Over 150 HR professionals attended a business breakfast event hosted by Newcastle Rugby Foundation and Nigel Wright at Kingston Park Stadium.
We were honoured to present three world-class speakers, Chris Cook, Lysa Morrison and Newcastle Rugby Foundation ambassador Tony Underwood, who shared their inspiring stories with the audience.
The key messages around the importance of emotional intelligence in the workplace inspired by sporting experiences were a key focus of the event which is in support of a new community programme, Rugby + Futures, which the speakers have helped develop alongside Newcastle Rugby Foundation.
The Rugby + Futures programme is designed to meet the needs of young people in various stages of life, including those not in employment, education, or training or economically inactive in our region. It aims to equip participants with essential personal characteristics such as self-awareness, communication, resilience, and emotional intelligence, which are crucial for success in any area of life.
Melanie Magee, head of Newcastle Rugby Foundation, interviewed four students who took part in the Rugby + Futures pilot programme.
Reece, Sarah, Calvin & Lauren shared their experiences of the programme, and how they now have the mindset to achieve things that they never thought possible, in many cases without having standard academic qualifications. The inspirational young people urged employees to look beyond the CV and see the person and what they could bring to a business.
Sarah stated: “It’s not all about a piece of paper showing what qualifications you have got. When hiring someone you should also look at their characteristics, how determined, passionate and hardworking that individual is.”
Newcastle Rugby Foundation are keen to hear from organisations who would like to support this project. We need help to maintain the delivery of this project in schools, colleges, youth and community groups to continue to help people like Sarah to be the best version of themselves.
Supporters of this ground-breaking project will also have access to staff CPD opportunities such as half-day emotional intelligence training courses, personally delivered by Tony, Lysa and Chris.
Newcastle Rugby Foundation would love to hear from you melanie.magee@newcastle-falcons.co.uk.