Training
I work as an Associate Trainer with selected organisations, and also offer signature and bespoke training packages. Core topics include:
- leadership
- coaching
- active listening
- charity management
- staff development
Trainers often assume that their material speaks for itself, and that what they deliver is exactly what trainees absorb. I don’t.
I know when to grab attention, when to intensify, when to lighten, and when to explain. I plan in detail but with freedom, so I can respond flexibly. I make big changes in the moment when needed. Most importantly, I know that different learning styles co-exist not just within groups, but even within us as individuals. So I train with a multi-faceted approach. Whether it’s using music, visualisation, props, or ice-breakers that people still talk about a year later, I think my training is effective because none of that is gimmickry. We co-create the learning environment that is going to work best for that diverse group, on that particular day. It’s not entertainment: it’s engagement.
I have been running training sessions and courses since 2000, both within my workplaces and as a freelance associate. I came straight into training from being a teacher of adults (both large classes and individual), with a degree in English Language and Literature and a TEFL qualification. Training is a fascinating blend of teaching and facilitation. From teaching I brought expertise and comfort in handling group dynamics, motivating and inspiring, and generating understanding across different abilities and learning styles. From facilitation (both training in particular models, and from direct experience), I learned to trust the group and draw out the best from them, even when they have little faith in their collective wisdom.
I have never yet worked on a course where I didn’t learn something. My background has enabled me to offer something much more mutual than the traditional, non-permeable ‘Expert/ Receiver’ training environments that bore, frustrate or alienate all but the most passive trainees.
Multi-cultural work, facilitation experience and life experience all help me to bring to training courses a heightened sense of the power of the group in determining the success of the training. From diverse experience on four continents, ranging from high-octane senior leadership teams to non-literate village communities, I bring an ability to read a group, flex my approach and build trust and credibility fast. From retreat work I bring a different creation of space, pacing and use of quietness. And from coaching, I bring an absolute belief in the often untapped potential, creativity and magnificence of people, whatever they expected to bring to the training room.
China (independent network)
Training of Trainers (andragogy, experiential learning), listening, retreat guiding
3R Strategy
Leadership training course design
Partners in Mission (joint Irish, UK and Flemish initiative)
Leadership
Save the Children UK
Management, community engagement, voluntarism, competency frameworks
Conference of Jesuit European Provincials
Leadership
Salmon
Leadership
St Beuno’s
Retreat guiding, active listening, discernment
Save the Children Philippines
Management, coaching
Save the Children Myanmar
Competency frameworks
VSO
Preparing volunteers to go overseas, China cultural preparation, Chinese language
CRS Guyana
Anti-trafficking, computing
Jesuit Volunteer Community
Social justice, voluntarism, team building
Lay Missionary and Volunteer Network
Preparing volunteers to go overseas
Ursuline Links
Preparing volunteers to go overseas
Impact
"I thought Sarah's style was EXCELLENT and really recommend ALL STAFF, not just managers, get this training as soon as they start and refreshers are given. It was that good."
Senior Manager, unsolicited feedback, Save the Children UK
"Sarah is by far one of the best workshop design and facilitators I’ve worked with, and we will definitely be looking to engage with her again in the future."
Jessica Critchlow - L&D Manager, Neoworks
"I have worked with Sarah for 15 years, both working alongside her and being trained by her. She is an exceptionally talented trainer and facilitator who works to ensure that the needs of the wider group are met and honoured throughout the process. She has a real gift for listening to what is being said, as well as being inferred, by individuals in a group. She creates enjoyable, inclusive and creative environments where everybody feels able to succeed and where people leave sessions feeling enlivened and motivated to make the changes that they want to see happen."
Kate Goodrich - Business Director, Foundation for Peace
"I recently engaged Sarah to partner with me in designing and delivering a full day Leadership Workshop, mainly focused on Mindset, EQ, Situational Leadership and Coaching. In the lead up to the workshop she was instrumental in the design. She regularly challenged assumption I had as the internal L&D Manager, she brought new ideas or concepts to the table and ensured we were totally aligned on what our end goals were to get out of the day.
And only more impressive was her facilitation on the day. She was able to stay with the agenda for the day while regularly suggesting ad hoc adjustments and improvements to keep us aligned to the greater goals. She challenged the participants while maintaining an air of compassion and expertise. She was able to read the room and bring a needed expertise and credibility to the session."
Jessica Critchlow - L&D Manager, Neoworks
"Sarah is an excellent facilitator who I've worked with delivering both leadership workshops and management training. Her patient coaching approach gets the best out of people and her insights add tremendous value to any learning environment."
Megan Price - Senior Learning Advisor, Cheshire Datasystems