OUR PROGRAMMES:
cOMMUNITY COACHING & SUSTAINABLE SUCCESS
group coaching programmes for organisations looking for sector-leading development:
- Community Coaching Programme (CCP) for doctoral students
- Sustainable Success Programme (SSP) for researchers
Our group coaching programmes support participants to find the headspace, focus and self-belief they need to do more with their research, the resilience to recover from setbacks and the connections they need for career progression. We have supported eight cohorts to date and evaluation data shows a measurable impact on wellbeing, confidence, connection, sense of belonging, research identity and aspiration. Both programmes have proven to support participants to achieve their goals with greater ease. Outcomes for individuals have included finishing papers, securing further funding, starting collaborations, being promoted and finding sustainable work-life balance.
Who is THIS FOR?
We work with organisations who want to provide exceptional support to researchers and doctoral students. If you are looking to retain diverse talent, create high levels of belonging and change how research happens, we’d love to partner with you.
We can support your cohort of researchers at a similar career-stage, or who are facing a common challenge. We have expertise working with:
Researchers from under-represented groups
Neurodiverse researchers
Researchers who are also carers.
how does it work?
Our group coaching programmes combine the power of coaching with the energy of collective experience. Our team of coaches commits to your researchers or doctoral students for 6 months, helping them to achieve their goals with greater ease. Each participant sets their own goal and works with the community to overcome barriers to achieve it, one step at a time.
FAQs: HOW IS COMMUNITY COACHING DIFFERENT?
We’ve got a mentoring scheme, how is this different?
Mentoring relationships are excellent for sharing intelligence about how systems, processes and politics work, and for modelling a route to success. However, if a mentee has different ambitions or different circumstances from their mentor, they may not find that the same things work for them. Community coaching draws on aspects of peer mentorship as participants support one another and share what they find works, crowd-sourcing solutions to benefit from the wisdom and experience of the collective.
We’ve got lots of researcher development workshops, how is this different?
Workshops and training programmes are ideal when individuals need new skills and know-how. In community coaching the emphasis is on more thinking space, rather than more skills. Whilst the coaches do share evidence-based strategies and tools, our coaching methodology assumes that people are fundamentally resourceful and creative and that if we provide the right structure, inspiration and support, people will find the right solutions to their challenges, and these are more likely to be effective over the long-term.
We’ve got a leadership development programme, how is this different?
Community coaching is focused on personal and career development rather than leadership development. Many participants find that the increased self-awareness, focus and clarity that comes from the programme helps them to lead more effectively, but others are more interested in applying this to different aspects of their career, such as becoming a better academic, writer or collaborator.
How is this different from a Crucible researcher development programme?
Crucible is an outstanding programme for developing future research leaders. It can provide valuable external perspectives and rich residential events. Community coaching is a more reflective space that connects researchers having similar experiences and supports many different research ambitions that may not be related to leadership. The online format is inclusive and easy to access for participants who have a range of needs.
How is this different from our in-house coaching service?
As external coaches we provide a neutral space and the perspective of working with other universities across the UK and Europe. For the duration of the 6-mongth programme, participants have unlimited online access to our coaches who are all professionally accredited and experienced working with researchers at every career stage. This is a level of support that most internal coaching services are unable to provide. In addition, participants have access to a toolkit of self-coaching resources created by the coaching team.