Her guest is Vicky Whitworth, a Rivers Champion, who started by monitoring the health on her local river, the Kit Brook in East Devon, a tributary of the River Axe.

From an HR background, Vicky’s  learned far more science than she ever expected about water monitoring, farm run offs and sewage. But she knows the value of storytelling to engage the public and politicians alike in her mission to make our rivers better.

We’ll focus on how to use storytelling to inspire and connect.

Can we help politicians and activists communicate intricate issues and policies through a compelling narrative? How do they bring alive a complex story so people tune in not out?

How can we help our clients create positive visions of what a sustainable society might look like and how we might get there?

Can we bring in personal experiences to connect better, sharing what moves and motivates us?

To prepare

Read Shaping Tomorrow Step 6 The Power of Storytelling p79-85

Listen to BBC Sounds podcast Radical with renowned storyteller Robert MacFarlane “Rivers Are Dying So Give Them Rights”.

Or read Macfarlane’s interview with Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee in Emergence magazine https://emergencemagazine.org/conversation/is-a-river-alive/

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If you value the work the CCA is doing, please help us fund the road ahead.

with DIANA COLLETT and RUBY CAMPBELL

SHAPING TOMORROW sessions supporting Playbook Circles: Recordings of these Playbook sessions are posted in the relevant Playbook Circle Facilitation Guide for each Step. We encourage Circles to begin each Step by watching the recording and choosing where they want to focus their discussions

In this session, we will explore how climate-aware coaching can create pivot points for change that expand way beyond their initial impact.  Public figures who speak with wisdom, insight and inclusivity create a lasting impact. Their words linger in the minds of their audiences and inspire greatness in others. Climate-aware coaching promotes deeper wisdom, clarity, and insight in public decision-making.

Step 5 – Amplifying Action is about recognising the ways that lasting influence can take hold when those in power resonate and respond well to the challenges of our times, instead of reacting to the incessant throng of lobbyists seeking to influence decisions for short-term or personal gain.

Ten years after the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, we are witnessing political backlash against actions for a sustainable future.

Where do we place our coaching efforts in this current context?

Taking a big picture perspective, we will look at:

•          The language, tools and concepts that expand beyond the individual
•         Ways to leverage local impact into wider action
•         Against the current storm of resistance – Why should coaches bother?

Prepare for this Session

1.  Read the Step: Shaping Tomorrow: A Playbook for Coaching Leaders in Sustainable Decision-Making and Policy Shaping Tomorrow     Playbook Step 5: Amplifying Action (pp 70 – 77)
2.   Watch The Inside Story of the Paris Agreement – Christina Figueres

SHAPING TOMORROW sessions supporting Playbook Circles: Recordings of these Playbook sessions are posted in the relevant Playbook Circle Facilitation Guide for each Step. We encourage Circles to begin each Step by watching the recording and choosing where they want to focus their discussions.

Step 4 – Holistic Transformation offers a range of targeted strategies and tools for politicians and policy makers that are designed to expand mindsets and promote relevant actions.  These How tools put the brakes on just-in-time thinking and foster deeper reflection from which meaningful alternatives can be forged.

Katarzyna and Csilla will begin their conversation be exploring the first transformation. The questions Katarzyna poses are:
Working as coaches with politicians, what do we need to recognise or consider?
How can we stimulate their interest in the support that coaching can deliver?

These are crucial considerations for all coaches working in the public arena.

They will then explore how Step 4 can keep politicians engaged in coaching through

• shifting attitudes from an Instant Win focus to truly embracing SDGs
• the role of Mindfulness in fostering connection with sustainability

Prepare for this Session

1. Read the Step: Shaping Tomorrow: A Playbook for Coaching Leaders in Sustainable Decision-Making and Policy Shaping Tomorrow Playbook Step 4: Holistic Transformation (pages 56- 69)
2. Read: Reconnection: Meeting the Climate Crisis Inside Out, the Mindfulness Initiative, Executive Summary pp 5-7

SHAPING TOMORROW sessions supporting Playbook Circles: Recordings of these Playbook sessions are posted in the relevant Playbook Circle Facilitation Guide for each Step. We encourage Circles to begin each Step by watching the recording and choosing where they want to focus their discussions.

Our third Playbook meeting focuses on how climate aware coaches can bring Climate Science into their work with politicians and policy makers. Diana Collett will explore practical possibilities with Joanna Wells, a councillor in her local Mitcham Council and a Greens Candidate in the recent Australian Federal Election.

In this session we focus on Step 3, part D Becoming Learning Guides for Politicians.

We will discuss how coaches can act as Learning Guides to strategically incorporate climate science to promote understanding and longer-term action for sustainability and adaptation.  Questions include:

•  What differentiates Climate Aware Coaching from traditional coaching?

• Why is it important to expand the client’s landscape around climate issues?

In breakout pairs we will explore the elements of becoming Learning Guides most relevant in your practice

Prepare for this Session

1. Read the Step: Shaping Tomorrow: A Playbook for Coaching Leaders in Sustainable Decision-Making and Policy Shaping Tomorrow Playbook Step 3: Climate Science in Action (pages 44-55)

2. Also please read Communicating on Climate Change (United Nations) https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/communicating-climate-change

3. Watch – expand your repertoire of compelling videos at Climate Action Australia: https://climateactionaustralia.net.au/information/videos/

You will be put into pairs for co-coaching using the 5Ds framework in breakout rooms.

Please prepare by reading Shaping Tomorrow: A Playbook for Coaching Leaders in Sustainable Decision-Making and Policy

Shaping Tomorrow Playbook

Step 2: Grasping Climate Politics (pages 27-43)
Please watch a 15 minute video by Per Espen Stoknes TED Global Conference, September 2017 before the session
“How to transform apocalypse fatigue into action on global warming” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5h6ynoq8uM

The section of the Playbook most relevant is DISCOURSE OF DELAY (pages 40 & 41)
The five common internal defence mechanisms are known as the “5 Ds”: Distance, Doom, Dissonance, Denial and iDentity. Collectively these create a formidable barrier that rational arguments alone cannot penetrate. Coaches and change agents can skilfully guide clients around these obstacles, fostering constructive dialogue and action.

When: 8th May 08.30-10.00am UK [0930 CST, 1700 ACST, 1730 AEST) [Hawaii 21.30-23.00]

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If you value the work the CCA is doing, please help us fund the road ahead.

The Political Pod is taking a leaf from the CCA’s  Book Circles which created beautiful communities of practice across the CCA focussed on the CCA’s publication “Ecological and Climate-Conscious Coaching: A Companion Guide to Evolving Coaching Practice.”

We hope to do the same with our own Book Circles, enabling coaches to practice using the Playbook and engage more deeply with its richness. Which is why we are dedicating all the regular Politcal Pod meetings until the autumn to this important work. 

Coaches are welcome to join every Circle or select the Steps which interest them most. Please suggest what you’d find most helpful, and if you want to facilitate a Circle yourself, be assured you will get plenty of support from the Political Pod team. 

The format will usually include a fishbowl style coaching demonstration on one or two themes from each Step, with plenty of time for coaches to practice in pairs – but we are open to other suggestions! 

All the Circle sessions will be recorded and posted on the CCA Past  Events pages, with dates posted on our own Community page here .
We’ll happily share session outlines with any CCA Community which wants to run its own Book Circle on Shaping Tomorrow. We know we cannot reach all time zones, let alone cover every element of the wealth of ideas and experience in the playbook.

The first Circle on Thursday 10 April will start at 0800BST (0900CST,1630 ACST, 1700AEST) (PLEASE NOTE This is 30 minutes earlier than our normal Politcal Pod start time) with an update from Chief Editor Dr Ruby Campbell on the amazing global progress of Shaping Tomorrow in the  five months since launch. 

The Circle will then will look at Step One Coaches as Catalysts and will focus on the section Build your Inner Resources (refer to P22-23 of the Playbook, which you can download here .This Circle will be facilitated by Fiona Anderson and Diana Collett. Fiona will coach Green Party Councillor Belinda Bawden on the inner resources she needs in her role as Dorset County Councillor in South West England, before coaches practice in pairs.

If possible read the whole of Step 1 in preparation, but as a minimum, please read p22-23 and consider these questions: 
What is my intention in learning about the Shaping Tomorrow Playbook? 
How will I deepen my learning and be accountable? 
What do I need to do to build my inner resources as a climate coach?

Download the Shaping Tomorrow Playbook here https://www.climatecoachingalliance.org/shaping-tomorrow-playbook/
The following Circles on Step 2 through Step 6 will start at the usual Political Pod start time of 0830BST 0930CST 1700ACST and 1730AEST, for 90 minutes.
Download the Shaping Tomorrow Playbook here 
https://www.climatecoachingalliance.org/shaping-tomorrow-playbook/