Our courses lift your potential beyond your qualifications

Lift your mental health beyond coping with the pressure of being a perfected, task focused, individual

You learn to adapt when things don't go your way to find a better way

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

By learning new skills in an adapting agile culture supported by mental agility coaches

OUR COURSES GIVE EVERYONE AN OPPORTUNITY TO STEP AWAY FROM "GET IT RIGHT" CULTURES AND DEVELOP THE MENTAL AGILITY TO BE IN ADAPTING AGILE CULTURES

Our courses are designed to lead you beyond any need to control, so that you can develop the mental agility to go forward with only a rough idea of where you are going and what will happen

Our courses give you the excitement of going with the flow. In the beginning, it may not feel like the safe thing to do. As time passes, you self learn how to adapt to find other ways. Your belief that there are always other ways makes you feel safer in the unknown. You become more able to move forward when you don't know what to do. More able to be in the agile cultures, we all need for the 21st century

A "GET IT RIGHT" CULTURE

In a "Get it right" culture everyone tends to agree to be monitored, measured and ranked on their ability to follow the groups right way. To function in a "Get it right" culture we need life skills to manage the pressure of being error free while following the right way. To be perfected, task focused, individuals. If we limit our life skills to those we need to function in a "Get it right" culture we carry 3 consequences...

​

1. Marginal gains from small changes to an established "right" way are not going to give the performance gains we need in the 21st century

2. The increasing use of Artificial Intelligent machines to do tasks that need to be done in the right way, can mean that being good at functioning in a “Get it right” culture leads us to competing for jobs that machines will be better at

​

3. Narrowing our response to things going wrong... to working harder to get back on the right track is unlikely to be good for our mental health in an uncertain 21st century where nobody knows what will happen and little will go to a plan for very long

​

These consequences can be avoided by developing the lift skills to operate in an adapting agile culture

AN ADAPTING AGILE CULTURE

In an adapting and agile culture everyone tries to improve themselves with only a rough idea of where they are going and what will happen. Nobody blames themselves or others when things don’t go as we expect... they adapt to find a better way. Everyone gives themselves and others space to reflect and spot when something is not working and stop doing it. Space to try different ways to find a better way. Space to perfect what works for as long as it works. Everyone adapts to what others are doing to find different adaptations, combinations, and variations in co-ordinate moments of spontaneity, self expression and collective improvisation, confident that if required we can do the extraordinary

OUR COURSES

Subscribe and we will tell you when one of our public courses comes on-line

All our courses have at least one mental agility coach to set up and maintain the adapting agile culture

They help people to try different ways without blaming themselves and others if things don't go their way

They reduce any fear of making a mistake that can often lead people to over think

And they introduce a way to re-set the agile team if all the adapting becomes too chaotic and nobody knows what to do next

Each course starts with a mental agility coach providing team members with constraints, risks and resources and asks the team to quickly develop a rough plan to go forward, knowing that this plan will adapt as they go

​

Our mental agility coaches help team members to keep doing lots of planning while avoiding agreeing a fixed plan, a fixed "right" way. They show team members how to adapt to find their own ways. To add to what they can do by trying new ways

Team members are free to learn any technical skills they feel they need by accessing the internet. 

If we fall 10 meters, we hurt ourselves. If we fall 1 meter, 10 times we learn through trial and error. In the case of the more dangerous and remote events, we have technical teachers who are responsible for safety. Technical teachers are not centre stage... unless they have a safety reason to take control.

Our mental agility coaches implement our one rule... "Be kind"

Our "Be kind" rule means everyone is given space to improve themselves with only a rough idea of where they are going and what will happen. It means nobody blames themselves or others when things don’t go as they expect... we all get on with the job of adapting to find a better way

Our "Be kind" rule means everyone adapts to what others are doing to find different adaptations, combinations, and variations in co-ordinate moments of spontaneity, self expression and collective improvisation, confident that if required we can do the extraordinary

Our "Be kind" rule means everyone gives others space to develop the good judgement on when to reflect and spot when something is not working and stop doing it. Space to try different ways to find a better way. Space to perfect what works for as long as it works

OUR COURSES

We use profits from our corporate courses to fund our community courses and clubs

Contact us to explore the idea of us running a course for your organisation. We can also do a "festival of dreams" where all the courses are run at the same time in one location. Prices vary based on number of people, duration, and location

Gorilla film production

A Gorilla film is a rough and ready film that focuses more on being real than creating a perfect production. The course starts with this initial rough plan, that a mental agility coach encourages participants to adapt based on time, resources, and what is not working... to find better ways. We provide some basic film kit.

Task 1
Come up with a story idea/s. do storyboard/shot list and script (or decide to improvise it all, up to them). Decide on roles who is going to be actors and who is going to be crew out of everyone taking part in the four day course.
Decide/buy costumes and find location/s.

Task 2
Teach how to use the equipment.
Rehearsals and if we have time, film a few shots and scenes.

Task 3
Go out and film.
Teach basic editing skills if we have time.

Task 4
Go over editing skills again if we need to.
Edit the whole film/s.
Watch the film/s.

​

Please note this can be modified to become creating a play, or a book, or event a musical.

Basketball & Netball

Players of all abilities learn new sports skills without having a coach instructing them to play a fixed way.

Our mental agility coaches break the game into a series of habits for playing the game and a series of habits to coordinate movement in offense and defensce. These habits provide a framework to adapt when things don’t go our way to find better ways. Our mental agility coaches encourage players to adapt to find ways that work best for themselves and their team. We typically build up to mini competition adapting the teams and the scoring to ensuring things don't always go the way the better players want them to

Game design

A mental agility coach encourages people to go round the cycle below as fast and as many times as we can. Dropping, adding and modifying ideas as we go

Task 1: Create game components (These could be a map and characters).

Task 2: Create ways the components interact

Task 3: Create ways players can modify components

Task 4: Find a way to play the game using bits of paper and pens

Create a popup eating outlet

A mental agility coach encourages people to go round the cycle below as fast and as many times as we can. Dropping, adding and modifying ideas as we go

Task 1: Find meals we like to cook

Task 2: Cook them

Task 3: Do we like them, do we drop them, do we add them to our menu

Task 4: Find and create a space for friends and family to come to eat

Have an adventure

We partner with adventure companies to provide trips like climbing a mountain, tall ship sailing, caving etc. Each trip starts with a mental agility coach providing a list of resources and risks and helps everyone develop a rough plan to go forward with. This plan is adapted as we go through our adventure. We have what we call technical teachers who teach us the technical skills and who are responsible for our safety. If they say the word "safety" we must all follow their instructions without question

WE RUN OUR OWN EVENTS

These can be anywhere in the world... limited only by our imagination and open to everyone

WE SET UP CLUBS USING AN ADAPTING AGILE CULTURE

Contact us to explore the idea of us running your clubs coaching programme

What is the difference between a traditional coach and a mental agility coach?

A traditional coach gets players to do as instructed in an error free way. A mental agility coach coaches players to adapt by finding another way

How does a mental agility coach lift performance?

By helping the team move beyond their ability to execute a plan error free

How does a mental agility coach impact the mental health of players?

By helping players see there are always other ways helps them to see they can do more than just cope

How do you stop "get it right" cultures from taking over your agile cultures?

We have one rule... "be kind". This means we don't blame ourselves or others if things we try don't work. It means everyone gives themselves and other's space to adapt when things don't work to find different ways. It means everyone keeps adapting until they find something that works to varying degrees for everyone involved. Our "be kind" rule means it is unkind to instruct others to follow one "right" way. It is unkind to blame ourselves or others if we fail to follow instructions

What's the hardest part of being a mental agility coach?

It's when I meet someone who's ego is connected to their ability to be right

FAQ

Always happy to chat, the questions asked below are easier and quicker to answer with the written word

do you dislike "get it right " cultures?

I think “get it right” cultures have driven up standards in many organisations. But, if we look to the future many agree that Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven machines will increasingly do the work that can be standardised and completed in a "right" way. And in an uncertain 21st century where no one really knows what is going happen the time for being mentally agile, able to adapt when things don't go our way to find better ways... is the future

how can we perform beyond our ability to execute a plan?

We never have control of all the variables to create a perfect fixed plan. This means no plan, no matter how good, can be perfectly executed. There will always be times when things don't go our way. When this happens we can stress about getting things back on plan or we can adapt to find a better way. The better ways lift our performance beyond what we planned.

how do you lift mental health?

When we can adapt when things don't go our way to find a better way ... we lift our mental health beyond coping with the fear of failure, of being subnormal, of being rejected because we can't get things back onto our fixed plan

is a mindset the same as a culture?

No. A mindset tends to be about how an individual thinks. We are talking about how people interact in groups

but doesn't a culture impact our mindset?

It makes sense that if we spend all our time in "get it right" cultures we tend to develop fixed mindsets required to avoid failure. We then take our fixed mindsets into all the groups we belong.

Equally, spending time in adapting agile cultures tends to mean we adapt to find ways that work better. We find what works for ourselves, in that moment in time. Meaning we can all develop our own mindsets that suit ourselves

is mental agility the growth mindset?

"get it right" cultures tend to see variations to the standard as substandard. They need people with fixed mindsets. In an adapting agile culture there are always other ways. All sub cultures and all mindsets are welcome provided everyone is mentally agile enough to adapt when things don't go their way to find better ways

why have you linked mental agility to operating in an adapting edge and culture?

It is hard to measure someone's mental agility. We do know that the mentally agile seek to be in an adapting agile culture. It is possible to measure if someone would like to work in an adapting agile culture

can an adapting agile culture fail to perform?

Yes. This tends to be through to much adapting, too quickly, without thinking. It quickly becomes too chaotic for anyone to see how different ways are making things worse

what does a mental agility coach do?

They maintain the adapting agile culture. Specifically, they help players spot when something is not going their way, and suggest ways to adapt to find different ways forward. They often introduce a framework that players can use as a reset button if the all the adapting gets too chaotic and the team lose their way. They make it safe to fail. Safe to try different ways. And, in the end remove those we keep breaking our "be kind" rule

can you help agile teams to stay agile?

Yes. We run away days for them. As the Rugby World Cup is on, we could say run events where the players design a game, create their own storybook, even set up a pop up restaurant. All based on learning through experimenting, trying new things, and adapting

can you help me find the mentally agile in my organisation?

Yes. We can use our culture tools to assess if people can operate in an agile culture and then help you setup your own internal agile teams. We can also help you recruit the mentally agile to work in your agile teams

can you help our new recruits develop their mental agility?

Yes. We can run training programmes to help new recruits lift their mental agility

For students to get high grades they tend to have to meet their courses required standards in an error free way. It means systems of education are naturally "get it right" cultures. Which is why young people often leave systems of education with lots of qualifications, but with few life skills to adapt to find ways forward in the 21st century

We are hoping to partner with schools, colleges and universities so that young people develop their life skills for the 21st century alongside their system of education

do you help the mentally agile get work in agile teams?

Yes. We use our culture tools to assess someone's ability to operate in an agile culture on behalf of employers

are your mental agility coaches qualified?

All our mental agility coaches have years of experience working in agile cultures and have been shadowed and assessed using our culture tools

what is your inclusion policy?

Our coaches will never ask anyone to leave because they make too many mistakes. A player, coach or admin person will be asked to leave if they consistently and repeatedly blame other others by telling others what they are doing wrong

what is your health and safety policy?

Our mental agility coaches are trained to do what is called "rolling risk assessments" to give players space to safely learn how to manage their own risk. This is where our mental agility coach helps players spot when a choice is carrying consequences that are too high. Too high being the benefit is not worth the risk. If consequences are too high, they coach a player to choose to not act on the choice or adapt the choice to lower the consequences to the point where the benefits outweigh the consequence to enough of a degree it makes sense to act. 

If one of our mental agility coaches needs to get control in a high risk situation they will say “stop”. Everyone must stop what they are doing. Once stopped the mental agility will help the relevant player see the consequences they have often missed, and suggests ways to adapt their choice or not act on their choice. If a player refuses to stop when asked to stop, they are often told to leave

​

In the case of the more dangerous and remote events, we have technical teachers who are responsible for safety. Technical teachers are not centre stage... unless they have a safety reason to take control

what is your safeguarding policy?

Our mental agility coaches and technical teachers all have a current DBS, a first aid certificate and has completed Sport Englands safeguarding course. Our focus on mental agility also means our coach encourages players, of all ages, to always say “no” to their coach without any consequences, unless it impacts our health and safety policy and our inclusion policy