Holding space: For Managers and Team leads

12-2pm BST, Weds 2nd July - Weds 23rd July

This online programme is designed for managers and team leads who are responsible for the performance and wellbeing of others in their organisation. Over the course of weekly lunchtime sessions, you’ll build your confidence and capacity to hold inclusive, supportive, and effective spaces for your team.

Each week, you’ll be introduced to a range of facilitation practices—exploring them not only in theory, but also experiencing them first-hand as a participant. This immersive approach helps you understand how each practice feels in real time, so you can make thoughtful, informed decisions about how and when to use them in your own leadership context.

Alongside practical tools and frameworks, the programme offers a space for shared reflection and peer learning. You’ll connect with other managers and team leads to exchange insights, offer support, and grow together in your roles.

Standard price: £400 (Plus VAT)
Reduced price for small organisations (less than 10 people): £300 (Plus VAT)

Meet the trainers

RAY COOPER

Ray is a queer autistic facilitator who has worked within diversity, equity and inclusion for over a decade. With a varied background they’ve experienced a range of team dynamics. Prior to freelancing they were Director of People at a fast-growing organisation, and held many other team lead positions within publishing, charity and tech. They also ran their own social enterprise delivering community engagement projects and supporting young people to thrive within their work.

JOEL CHIPPINDALE

Joel is a CTO Coach who supports talented leaders to accelerate their development both 1-1 and in groups. He is also an experienced facilitator and has built a career out of helping people think more clearly and have better conversations together in the 20 years that he has spent leading teams.

Programme overview:

#1: understanding experiences

Weds 2 July, 12-2pm

Part 1: Check-ins and shared containers
We’ll practice simple space-setting exercises and explore how different activities can be used effectively to set the tone for the spaces we are part of. 

We’ll both define how we all want to show up in this programme together, and explore the importance of these techniques within your day to day work in order to respond and adapt to the needs and environments of the individuals you work with.

Part 2: Drawing our experiences
For the second half of the session, we’ll explore the power of non-verbal communication. Using drawing techniques to express ourselves and identify the nuance in our individual and shared experiences. This is a powerful tool for deepening your understanding of those you work with, and also a simple practice you can return to in order to shift a dynamic when confusion or conflict arises within a group.

#2: exploring ideas

Weds 9 July, 12-2pm

Part 1: Wicked questions
We’ll use this liberating structure to explore our own questions about the role of a manager/leader and consider how making space to expand our teams’ thinking in this way can move us towards deeper understanding of the work we are doing together. 

Part 2: 1-2-4-all
We’ll experiment with a simple, tried and tested, facilitation practice that is inclusive of many different forms of processing that different individuals gravitate towards, and allows you to share knowledge and perspectives rapidly and equitably. 

#3: navigating challenges

Weds 16 July, 12-2pm

Part 1: Troika consulting
This exercise will allow us to experiment with how we might play with the power dynamics of our managerial relationships. We’ll experience what it feels like to be invited to play different roles when solving problems and consider when we might use this approach to flip the script. 

Part 2: What, so what, now what
We’ll use a simple structure to allow us to individually and collectively reflect on what we’ve learnt and make decisions about how to implement that learning. This exercise is useful in so many decision-making contexts and allows space for people to come to their own conclusions about the work to be done.

#4: making commitments

Weds 23 July, 12-2pm

Part 1: Min Specs
We’ll use this structure to create a shared set of principles we can commit to in our roles as managers and leaders. In addition, we’ll explore how focussing on devising the minimum shared commitments can help a team move forward together with more conviction within their work. 

Part 2: Meditation & embodied commitments
We’ll end with a final grounding meditation that allows you space to integrate your learning and move beyond the programme with a deep understanding of what you need in your role and how to hold space for your team to do their best work.