Language

Join us for 7 days in ‘hidden’ France in fabulous rural surroundings and take time to learn about yourself, your preferences, your talents and your impact in the world.
By using the concept of ‘double loop learning’, you will learn and use transformational coaching skills to work with peers to assist them on their development journey, and they in turn will be enabling you to take a life ‘health check’. In addition you will receive a personal coaching session from an experienced and professionally qualified coach. By the end of this retreat, you will have acquired the Accredited Coach Training Hours required for self regulation of coaches in Europe and you will have completed a certificated coach training programme. In addition you will be able to feedback the Extended DISC psychometric questionnaire.

Coaching is not just about a conversation! It is creative and gets reflection ‘into the muscle’. A whole body experience. There will be time available for coaching and walking in the fabulous landscape of the Madeleine Mountains. Our coaching exercises are creative and interactive and whilst we will be using them in this rural environment and in the open air where possible, they are fully transportable back into the corporate environment and everyday life. Be prepared to be challenged, to be open to learning and to give yourself time to reflect on what you truly want from the rest of your life.
In order to ensure that you will receive maximum benefit from this programme, numbers are restricted and admission requires a telephone interview. In order to ensure accommodation at Bécajat you will need to book as soon as you are able.

The nearest airport is Lyon and delegates can be collected from Roanne station, or may wish to hire a car so they can truly experience the delights of this little known region of France, famed for its gastronomy and vineyards. (We will structure our days so that you can enjoy the regional offerings).
The fee of £3495 per person includes all facilitation, materials, your private coaching session, lunch and refreshments during the course. Accommodation and flights are not included. Horse riding, rope walking in the forest and vineyard visits can be arranged. The centre is in the national park where there are hundreds of miles of footpaths available to you.

For a map of the area click here and for further information please contact us.

Some of our students have been asking to see a demonstration of clean language used purely. This one by Judy Rees is a nice example of a Clean Language session, we hope you enjoy it.

Happy New Year everyone!

When the clock struck midnight did you transform into the person that you’ve always wanted to be? No? How disappointing! Maybe you didn’t use enough fairy dust? … or the spell wasn’t quite right – you did say the magic words didn’t you? And you span round three times?

Ok then Cinders, it’s back to the drawing board! Maybe we’ll get it right next new year’s.

…Or maybe it just wasn’t realistic!

When talking about new year’s resolutions for 2011 I noticed that about 75% of people told me that their resolution was to “win the lottery”. So these people have started their year with a plan that they have very little control over (and before you tell me they have no control, they can buy a ticket – that’s control!)

The other 25% told me that in 2011 they were going to be fit, make more time for their families and friends, have a better work life balance, take up a new hobby, drop a dress size and get a promotion. When I asked them how they were going to do all of that they told me “well it’s just what I want to do”.

When I see them next I’ll find out how much they’ve done towards their goals. The truth is, those who want to win the lottery will probably already have bought a ticket, they’re taking control!

The point to this ramble is that despite the uncharacteristic pleasure of staying up until midnight, you are the same person at 1 minute past 12 as you were at one minute to. You are no more likely to achieve everything you want by simply saying it than you are to win the lottery! So if you have goals you really want to achieve this year, make a plan. If that seems too much effort, guess what? You don’t want it enough! If you really want this, you’ll make a plan and with prompts and guidance you can be the person you want to be just in time to come up with another person you want to be by next new year’s! If you’d like a free starter plan, drop us a comment or an e-mail and we’ll send you one to get you going.

Good Luck!

For those of your who didn’t see it, during the German Grand Prix yesterday, Ferrari were heard to give a coded message “Fernando is faster than you” to let his team mate know to let him pass. Watch the video here courtesy of BBC news.

This made me think about the idea of a “coded message” and how we can define it. Language is a tricky game, very rarely is the message purely provided by the words we say. Try this exercise to see for yourself:

Choose any simple phrase and try

• varying you tone,
• your pace of speech,
• your body language
• your facial expression
• your intonation
• use different hand movements,
• alter where you place your eyes
• and the amount of eye contact you make.

How many different meanings were you able to create?

The short sentence “Fernando is faster than you” could be a taunt, a statement of fact, or indeed a coded message. And within that coded message could it be “slow down and let him pass” or equally “speed up, he’s on your tail”? Of course given the context that they are team mates, and Felipe Massa’s move to let him pass following the message we can understand what was meant by the simple phrase. This suggests that a sentence in itself is meaningless without context.

When we start to delve into the complexity of language, it’s really no wonder that there are misunderstandings. Try the exercise above again and ask someone else to explain the meaning of your sentence with each change in delivery, do they understand the same meaning as you?

Let us know how you get on!