Kingstown College ECSL

03/09/2026

𝗧𝗼𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗼𝘄 𝗮𝘁 𝟭𝟬𝗮𝗺: 𝗖𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗠𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗔𝗹𝗮𝗻 𝗕𝗿𝗲𝗿𝗲𝘁𝗼𝗻

When someone brings us a problem, how quickly do we move into fixing, advising or telling?

Our response can depend on who is in front of us — a colleague, a team member, a coaching client or even someone at home. And under pressure, our familiar patterns can take over before we realise it.

Tomorrow, Alan Brereton will explore how we can become more aware of these automatic responses and consciously switch into “Coach Mode” when the situation calls for it.

We’ll consider what changes when we resist the instinct to immediately provide the answer and instead create space for curiosity, reflection and a more intentional response.

𝗝𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝘂𝘀 𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗼𝘄 𝗮𝘁 𝟭𝟬𝗮𝗺.

Register for the 2026 series here: https://campus.kingstowncollege.ie/e/620f92146ab72862350000be?

31/08/2026

How often do we respond out of habit rather than intention?

At work, we might become more directive. At home, more accommodating. In coaching, more curious. But when pressure, habit or our own anxiety takes over, it can be easy to fall back into familiar patterns.

𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗮𝘁 𝟭𝟬𝗮𝗺, join 𝗔𝗹𝗮𝗻 𝗕𝗿𝗲𝗿𝗲𝘁𝗼𝗻 for our webinar on 𝘾𝙤𝙖𝙘𝙝 𝙈𝙤𝙙𝙚: 𝙇𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧, 𝙋𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩, 𝘾𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙜𝙪𝙚, 𝘾𝙤𝙖𝙘𝙝 – 𝙈𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙘 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙤 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙥𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙚.

Alan will explore what it means to consciously switch into “Coach Mode” - whether we are showing up as a leader, parent, colleague or professional coach. He will look at our instinct to fix and advise, how our default responses can change across different relationships, and how greater self-awareness can help us choose a more intentional response.

A thought-provoking session for anyone interested in bringing a more conscious, coaching-led approach to the conversations and relationships that matter.

Register for the 2026 series here: https://campus.kingstowncollege.ie/e/620f92146ab72862350000be?

26/08/2026

Join us 26th August at 7. Sixty minutes on why the same problems keep coming back to your team meeting — and the seventy-year-old tool from a factory floor that stops them.

You can still register for this evening's event: https://campus.kingstowncollege.ie/e/6a45397df398a66358fb14e8?

24/08/2026

There's a moment every leader recognises. A problem you solved eight weeks ago is back on the agenda, wearing a slightly different hat. Everyone round the table half-remembers dealing with it. Nobody can quite say what changed. And you have forty minutes to get through six other items.

Nine times out of ten, that problem was never solved. It was patched.

Here is how it happens. A problem surfaces. Someone offers the first plausible explanation. Everyone nods — because it sounds right, and because the meeting is already running long. A fix gets agreed. Everybody leaves feeling productive. Four weeks later you are all back in the same room having the same conversation.

Taiichi Ohno built the Toyota Production System on a discipline that costs nothing and almost nobody sustains: ask why five times before you touch anything. Not because five is a magic number — sometimes it's three, sometimes it's seven — but because you keep going until you reach something that, if you changed it, would stop the problem returning.
Most teams stop at the second why. And the second why is almost never something you can actually fix.

In this free hour, we will work through the following agenda:
• Why it matters — what recurring problems quietly cost you in hours, in credibility, and in the energy of the people who keep raising them
• How to get past the first answer — running the 5 Whys properly, with evidence at each step rather than assumption, and knowing when you've actually reached the root
• How to run the room — facilitating so the team finds the answer, instead of waiting for you to supply it
• How to make it stick — accountability that survives the end of the meeting, and metrics the team owns rather than reports

There is a harder truth inside Module 4, and it is worth naming. The reason teams stop at the second why is very often the person running the room. When the leader supplies the answer, the team stops looking for it. Every time you fill the silence, you are training them to bring you problems rather than solutions.

The strongest teams are not the ones with the fewest problems. They are the ones that solve a problem once.

Sixty minutes. Free. Real content from a live programme. This one runs at 7 PM deliberately, so colleagues joining us from outside Europe can be in the room too. Come and join industry leaders, build your network, and take something home you can use on Thursday morning.

Register for Wednesday, 7 PM: https://campus.kingstowncollege.ie/e/6a45397df398a66358fb14e8?

19/08/2026

We're live at 10 tomorrow morning on the one thing most leaders never check when performance drops. Skill and will are the two everyone looks at. The third is usually the answer.

You can still register for tomorrow's event: https://campus.kingstowncollege.ie/e/6a45383ff398a6632ffb1082?

18/08/2026

There's a moment every leader recognises. Someone on your team is falling short, and you've already tried both of the obvious things. You offered the training. You had the motivation conversation. Neither of them moved anything — and now, quietly, you're starting to wonder whether the problem is just the person.

Nine times out of ten, it isn't the person. It's the hill.

Most performance problems get misdiagnosed before the conversation even starts, because leaders check two variables and there are three. Can they do it — that's skill. Do they want to do it — that's will. And then there's the one almost nobody checks: what is the organisation doing to them while they try. The broken handoff. The data they can't get to. The approval they chase every single time. Three competing priorities where there used to be one.

Skill, Will and Hill is the framework at the centre of Module 3 on the Leadership Conversation Series, and it is the one participants tell us they start using on the drive home. It takes about ten minutes to learn, and afterwards you cannot un-see it — you will diagnose every performance conversation differently for the rest of your career.

In this free hour, we will work through the following agenda:
• Why it matters — what a wrong diagnosis costs you commercially, and what it costs the person on the other side of the desk
• 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗶𝗮𝗴𝗻𝗼𝘀𝗲 — separating skill from will from hill in the opening minutes, using observable evidence rather than assumption
• 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱𝘀 — the intervention that actually works for each, and why applying the wrong one makes the situation worse rather than neutral
• 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 — opening a difficult performance conversation without the other person hearing an accusation

Performance conversations rarely fail because a leader lacked courage. They fail because the diagnosis was wrong before anyone opened their mouth. Get the diagnosis right and the conversation stops being about what's wrong with them, and becomes about what the two of you are going to move.

Sixty minutes. Free. Real content from a live programme. Come and join industry leaders, build your network, and take something home you can use on Friday morning.

Register for Thursday 20th August, 10 AM: https://campus.kingstowncollege.ie/e/6a45383ff398a6632ffb1082?

13/08/2026

𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗺𝗲𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗿𝘂𝗻𝘀. 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗲 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸.

𝘞𝘩𝘺? 𝘉𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘢.
𝘞𝘩𝘺? 𝘉𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘮 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘺 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘴.

Now keep going. Three more times.

Most teams stop right there — at Why 2. And Why 2 is almost never something you can actually fix.

𝗧𝗮𝗶𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗶 𝗢𝗵𝗻𝗼, the architect of the Toyota Production System, taught his people to ask why five times before touching anything: "𝘉𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘧𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮 𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳."

The number five isn't sacred. Sometimes it's three. Sometimes it's seven. The discipline is what matters — you keep going until you reach something that, if you changed it, would stop the problem coming back.

Here's what most teams do instead. Problem appears. Someone offers the first plausible explanation. Everyone nods, because it sounds right and because the meeting is already running long. A fix gets agreed. Everyone leaves feeling productive.

And four weeks later, the same problem is back on the agenda — usually wearing a slightly different hat.

That's not a team with a problem. That's a team with a process problem. They're patching symptoms because nobody has taught them how to get past the first plausible answer.

𝗠𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗹𝗲 𝟰 — 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗖𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 is about building the opposite: a team that owns its own performance and solves its own problems. The 5 Whys and Lean problem solving. The leader as facilitator rather than answer-giver. De Bono's Six Thinking Hats. Metrics as a team system. And accountability that survives the end of the meeting.

So try it on your own overrunning meeting. Post your chain in the comments — I want to see where you land at Why 5.

🗓 𝗙𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝘄𝗲𝗯𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗿 · 𝗪𝗲𝗱𝗻𝗲𝘀𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝟮𝟲 𝗔𝘂𝗴𝘂𝘀𝘁
Demand for these sessions has been well beyond what we expected. If you want a place, book it now rather than later.

Register → https://kingstowncollege.ie/our-events/leadership-conversation-series-26-august-2026/
Programme overview → https://kingstowncollege.ie/leadership-conversation-series/

04/08/2026

𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗿'𝘀 𝗻𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘀𝗹𝗶𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵𝘀 𝗿𝘂𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴.

She's as capable as she was in January. She still cares — you can see it.

So what's the third thing you haven't checked?

When performance drops, most managers reach for one of two explanations. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗰𝗮𝗻'𝘁 𝗱𝗼 𝗶𝘁 — a skill problem. Or 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘄𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗱𝗼 𝗶𝘁 — a will problem.

Train the first. Motivate the second. And when neither works, conclude it's the person.

It usually isn't.

𝗪. 𝗘𝗱𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱𝘀 𝗗𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 put it plainly: "𝘈 𝘣𝘢𝘥 𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦."

There's a third variable, and it's the one that's most often the real answer. The 𝗛𝗶𝗹𝗹. The slope your people are climbing that nobody put there on purpose — a broken handoff, data they can't get to, an approval they have to chase, three competing priorities where there used to be one, authority they were never actually given.

𝗦𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹. 𝗪𝗶𝗹𝗹. 𝗛𝗶𝗹𝗹.

That diagnostic sits at the heart of 𝗠𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗹𝗲 𝟯 — 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘀 on the Leadership Conversation Series, alongside the performance management lifecycle, the 9-box talent grid, and how to hold a difficult performance conversation without losing the person on the other side of it.

𝗦𝗼 — 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗰𝗲𝗻𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗼 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝗽. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝘀𝘄𝗲𝗿? 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗜'𝗹𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗼𝗻𝗲.

And if you want the full diagnostic, we're running it live.

🗓 𝗙𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝘄𝗲𝗯𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗿 · 𝗧𝗵𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝟮𝟬 𝗔𝘂𝗴𝘂𝘀𝘁
Our last session filled quickly and the demand for these has been genuinely humbling — if you want a place, take it early.

Register → https://kingstowncollege.ie/our-events/leadership-conversation-series-20-august-2026/
Programme overview → https://kingstowncollege.ie/leadership-conversation-series/

"𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙟𝙤𝙗 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙞𝙨𝙣'𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩'𝙨 𝙬𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢. 𝙄𝙩'𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩'𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙮. 𝙏𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙙𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 — 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙡𝙮 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙘𝙝 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪'𝙧𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜."

30/07/2026

One of the hardest habits for new coaches to overcome isn't asking better questions. It's resisting the urge to solve the problem. For many of us, the fixing reflex has been rewarded throughout our careers. We hear a challenge, recognise a familiar pattern and instinctively begin assembling solutions. In many professions, this is exactly what's required. But coaching asks something different. Rather than moving quickly towards an answer, it invites us to pause, become curious and create the space for someone else to explore their own thinking.

One of the hardest habits for new coaches—and many experienced leaders—to overcome isn't asking better questions. It's resisting the urge to solve the problem.

27/07/2026

There's a moment every leader recognises. You've had the same conversation with the same person three times, and nothing has changed. The message was right. The intent was right. Nothing moved.

Nine times out of ten, it isn't the message. It's the style.

Communication styles are the most immediately usable skill on the Leadership Conversation Series, and they are the reason Module 2 is the module participants tell us changes the way they lead the day they walk out of it.

The model is simple to learn and difficult to unsee: once you can read the person in front of you, you can adapt to them — and the conversation moves.

In this free hour, we will work through the following agenda:
• Why it matters — what it costs you commercially and culturally when a leader speaks in one style to a whole team
• How to diagnose — reading observable behaviour, not guessing at personality, within the first minutes
• What each style needs — the characteristics of each, and how each one behaves under pressure
• How to adapt — flexing your tone, pace, questioning and directness to the person, not the plan.

There is no one right style. There is the right style for the person and the moment. That's the whole idea — and it's learnable.

Sixty minutes. Free. Real content from a live programme. Come and join industry leaders, build your network, and take something home you can use on Wednesday morning.

You can still register for tomorrow's event: https://campus.kingstowncollege.ie/e/6a45331cf398a65e50fb11a3?