Authenticity in education: The unique approach of SBL Facilitators

When I reflect on the times in my life when I have grown the most or had a ‘breakthrough’ experience, they have almost always happened because I was inspired in a profound way. Usually, I was inspired through the actions of someone that I admired, respected or found fascinating. That is what SBL Facilitators do, they help our students take that next step, they help them find hope or inspire them to believe that something greater is possible in their lives. The question is…how do they do this? – here are just a few examples of how our remarkable facilitators achieve this at SBL.

We Are, Unfailingly, Authentic

We share our failures and admit our mistakes. We are humble. We are honest about our struggles. Why is being authentic important? It is really quite simple – If we are not our ‘real’ selves, we can never establish genuine connections and relationships with our students and with this, we share our ‘real’ experiences in life. As John Maxwell states: ‘When we share our successes, that may be impressive, but when we share our failures, that’s inspiring.”  Our resilience as SBL Facilitators, in the face of many challenges, is inspiring to our students.

We Show our Students Their Strengths

SBL Facilitators inspire our students because we really believe in them. We show them something within themselves that they cannot or did not see, until we met them. We believe in our students and that inspires them and gives them hope.

We Take Productive Risks

No one was ever inspired by someone who was playing it safe or just trying to protect their own comfort. We inspire by taking a leap, we go for it and do things differently, we take bold actions. We believe that we need to be risk takers to be difference makers. Rosa Parks sums it up perfectly: “To bring about change, you must not be afraid to take the first step. We will fail when we fail to try.”

Our Facilitators Demonstrate Passion and Commitment

Our passion and our commitment to our students is evidence of how much we care. We have strong values and we work constantly to protect and defend the values that inspire us. We have a clear SBL vision and blueprint to create and build something that is worthwhile and important. Our passion is contagious.

We Grow Ourselves Constantly

Before we can inspire others to grow, we have to be willing to grow ourselves. We are disciplined to learn something new every day. We share our learning with others. This example inspires our students to do the same.

SBL Facilitators Stand for Something Bigger than Ourselves

We are all inspired by something bigger than ourselves. We want to do something that matters, that makes a difference, that gives our lives deeply meaningful and significant. We stand for something bigger than ourselves, we want to make a difference in education globally – this inspires others to do the same.

We Listen to Understand

Our students are inspired and motivated because they are seen, heard and understood. We genuinely care about their perspectives and we actively listen to their ideas, thus our students are more open and optimistic about other people’s ideas and thoughts too.

SBL Facilitators Stay Calm in the Face of Challenge

Our Facilitators know things are almost never quite as bad as they seem. We also know that in just about every crisis there are also great opportunities. We help our students the most when we remain steadfast and unshakable in the midst of a storm.

We Value our Student’s Emotions

Emotions are important – we value our student’s experiences, this is powerful. It shows them that we care about them. It is difficult to be inspired if you don’t feel emotionally safe or if you feel like your emotions and thoughts do not matter.

We Are Grateful

Gratitude inspires others – Cicero famously said: “Gratitude is not only the greatest of the virtues, but the parent of all the others.” Our facilitators want to share hope with others and there is no better way than to start with gratitude. We never stop seeing and being grateful for the little miracles around us.

So, if you feel that your daughter/son should also experience such a learning environment do not hesitate to contact us. We are looking forward to hearing from you.

Best wishes, Derek