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When I started exhibiting at education shows in 2018 – being that annoying service provider trying to grab your attention as you’re on your way to the coffee station – I was starting conversations with: “Do you use coaching for staff development and wellbeing?”. The most common response I received from leaders was: “Not really, but I’m interested in starting…”
Six years on, I now start with: “Where are you up to in developing the culture of coaching in your school?” to a common response of: “We use and value coaching but should probably do it more systematically to get the most from it.”
In the past few years, the appetite for developing coaching in schools has been strikingly apparent; not only with the 125 schools we’ve supported at Leadership Edge, but with the number of coaching companies now working with schools. It is much needed and highly impactful.
To help your school consider, “Where are we up to in developing our culture of coaching?”, I offer you these five questions:
1. How clear is our shared understanding of what coaching is and is not?
“Coaching” can mean different things in different contexts: instructional coaching to develop classroom practice, performance coaching to move an employee towards organisational targets, sports coaching to demonstrate how to improve skills etc. At Leadership Edge, our version of coaching is non-directive, non-judgmental and purely the agenda of the coachee. Read more about the different perspectives on coaching here: Perspectives on coaching: What schools need to clarify (chartered.college). Where schools have not clarified what they really mean by coaching, they have struggled to develop consistency of practice and expectation.
2. Do our coaches receive coaching themselves?
Being coached asks us to be deeply reflective and often talk about things which we do not voice to anyone else. If we are asking our colleagues to show this vulnerability, shouldn’t we demonstrate that we have put ourselves in that position too? Doing this helps your coaches develop deeper empathy for those they’re coaching and also develop greater trust in the process because they know it worked for them. Without this, genuine buy-in can become hard to establish and you risk people seeing coaching as “another initiative” being done to them.
“I found the experience of being coached myself so life-changing that it was something I wanted to pursue further to help my colleagues in a similar way.”
– Frankie Arundel, middle leader, Sheffield High School for Girls, GDST
3. How well do we support the skills development and ongoing practice of our coaches?
Coaching is a skills-based practice. Sadly, a quick-fix coaching training course does not create competent, confident coaches able to adapt and respond to the complex and unique combination of needs within a session. Rather, ensuring your coaches have access to an experienced coach to act as a confidential sounding-board, is an essential part of developing a coaching culture. Download our guide to coaching supervision here: https://www.leadershipedge.org.uk/supervisionguideoptin
4. How do we quality assure the coaching as it spreads?
There is a risk that, behind closed doors, coaching falls into cosy chats or deviates into a dependency dynamic. Neither of these empower the coachee to develop an independent solutions-focused approach to challenges. Confidentiality is a key principle of pure coaching, so how do you get an accurate picture of what is taking place?
Supervision conversations can provide good insight (but are also bound by confidentiality), as can participant questionnaires. Our accreditation processes also smooth the way as participants speak to one of our associates to articulate their experiences.
And then there’s measuring impact: personal and organisational. Are those leading your coaching team noting changes within individual colleagues as well as across wider aspects of school life: the staffroom, the classroom, corridor conversations and formal meetings? If you’re not evaluating in the right way, you may miss the real shift which is gradually transforming your school underneath the surface.
5. How do we access support to evolve and sustain our coaching approach?
Building culture takes time; shifting culture takes even longer. Each school we have partnered has had its own needs, existing procedures and vision: some focusing on re-energising their performance management process, others developing leadership capacity, others in crisis seeking to enhance staff wellbeing and retention.
There is much to be gained by learning from other schools also developing a coaching-approach. Last year, we launched our Coaching School Membership for sharing experiences, case studies, reading and networking, as well as accessing materials and live support from us, to keep your momentum in this important long-term work. If you fail to nurture your coaching culture, old habits of autocratic leadership will most likely strangle the emerging roots.
“I have thoroughly enjoyed all aspects of this programme so far. I am so grateful for the opportunity to develop this myself but also be able to share in the growth of my colleagues.”
– Catherine Hitchcock, headteacher, Finton House School
“Coaching” is heard a lot in education these days and no wonder: its power to transform personal wellbeing and morale, alongside professional relationships and performance is undeniable. Let’s harness this magic at our fingertips and weave it into the very fabric of our schools to benefit not only the staff but every member of the school community.
If you are looking for support in addressing any of these questions, please email catherine@leadershipedge.org.uk to find out how she can help.
www.leadershipedge.org.uk
‘PURE Coaching’ tells the story of how Leadership Edge was founded and built its first successful coaching culture in East Park Academy.
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