My Headline:
I’m an accomplished trainer, coach/mentor and professional learning expert.
Welcome to my website, where I specialise in transforming leaders and their teams. I especially love to help middle leaders develop into high-performing, impactful individuals. As a trainer, coach, and professional learning expert, I help individuals harness the power of metacognition, leadership, and effective communication to take their careers to the next level.
I have a proven track record of helping people achieve their goals and make a meaningful impact in their world. Always, my goal is to empower you to change your own brain for the better, so that you can in turn change the lives of those within your sphere of influence.
Through a collaboration with me you will discover new ways to think, lead, and communicate that will elevate your performance. Whether you're an leader looking your next point of stretch, or a new leader seeking to make sense of your place in the world of leadership, I am here to help you reach your full potential.
Together, let's work towards raising your impact, influence, and legacy, in order to change the world, one brain at a time.
The Details:
I have to admit to being somewhat brain-obsessed. As a passionate advocate for change and growth, I am dismayed by the lack of attention given to neurobiology in traditional learning and change efforts. I know that to truly transform the way people learn, we must start by changing the way we use evidenced neuroscience to inform our practice.
From my cutting-edge learning design strategies to my teachings on leading others to create impactful learning experiences, I am dedicated to revolutionizing the field through a neurobiology-first approach.
HOW I HELP
Accomplished facilitator and trainer - online and face-to-face
Impactful coach, especially in the domains of leadership and conversations (e.g feedback)
Engaging presenter and speaker
Innovative learning designer and researcher, bringing powerful principles of metacognition to pedagogy and andragogy
Brain-based education expert
Middle leadership expert, mentor and trainer
Feedback and conversations that matter expert
My work falls very much into brain-based intra and interpersonal skills that improve the work and life of an individual, a team or organisation. I’m obsessed with adding value - helping others add their own value - so the gap between current and possible is closed.
By way of an example, one of my passions is conversation, especially conversations that matter.
Generally, people have three potential blocks to saying whatever needs to be said.
First, they don't understand how brains in a conversation work for us and against us, complicating the conversation landscape.
Secondly, many people have not acquired the best language repertoire that helps those tough conversations be more effective and efficient.
And lastly, the conversations that really matter are not planned or practiced before delivery. The result? Things are left unsaid or said badly.
An example of this is my work with Cognita Schools, as Group Head of L&D, in leading the growth of conversations that matter. This program, delivered to over 50 schools in 8 countries, has changed the way feedback is viewed, received and given. Well before the new normal of online delivery, this program had innovated to provide 'front-end' knowledge building via live webinars before moving into immersive and experiential face-to-face workshops.
During the challenging period of Covid-enforced shutdowns and remote working, my delivery moved online, and I continue to design and delivery learning experiences that go beyond a talking head on Zoom. The deep intent with both my design and delivery is to give learning legacy well beyond the close of the session.
Since 2021 I have partnered with Craig Kemp as co-founder of EduSpark. Here I employ my coaching and instructional design experience to assist a significant and growing number of thought leaders, authors, trainers, coaches and course creators in curating professional learning opportunities in Education.
Make sense, make meaning, make a difference…
How I work
Training
I run training events all the time.
I’m not satisfied with the way we run professional learning. Especially in schools.
What schools have been traditionally doing:
Withdrawal from teaching programs
Cram teacher brains full of stuff
Pay someone to take the class while the teacher learns
Have the teacher attend a weekend workshop
Expect the teacher to return to their full-on program and integrate a crammed day of learning
I reckon it’s broken, and has been for some time. Our current paradigm is costly, hugely ineffective and continues the idea that “when and where I learn about my teaching craft is disconnected to when and where I teach.”
How about we deliver small sessions. Like 30-40 minutes only. One idea, one concept delivered with impact. And we integrate these into the cadence of the school. Give two weeks for the chance to integrate the learning, Then repeat.
Why don’t we better integrate the moment of professional learning closer the time and place where I practice my craft - the classroom?
Why don’t we collaborate more around professional stretch, instead of constantly starting (but often not finishing) asynchronous, self-paced courses?
Coaching
I’ve been coaching for 17 years, and I love it. I love the cognitive intimacy and privilege of being in the moment with another beautiful brain.
Coaching is very much a quiet moment for my brain, almost meditative. I become very present with the participant, listen at many levels and quietly observe.
Some of my coaching, where the capability need matches my expertise, results in deep teaching and learning. This tends to happen when I coach people around engaging in courageous conversations.
Pure cognitive coaching, however, is a much cleaner engagement, where the only content emerges from brain of the coachee.
Mentoring
Let’s be honest - the old-style do-as-I-say mentoring model is very passé. In reality, good mentors blend coaching methodology with helpful experience. That’s certainly the case with me, for every brain, person and context is different.
More often than not, I tend to mentor teams, especially teams of young leaders. One of the best ways to do this is to quietly observe leaders in the wild. I used to do this face-to-face, yet technology has allowed people like me to adapt to being virtually present in (e.g.) team meetings.
Professional learning design
I love to work with educational thought leaders around going further than the ‘set and forget’, ‘one and done’ learning program. I am, myself a course authoring practitioner, and I’m constantly searching for and stretching into learning design that brings deeper transfer of learning into observable practice.
“Your own brain ought to have the decency of being on your side.”
terry practchet | author and insightful humourist
History
Generally, few people are really interested in anyone’s story but their own - it’s just a part of being human. But this is as good a place as any to give you a sense of my heritage and experience along the way:
Significant education: Bachelor of Science Education, 1979-1983, University of Melbourne
1984-1994 - Secondary school teacher (Biology, Science, Mathematics and the odd stint at Music)
1995 - Managed to be diagnosed with stage III melanoma, managed also to beat it
1995-1998 - ICT Lead, Woolum Bellum Koorie Open Door Education School
1999-2004 - Principal of Drouin Primary School
2005-2012 - Owner of Breakthrough Coaching, Partner in Group 8 Education
2013-2016 - Director of IT, Australian International School Singapore
2016-2019 - Group Head of Learning and Development, Cognita Schools (global role based in Singapore)
2019… Principal Partner, MetaLearn Education (Singapore)
2021… Cofounder of EduSpark, acting as the Learning Design Lead and working with hundreds of global thought leaders, helping them bring their developmental value into the EduSpark platform.
It has been quite a ride, and it’s far from over yet. a few surprises along the way, and loads yet to learn. And there has been, so far, heaps of breadth and depth in value I seek to share now.
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