On 13th December 2011, Footdown hosted an “Evening with Andy Robinson“ at Homewood Park, Nr Bath. Big thanks to Martin Page, General Manager at Homewood Park, for our warm and Christmassy welcome to the venue.
Cameron Thomson leader of Scotland Fifteen (Leadership, Coaching and Mentoring Group) tells us all about the evening.
So,
- You are known the length and breadth of the Country, and on the world stage
- You have had a hugely successful career
- You are widely respected, considered “world class” by your peers, and received representative honors at the highest level possible in your field
And you have just been (very publicly) sacked !
Where do you go? What do you do ?
Well for Andy Robinson you take your child to their usual horse riding lesson, because life goes on, right?
And that horse riding lesson on a quiet Sunday afternoon led to a meeting that would change Andy Robinson’s life because it was there that he met Andrew Mercer, Owner and Founder of Footdown.
By his own admission, Mercer had no idea of the news Andy Robinson had just received that morning from the Rugby Football Union at Twickenham – they simply were having a general chat about the challenges facing leaders as they watched their children and Mercer casually suggested that Robinson NEEDED to join his “Leadership Coaching and Mentoring Group”.
It was against this backdrop that Footdown recently held “An Evening With Andy Robinson” where, as a member of the Footdown Bath Fifteen, he talked about the events that brought him to Footdown, and just as importantly (and interestingly), why he has stayed.
Robinson talked in some depth about how he had felt when he was dismissed by the RFU, the impact it had on him and his immediate family, and how, with the help of the Footdown Family, he set about rebuilding his reputation and his career.
He underlined how the exposure to other “world class” performers, albeit in very different fields, has helped shape his resurgence as Scottish Rugby Head Coach where he now enjoys huge support from within the Scottish Rugby Union, the Scottish Public and the Media in general.
Having assumed responsibility for a misfiring team, presided over by a dysfunctional hierarchy, he has implemented the Footodown Insight Model to revolutionise the approach taken by Scottish Rugby. Interesting snippets such as the occasion when he realised he had really started “embedding values” in his squad, in a Dublin changing room, had the audience on the edge of their seat. You could hear a pin drop as he went on to tell how Footdown’s mixture of peer to peer group mentoring coupled with one to one personal coaching had helped alleviate the sense of isolation that a Leader inevitably feels, as well as keeping him accountable to a group of peers who will challenge him fiercely at every turn.
He went on to describe how Footdown has impacted on how he has evolved, and is now implementing, his own coaching philosophy which has people and values at its core, and he outlined how Footdown has given him the extra tools that are required to be a world class coach himself.
The evening was hosted by Footdown CEO Mike Roe and Chaired by myself, Cameron Thomson, Leader of the Footdown Scotland Fifteen (and unashamed Scotland Rugby fan, who is now looking forward to a bright future).
An outstanding Footdown evening, with an inspirational man.