Cuppa with a Change Maker
Craig: Talent, strengths and tools for change
☕🫖You pour the brew, I’ll provide the content
In these ‘Cuppa with a Change Maker’ blogs, I’ll feature a guest that is passionate about social justice and tackling educational inequality.
One of the privileges of this series is the opportunity to sit down with people who are genuinely making a difference. Change makers who aren’t just talking about transformation but are doing the hard work in classrooms, communities, and across education systems. This week’s Cuppa with a Change Maker features somebody who I have benefit from personally and professionally…
To call him my ‘coach’ wouldn’t quite do him justice. He’s far more than this!
Craig Parkinson, an executive Gallup Certified CliftonStrengths coach and education consultant, shares his insights on how reflection, clarity, and strengths-based growth can transform not only student outcomes but also the lives of the adults who support them. With experience working with schools across the UK and internationally, Craig helps leaders and teams evolve from merely surviving to truly thriving.
He’s passionate about developing others and Yorkshire Tea!
Here’s what Craig shares…
Always Chasing Progress
From a young age, I’ve been obsessed with improving things.
My bedroom may have been no bigger than six feet by six feet, but I found three different ways to rearrange the furniture, each one felt like a breakthrough. That sense of agency, the ability to reconfigure the space I lived in, has stayed with me.
It’s the mindset I bring into my work today.
I coach senior leaders, central teams, and school staff across the UK and beyond, helping them reconfigure not just their workloads but their thinking. My background is in education, and for over a decade, I’ve worked with the Visible Learning Plus team, helping schools embed evidence-based practice and foster cultures of growth and reflection.
I am also a licensed trainer for Maths – No Problem and have worked globally with schools to promote evidence-based approaches that help pupils develop a deeper understanding of mathematics, not just the ability to do it. I believe every child and young person can do Maths, regardless of their background or ability.
At the heart of everything I do is a simple truth: I really love learning.
As described by CliftonStrengths, I’m a Learner, always curious, always seeking the next question. Progress excites me, and plateau frustrates me.
I’m at my best when I’m helping others unlock momentum in themselves and their organisations.
People drive real change
One thing I’ve learned is that technical strategies can only go so far. True change doesn’t happen to people, it happens with them.
I recall working with a central team in a large multi-academy Trust, guiding them through their CliftonStrengths. They were accustomed to seeing themselves through the lens of tasks and roles, not talents. But when they began to articulate what made each of them unique, something profound shifted.
One executive member said,
“For the first time, I feel like I understand why I do what I do and why it matters.”
That moment still resonates with me. When people feel truly seen, they show up differently. And when they recognise their value, the entire system grows stronger.
In far too many schools, staff development is regarded as a luxury, or worse, a compliance exercise. People are exhausted, overstretched, and often expected to drive improvement without the time to reflect or the support to grow.
But the adults in our system are not mere deliverers of change they are active participants in it. If we want sustainable school improvement, we must invest in the human infrastructure: mindset, strengths, clarity, and confidence.
That’s why I work the way I do.
Not by adding pressure, but by creating space, for insight, dialogue, and meaningful progress.
Tools for Growth
Currently, I’m developing an app that will help people track their development in real time, making the often invisible aspects of growth more visible.
My goal is to give leaders and teams a tool to document not only what’s changing between coaching sessions but also what they’re learning, noticing, and rethinking. My aim is straightforward: to help people take ownership of their growth, rather than simply react to it.
I am a firm believer in the thinking and science behind Strengths Finding. As Don Clifton says,
"Strengths science answers questions about what's right with people rather than what's wrong with them."
Don Clifton
Brewing Reflection
We often think of change as a strategic plan or a new initiative. But true change usually starts with something smaller: a timely question, a fresh perspective, or a safe space to reflect. For me, it often begins with a good tea or coffee and an authentic conversation. That’s where progress starts: with the courage to pause, reconfigure, and move forward.
Three questions to ponder with your cuppa…
What untapped strengths lie within your team and how could you draw them out?
Where might people in your organisation be stuck on a plateau, waiting to be seen?
How could you create more space for growth, not just performance?
☕ Curious to Connect?
Find out more about Craig as a Gallup International coach here
You can find me on LinkedIn here
Reach out via cparkinson535@icloud.com if you’d like to talk coaching, culture change, or what’s brewing next.
Let’s chat! Book a time here
🫖 Fancy a cuppa?
Could you be one of my next guests?
Here's a link that will take you to a quick form about the blog series. I'll be running 1-2 a month, so I would love to add prospective authors to the schedule.
Please do pass the link on to other change makers you might know of.
Ideas for content might include:
Particular project making a difference to the lived realities of hardship for others
Innovative approaches to understanding and/or tackling inequalities
Signposts of further support, free resources etc on a specific issue
Ideas or examples do not have to be school based
I’m happy to promote approaches, strategies and ideas - but avoid using the blog as a sales pitch for a particular product or traded offer please! :)