ALBA Coaching

If you spend your days supporting other people, you're probably already halfway to being a coach.

Teachers, team leaders, mentors, careers advisors — the common thread is rapport, good questions, and listening both to what’s being said and what's not being said out loud. That's daily work for anyone in a role built around other people's growth. What's usually missing is active listening without jumping straight to fixing — and that's the one real shift, which can have a profound impact on someone, regardless of your role.

We see this constantly at IFA — people already leading, teaching, mentoring, or advising, bringing skills that translate faster than they expect. It's not starting from scratch. It's giving something you already do a proper, structured direction.

That's exactly why our Diploma runs in phases rather than one single leap — built for people already working with others, at a pace that fits around the role they're already in.

If you're already in a role built around supporting people, has coaching ever crossed your mind as the next step?

Although I was a Maths teacher for over a decade, Maths never completely came naturally to me. I spent years finding strategies to understand it — and realised those same strategies could help other people too. That and the fact I loved supporting people and working with young people is what pulled me into teaching in the first place.

Some of my most rewarding years were spent with students written off as "difficult." Through my expiernces in the classroom I learned that if you build trust, understand what's actually going on underneath, and watch someone show up differently. That was the job I loved.

But something wasn't sitting right, and I couldn't name it. I moved abroad to teach the IB curriculum, thinking a change of scenery would fix it. It didn't. Eventually I realised it wasn't the school. It was teaching itself that no longer fit.

Then, on a leadership course, I was coached for two hours by someone who'd had barely any training themselves — and it still floored me. Within months I'd found an ICF-accredited coaching programme and enrolled, training on evenings and weekends while still teaching full-time.

I'm a genuinely different person for it. More self-aware. A far better listener — not the "waiting for my turn to speak" kind, the kind that hears what's underneath what someone's saying.

If you love supporting people but something's not sitting right, what would it take to actually stop and figure out what that is?

I’m really excited to share something we've been working towards for a little while now.

At Inclusive Futures Academy, we've always believed that how you learn matters just as much as what you learn. So this summer, we're introducing two new formats for our Diploma in Inclusive Coaching — both designed to make the programme more accessible and inclusive to more people.

The first is a 'Fast track' pathway, where all the core learning is covered within two weeks at the end of July and beginning of August. You build your skills quickly and can start putting them into practice sooner.

The second is a flexible shorter-session format with some self-study elements — the same content, the same depth, just delivered in a way that fits around life a little more easily.

And here's what doesn't change with either: the training hours, the content, the mentoring support, the live demos, the peer practice, the community space. Everything that makes this Diploma what it is remains exactly the same. You also get a full year's access to the IFA learning platform and community — so the support continues long after the sessions end.

Same course. Same standard. Just more ways to access it.
If you're curious about which format might suit you, feel free to get in touch on here or email me [email protected].

If you would like to read more about the Diploma, or fill out the expression of interest form, visit our website: https://lnkd.in/eDdCtymT

What's the best learning experience you've had — and what made it work for you?

Most people don’t go into education because they love data, administration, or endless competing demands.

They come into education because they want to make a difference 💫

I know from my own experiences and that of friends and colleagues that many education professionals feel increasingly disconnected from the conversations and relationships that drew them into the sector in the first place.

I really enjoyed taking a moment to share some of my experiences and journey from teaching to coaching with our marketing coordinator younger at Inclusive Futures. She has done a brilliant job of simplifying my waffles, which I'm sure a lot of people in the Educational space can relate to.

Our Summer Intensive Diploma in Inclusive Coaching is designed for education professionals who want to develop the skills, confidence and mindset to support others in a more impactful and sustainable way.

Whether you’re a teacher, student support practitioner, careers adviser, widening participation professional or leader, coaching skills can help you:
💡 Have more meaningful conversations
🎓 Support students and colleagues without carrying every challenge yourself
🤝 Build confidence, autonomy and resilience in others
🌱 Reconnect with the parts of your role that give you energy and purpose

Delivered over the summer holidays, this intensive cohort offers the opportunity to invest in your own development before the new academic year begins.

But if you're not even sure what coaching is, or would like to hear more about my journey first and to see how coaching could help you reconnect to your purpose within education, I am also running a Free Webinar on Thursday 2nd July and 7:30 PM UK time.

Sign up to the free webinar using the link in the comments.

Interested in learning more?
📩 Get in touch with me on here or at [email protected]

Coaching culture in schools and organisatoins doesn't have to mean a whole-sale transformation overnight.

That's something I've believed since my own days in the classroom. Working in middle leadership, I could already see what a shift in approach had to offer — not just for individual staff, but for the whole community. The way people communicated. How supported people felt. The environment being quietly shaped, day by day.

The changes that make the biggest difference aren't dramatic. They're purposeful. More careful listening. More intentional conversations. A growing awareness of how people actually work — and what they need to move forward.

That's what a coaching culture looks like in practice. And it's one of the things we care most about at Futures Academy — supporting schools and organisations to build something genuinely more inclusive and human, without turning everything upside down to get there.

If you're curious about what that might look like in your setting, I'd love to have a conversation.

What does the culture of communication feel like in your school or organisation right now?

Most people go into teaching for one reason — supporting young people. The belief that you can play a genuine part in shaping someone's future. That the work you do every day actually matters to the person in front of you.

But somewhere along the way, that gets harder to hold onto.
Workload builds. Demands multiply. And gradually, the time spent actually focusing on the young people you came into teaching for gets squeezed into whatever's left at the end of everything else.

Next week, I'm hosting a free 45-minute webinar — Rediscovering Your Purpose Within Education — for anyone who recognises that feeling.

We'll explore why this happens, I'll share a bit of my own journey from teaching into coaching, and we'll look at some simple, practical skills that can help you reconnect with the impact you actually want to have.

There'll also be a live Q&A and a coaching too
l you can take away and use straight away.

If you work in education and that sense of purpose has felt a little out of reach lately, I'd love you to join us. It's free, it's 45 minutes, and it's for you.

Sign up using this link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/rediscovering-your-purpose-within-education-tickets-1991908620304

What if procrastination isn't wasted time — just unurgent time? 🤔

In a recent coaching conversation, something shifted when we looked at it differently. Instead of framing it as wasted time or a personal failing, we reframed it as energy going somewhere that simply isn't urgent right now.
Not wrong. Not lazy. Just not the priority in this moment.

That matters more than it sounds. Because most of us are already carrying enough pressure without adding guilt on top of avoidance. Piling self-criticism onto procrastination doesn't create momentum — it just adds weight.

This is often how coaching works. Not by providing answers, but by helping someone see something they already sensed but couldn't quite articulate. That reframe came from the person I was working with, not from me. I just held the space for it to surface.

If you find yourself stuck in that cycle of procrastination and self-criticism, it might be worth asking a different question entirely — not "why can't I do this?" but "what is this feeling actually telling me?"

What's a reframe that's genuinely changed how you've approached something difficult?

After a bit of an extended absence from LinkedIn, it feels like a good time to reintroduce myself.

Life has been full — two children in the space of 16 months, and a self-build house that I was very hands-on with, especially towards completion. Both have been brilliant, knackering, and genuinely character-building in equal measure. But normal service is resuming.

For those who don't know me: my name is Nick Woolley. I'm a joint director of Inclusive Futures Academy, an ICF accredited coach training organisation, and a professionally certified coach in my own right.

At IFA, we train people to become coaches — from a one-day introduction right through to a full ICF Level 1 Diploma. We have courses to suit different needs, from using coaching skills to be more effective, to setting up your own coaching business. What makes us different is that the training is phased, person-centred, and genuinely tailored to where you want coaching to take you — whether that's building a practice, leading differently, or simply having better conversations.

Alongside the Academy, I work privately with individuals navigating big decisions, career crossroads, or moments where clarity feels a long way off.
My plan is to start posting more consistently — sharing thoughts on coaching, personal development, and the everyday moments where the two collide.

If we're connected but haven't spoken, I'd love to hear what you're working on. And if coaching or coach training is something you or your organisation has been thinking about, feel free to drop me a message.

What's new with you?