en garde for workshop
En-Garde! Trust sends corporate confidence Sky-high.
Commonwealth fencing gold medallist Claire Bennett scored a touch with her recent confidence, growth, and positive mindset workshop to partners Westfield Health at a session at Sky Central, West London in November 2023.
Joined by Double Gold partner Westfield Health team members, the sessions built on skills learnt during previous delivery by Trust athlete mentor Claire on leadership, values, and what’s important to them in life / workplace. Providing participants with the skills and know-how to build their confidence and create a growth mindset, this session focused on developing a mindset that will help them confidently achieve their personal and professional goals.
Within the dynamic and innovative flagship Sky building, the latest session untangled the concept of a growth mindset, discussing the differences between growth and fixed mindsets and how we can inspire growth by embracing challenges and the personal attributes of persistence and effort. It was a learning experience; indeed, the sessions explained the importance of seeking constructive feedback, building positive relationships, and practising positive self-affirmations… ‘I can do this’.
Through learning how to manage thoughts and emotions, participants discovered techniques they could apply in their daily lives, improving assertiveness and sharing the skills to become more confident and resilient in the face of criticism, failure, and adversity – with Claire helping the group to visual using examples from her sporting career.
Reflecting on the session, Claire said:
“I was very honest with the challenges I had faced in my fencing career and shared experiences of times when my confidence suffered as I put too much value on winning medals. We had some interesting and deep conversations about what helps to improve confidence and how to keep up positive self-talk.”
The group later took part in a power pose exercise, a self-improvement technique to encourage confidence and assertiveness through body language. The aim of the exercise is to assume a pose the participant associates with being more powerful, the premise being that a dominant pose can positively influence self-perception.
En Garde!
The session concluded with a lesson in fencing, with the group taking on each other and trying to beat the champion, Claire!
“It was great to see everyone brimming with confidence at the end.” Claire Bennett
“What a great showcase of our partnership with Dame Kelly Holmes Trust, the session created great energy, and sharing your experiences were super inspiring, plus I learnt a new skill! Working days like this set the bar!”
Jon Booker, Active Spaces Director, Westfield Health shared his thoughts on the session
Dame Kelly Holmes Trust believes athlete mentors are inspirational role models. Coming from a background where a coaching and mentoring culture is embedded into everyday life, it’s widely recognised that sport requires a high degree of discipline, responsibility and perseverance. Athletes have proven leadership qualities, positive mind-set, communications skills, achievement of goals and resilience when dealing with the highs and lows of competitive sport and life.
The skills that apply to the young people we work with, also apply to the world of work. Our partnership options offer access to the skills, experiences, and high-performing mindset of athletes, through a variety of motivational engagement opportunities and employee wellness; and allow our partners to experience the powerful impact our athlete mentors have.