Testimonials

Chris brings a level of passion, commitment, positive energy and professionalism in everything he does. It has been an absolute privilege to have been able to work with Chris at National Careers Week and now with National Skills Days. I know I can trust him to use initiative and make things happen. He continues to do this as an Non-executive Dircetor for NCW, for which, we are eternally grateful. Chris is a top professional and a top man.

WomenEd is a global grassroots movement to connect and empower women leaders in education. Chris is one of our valuable #HeForShe supporters demonstrating that gender equity is important to men and women. He volunteers to coach at our events and takes full advantage of our creche as he is raising his son to be a feminist. Whilst based in the North West, Chris has supported our events in London and even the launch of #WomenEd in Northern Ireland. He is certainly doing Emma Watson, and us, proud!

Chris Reddy is one of the good guys!

As well as being an expert coach and supporter of young people, his role as an ambassador for National Careers Week has shown him to be extremely professional in a number of fields: He’s an excellent organiser and planner. Working with Chris and the rest of the NW Ambassador team he leads was a pleasure. He’s responsive and full of ideas. At National Careers Week, Chris takes a leading role in the planning and delivery of workshop sessions with students and teachers.

His delivery is engaging and enthusiastic, enabling even the most reluctant learners to get involved and learn from his sessions.

Chris is able to adapt to changes and he’s a creative presenter and workshop presenter.

Highly recommended!

Chris is a person we would all benefit from having in our lives. He brings out the best in people. Quick to build rapport and trust, he soon encourages you to think beyond your limits and challenges you to step into meaningful and skilful action. Sometimes on the same day! I have witnessed Chris enable people to create meaningful change in their lives; he does so with humour and a lightness of touch. However, there is a conviction and deep sense of motivation behind this lightness which stems from his sincere belief in the potential of the young people and educators he works with. Chris has the gift of bringing people together: he is the energy that will keep a community going, heading in the right direction towards a shared vision. If you get a chance to work with Chris, you must.

We honestly didn’t know anything about coaching and especially not how it could help or benefit a business.

We become increasingly aware that our passion, enthusiasm and a thousand ideas for our business probably needed some form of strategic consideration and it didn’t seem to be happening in the day to day running and growing of Whysup.

It’s fair to say we had confidence in our service and saw the potential, but it just felt chaotic. We were generalising our aims and being unspecific in what we needed to next.

We had around 4 sessions planned and we did not know what any of them would involve… but we were told to bring our running trainers the first session – not what we expected!!

Session one started with a run and we talked through lots of different things. This helped us ‘break the ice’, develop a relationship and start verbalising our ideas. We then returned to put pen to paper (or markers on the wall to be accurate).

Taking time to write things down, without distraction, was hugely beneficial. We covered things like time management, responsibilities, task management and priorities – I believe this was the first time we had actually considered our roles and playing to our strengths.

We then reviewed our goals and aims – again it highlighted our different visions for the business and what each of us felt was important.

I believe session one gave us a baseline for the way forward. At each session from there, it was an ongoing assessment or review of progress and changes that may need to be made.

Chris has a very calming influence and eases any reservations because he just seems to have absolute faith that the process is going to be of benefit and add value.

The surprising thing was how much problem solving we did, Chris was the catalyst for thought and discussion, prompted us to consider the ‘why’ to many decisions/priorities, but really let us reach the conclusion we needed.

We left every session feeling like we had a clearer idea of what was lying ahead and what we needed to do. The nice thing was we also left with clear incremental goals and we could acknowledge those when we achieved them – which we did often!

We found the whole process enjoyable, we looked forward to turning up, often had bouts of laughter alongside key strategic discussion and left full of enthusiasm and energy!

We have grown and hit the targets we set. We still use many of the review and planning techniques we learned with Chris.

Thanks Chris for all your help and support. I wouldn’t hesitate in recommending this process to anyone running their own business!

In fact, it’s probably time for us to come back… see you soon!!

I have seen children shine who might not always get the opportunity to do so in a large group. It has been empowering to see children smile with pride when they feel of their impact, input or contribution. The children are always thoroughly engaged with the sessions and listen well. We follow up the session content in the following week and children always retain the key messages. They have fun and have the opportunity to work with different children inside and outside the classroom. I have seen an improvement in their independence; I have seen children thinking for themselves and making decisions on their own. I feel that more often, because we have to maintain control in the class, we stifle children's independence and leadership capabilities. However, through the work with Bright Leaders, I am more open allowing and facilitating children to take the lead in the own classroom. The staff and the children look forward to our Bright Leaders sessions as there is always something for all of us to learn!

I received coaching from Chris and his support was invaluable. From start to finish, he made me feel comfortable, reassured and ready to push myself through targets, step by step. He is extremely positive, trustworthy and dedicated to helping you achieve goals. He sent positive messages and reminders in between face to face sessions; helps you reflect on the type of leader you are/want to be and motivates you to improve. I can’t recommend him enough - thank you.

Turning to Bright Leaders for coaching has impacted significantly on me personally, and on my professional practice, as well as supporting aspects of school development in my school. Honing my thinking during sessions with Chris has supported me to take the next steps with developing our team as leaders.

What more can I say other than Chris is an absolute legend!

I know we share the same surname but we're not related - honest!

Since I first spoke to him it was immediately clear how much of a kind, motivated… and motivating person he is!

From taking part in the Leader Within course, not only have I found things within me I had never noticed, but I have also learned about the great things those around me do. The weekly sessions have been so inspiring, and all of the participants have got on really well. It’s all delivered in a relaxed and fun manner, which immediately breaks down any barriers and allows us all to speak out openly and honestly. Despite being delivered online, there’s still a real sense of collaboration and togetherness.

Each week there’s a specific theme, all centered around developing skills and strategies of leadership that will enable all of us to work well with people in the future. I think, in particular, Chris really emphasises and demonstrates the value of working in a team, as so much more can be achieved when we work together with a common goal. We talk about the importance of valuing every contribution, no matter how small, and also about the need for reflection so that the next time we do something, we can make an even bigger impact.

Chris truly has helped me become a better person. As well as this, I have felt myself being welcomed into such a great community of people all with different goals but the same mindset and Chris has really helped bring out the best in every single one of us.

Thank you Chris for the amazing work you do and for inspiring so many people!

My experience with Bright Leaders has been both enlightening and fun. I have learnt so much about myself and my abilities which let my self-confidence grow and develop. Many of the reflections I have made from the Leader Within programme, aid me in my everyday life and make me a more productive and successful person. Everyone I have worked with has been extremely nice and consistently supportive and encouraging in every endeavour we make. It has been a wonderful experience and I highly recommend becoming involved, you will definitely walk away from it much more self aware and confident of yourself which will enable you to successfully pursue every opportunity you wish.

Motivational, confident and enthusiastic: Chris Reddy has taught and reminded me how to be positive and self assured, and inspired me to start taking more opportunities that come my way. His cheerful and unapologetic way of putting his students on the spot is an outstanding way of improving their confidence. Chris manages to create the opposite of boring classroom mood and he becomes a friend and mentor to all the young people he teaches. I would definitely recommend joining one of his courses and I will be looking forward to more in the future.

I’m a year 12 student studying history, economics and sociology. Before starting bright leaders, I was worried that it would be, to put it frankly, a boring course that would teach me nothing. But through this experience, I have learnt a lot more about what it means to be a leader. I’m more open minded and I feel this course has made me more aware of my environment and the people in it. It’s difficult to say one thing I liked the most about the programme, the zoom calls were so interactive and engaging - but the thing I loved the most were the teachers themselves. The support we got from those delivering the course was outstanding and because I would recommend this course to anyone. If your confident or quiet, an athlete or a mathlete - this course will teach you something about yourself and leadership.

Before I started the programme, I was worried about not being able to successfully socialise with the rest of the group in the sessions. Throughout the leadership experience, I learnt how to understand people more effectively and also the importance of championing other people's qualities and achievements.

After completing the leadership experience, I now speak to people more confidently and I know more about my strengths and aspirations. What I liked most about the programme was the amazing team I worked with. I was surrounded by intelligent, resilient and supportive people who allowed me to improve and become better.