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Case Study
St Austell Brewery
St Austell Brewery
Developing a Coaching Way of Leading For The Established Leaders Training Programme.
About St Austell Brewery
St Austell Brewery is one of the South West's most iconic independent breweries, with a proud heritage and a growing portfolio of pubs, hotels and hospitality venues. As a values-led business, they understand that their people are at the heart of everything they do, and that investing in leadership capability is essential to sustaining their culture as they grow.
The Challenge
As part of their Established Leaders Programme, an in-house initiative designed to help talented managers progress and thrive, St Austell Brewery sought a training partner who could teach coaching skills as a practical leadership approach.
Richard Parkes, Senior Learning & Culture Manager, wanted to equip 12 middle and senior managers with the tools and mindset to lead through coaching conversations. The ambition was to move away from telling people what to do and towards helping them think for themselves, build confidence and take ownership of their work.
The goal was not to create professional coaches. It was to develop leaders who could have better conversations every day.
The Solution
UK Coach Training designed and delivered a bespoke two-day Coaching Skills Programme, tailored to the specific context of hospitality leadership and the culture of St Austell Brewery.
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The distinction between coaching, mentoring and managing, and when to use each
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Powerful questioning techniques to help teams think for themselves
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The TGROW coaching framework for structured conversations
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Active listening and the three levels of presence
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The Coaching Wheel as a diagnostic and development tool
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The SBI feedback framework for honest, constructive conversations
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Positive reframing and working with limiting beliefs
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The Johari Window
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Limiting beliefs
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Powerful Questioning
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Overcoming Barriers to coaching
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Using intuition, curiosity and silence in communication
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Goal Setting and Action Planning holding accountability
Each participant also received a personalised 1:1 coaching session with Kaidi, giving them the opportunity to apply their new skills to a real leadership challenge and consolidate their learning in a safe, supportive space.
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The Programme Covered
What Participants Said
Adam S, St Austell Brewery
"This has been the most insightful course I have been on. Our coach was brilliant, keeping us all involved. I would recommend coaching sessions; I have gained a huge amount from just two days."
Morne R, St Austell Brewery
"Very personal approach. Kaidi is super knowledgeable and our team thoroughly enjoyed the coaching skills programme."
Kirsty H, St Austell Brewery
"Loved my 1:1 session — it really summarised some of my worries about how to deal with certain aspects of coaching and I felt more relaxed to go away and continue."
Kes, St Austell Brewery
"Really engaging. It would be great to have more coaching sessions and more courses like this. Very valuable."
Chris, St Austell Brewery
"A very enjoyable session that I felt I got a lot out of. It will develop my leadership skills for the future."
The Results
3 → 7.5
Average self-assessed coaching confidence score (out of 10) before and after the programme
100%
of participants said they would be interested in receiving more coaching or training
5/5
Trainer knowledge and expertise, rated by every single participant
One
participant reported already putting their new skills into practice before they had even submitted their feedback form.
The Outcome
St Austell Brewery's leadership cohort left with practical tools they could use immediately, not a folder of theory to gather dust on a shelf. The 1:1 coaching sessions were highlighted consistently as a defining feature of the programme, helping each leader make a direct connection between the skills they had learned and the real challenges they face day to day.
This is what great in-house development looks like: relevant, practical, and deeply human.
​​​​​​​​Could your organisation benefit from something similar?
Whether you're running a talent development programme, building a coaching culture, or simply want your managers to have better conversations with their teams, UK Coach Training can design a programme that fits your organisation's context, culture and goals.
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