjoy the journey, knowing finding their way will only come with more miles, more thought, more connections and so…we ride on!
The session was run over 3hrs mixing 20–30min rides with 20–30min explorations (5 in total). Key to they success of this method was the balance between the Journey Time and the Leverage Points.
- Journeying time – access slow thinking, let the unconscious mind do its thing, as a ‘Chautauquian’ discuss, explore, share, think, drift, return, share..
- Leverage points – relaxed stopping points for refection and discussion, catch breath, ensure bonds of sweat are attached to whole group, make new connection (with known people)..
I truly think this did make a big different…
So what did people say..
I could not be prouder…and I am sharing this in its raw un-edited form…

Massive thanks to Stuart Ferrier for conjuring up such a wonderful idea and filling the session with his life time of insight through good questions over input, together we let the learners explore..and they continue to do so.
