Why Playfulness?
Playfulness is our innate human capacity for learning and growth. It is how we have evolved to adapt to our environment and survive as a species. Playful adults are more resilient, cope better with stress, perform better at work and adapt more easily to change.
The good news is, playfulness is a cultivatable quality that lives in us all. We are born with it. We just forget how to use it as we become adults.
Now more than ever we need to cultivate our playfulness and use it to help us thrive through the complex and rapidly changing times we are living in.
Nobody needs this capacity right now more than leaders.
The Playful Coach Approach
I developed The Playful Coach Approach in recognition of this truth: when we learn to play, we learn to grow.
All too often we see learning and growth as serious hard work. We believe the depth of its impact requires a heavy, laboured approach. We forget that for the best learning to take place, we need to be playing.
The Playful Coach Approach works to help connect you to your unique playful self. From that part of you, we can explore, experiment, discover and learn in the deepest, most impactful way.
How I Work with You
My focus is on exploration and experimentation as a way to uncover new insights that help move you forward.
Playfulness emerges when we feel the right amount of safety to take risks. It’s a delicate balance and the first part of our work together will be to find that edge and get comfortable sitting on it together.
From there, we can explore more freely. We might design micro-experiments together, work-up scenarios or try out new behaviours. We might get creative, get active, get silly or get serious. Whatever we do, my intention is always to help you connect to your own inner playfulness and harness that to help you learn in a way that is meaningful to you.
Whether in a 1:1 session or a group setting, our work together will feel fun, energising, meaningful and deeply human.
Why Me?
I am an ICF-accredited coach and experienced facilitator with a Masters in Applied Positive Psychology and a certificate in Applied neuroscience. I’m also a certified Strengths Profile practitioner and am trained in improvisation. I am a member of the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA) and co-host their Playfulness Collaboratory Online Forum. I have worked with people globally from Board to entry level, across multiple sectors and I have presented at international conferences.
But I’m also a mother, a wife, a friend - a human. I like to be human by playing, because that’s what humans do. By nurturing my playful self I am now also trained in French-English translation, speaking German, making pasta, skiing, yoga, pilates and (ahem!) stand-up comedy. I’m perhaps not as good (read: practised!) at doing all that as I am at coaching and facilitation, but they each bring out my playfulness and teach me something new about being human. I bring all of this understanding and experience to my work with clients. See for yourself what some of them have to say about that….
What My Clients Say
“What a difference it makes working with Sarah. Because it does feel like play in many ways, working with a partner and coach who is so adept at bringing a different mindset to challenges and helping me explore new avenues. I have learnt a huge amount from Sarah about how I can be a better leader, consultant and business owner. Sarah is everything you would expect from a great coach and more. Incredible listening, providing a safe space not just to express myself, but explore different ways of thinking with that more playful approach. Questions that enable new directions, suggestions that drive change and ongoing support and accountability to see results. Highly recommend.”
Helen Frewin, Director at Totem Consulting
What My Clients Say
"Sarah delivered a session at a team event that I attended. I was a little apprehensive but Sarah's ability to create a safe space meant that I needn't have been concerned. I had a real epiphany during one of the activities which helped me navigate some challenging feelings...It was a fantastic session that I would definitely recommend."
Sarah Makinde, Chartered Psychologist
What My Clients Say
“Sarah's approach is rare. She draws on her inner wisdom as she works with compassion, skill, and intellectual rigour. In encouraging clients to discover their playful selves, she taps into something we intuitively know: we are most creative and learn best when we are having fun. Sarah creates lightness in a coaching session that enables clients to be playful when exploring serious issues. This enables us to gain insights and perspectives to successfully navigate the challenges that work and life throw at us.”
Dr Elizabeth Crosse, MCC, DCM. M.Ed.,M.Sc., M.A.
What My Clients Say
“I'd been at a juncture in my career for some time, and felt stuck. I could only see greyness ahead of me, doing OK stuff but not satisfying. Sarah helped me to look beneath the surface and get my heart and head ready to seize the opportunity to transform my professional life when it presented itself. Sarah's positive approach was a great fit, helping me find the colour again by enabling me to find what was important to me. Ultimately it's given me back a spark and a lightness that I didn't know, but could feel that I had lost. I will always be grateful for that. Thank you”
