Ep2 has successfully delivered several coaching courses specifically aimed at both voluntary sector and local authority community development workers. Many Community Development Workers recognise that for communities to change, that change has to come from within. Much has been invested in the regeneration of disadvantaged communities and yet, in many cases, it has failed to yield the results that were expected. Somehow, in spite of the best efforts of practitioners in the field, local people do not take hold of the investment and make it work for them and their community. Regeneration initiatives are often met with passivity and create dependency that cannot be supported over the long term. Ep2 coaching training deals directly with the issue of passivity and dependency by developing a relationship between the regeneration practitioner and individuals and groups in which their passion provides the energy and motivation to seek and make changes. This means that local people find solutions that work for them and take responsibility for their implementation.
When a coaching approach is blended into the practice of skilled and experienced practitioners, it allows them to evoke a different response - of enterprise and ownership, rather than passivity and dependency - in local people who can use the investment to make a substantial difference in their community, e.g. improving the quality of life, reducing crime, reducing unemployment.
Areas covered in the training include
- Looking at how some approaches to regeneration can contribute to and perpetuate passivity and dependency in disadvantaged communities
- How the use of a coaching approach can evoke an enterprising, can-do response
- How the use of powerful questions can create ownership of solutions
- Listening in ways that tap into the creativity and enterprise of local people
- How to structure a conversation that turns ideas into action
- How to use a coaching approach to manage their own energy and workload so that they can support people without burning out themselves
- The application of a coaching approach as a practical everyday tool in your work
Comments from course participants
‘Glad I came, very useful information and techniques’…..’It will help community groups as a result of my improved skillset, accepting support, finding their own solutions, improving sustainability’…..’I shall use relevant processes and ideas in my work and share experiences with colleague’s……’Working with groups, it has helped me to help them question themselves’……’Will use open questions and different strategies’……’will be more experimental and refelective of my work’…..’I have used the ‘’why’’ to ‘’what’’ technique successfully’
Comments from the trainer
Community Development Workers often work with a number of groups and feel under time pressure to achieve results quickly, pressure which is intensified when they meet with resistance in those groups. Somewhere in the midst of all this, they really want to have a significant impact in the communities they serve. The questions for them in the workshop are often: what creates the resistance and what strategies can I use to reduce it?
To find out how Ep2 coaching training can have a really positive impact on your work click here
If you would like to view forthcoming Ep2 coaching events click here
If you would like to discuss the provision of a bespoke coaching training for a particular group or organisation please click here