In this post, I want to share some reflections about coaching, and how we create the best possible conditions for professional growth. Below I have shared nine different aspects of successful coaching that play a critical role. Many of these ideas also apply to quality learning experiences too and might serve as powerful provocations to consider.
Choice
I think one of the downsides of the “roll out” of coaching, or large scale implementations in schools and organisations is that it forces people to participate when they are not ready. When people make an active choice to participate, they are signalling they are ready to be challenged by what coaching has to offer.
Our advocacy for coaching might mean we want everyone to have access to it. Which is completely understandable, it can have a high impact. But, that does not mean it needs to be forced on anyone. I imagine that there are many of you who have had bad experiences of coaching, simply because it was something you had to do.
When you remove the choice, you are also removing a fundamental aspect of self-awareness. This is something everyone I coach has in common. They all have reached a point where they want to continue to be challenged, they understand that they might benefit from the accountability to growth from coaching. Critically they have chosen to continue their professional learning, growth and development with coaching, nobody else.
Are you ready for the challenge of coaching? What dispositions signal to you that you are ready?
Commitment
In my opinion, coaching is different when it is short term. Medium to long term commitments change the dynamic of the experience. We work together to grapple with some of your biggest professional development challenges. This might take time.
Longer commitments also allow for trusting relationships to be formed, developed and invested in. I am committing to you and your professional growth, you are also making a commitment to coaching, the process, the regular sessions and the partnership needed for success.
Contracting
An extension to the idea of commitment, contracting is all about establishing the appropriate expectations and what coaching means for us both. During my coaching this is done in a few simple ways:
- We establish a medium-term or long-term commitment within the coaching partnership.
- It is all agreed within a formal written contract.
- Regular time is set aside every fortnight for coaching sessions. These are organised in advance.
- We agree to a set of protocols and expectations for each session which focuses on high-quality dialogue and collaboration.
- In the first session, we share ideas about the roles and responsibilities we have in our coaching partnership.
Challenge
In the first coaching session with me, we spend some time reflecting on a set of provocations I put to you in advance. One of the questions is, “What do you hope coaching will be?”. The most common response I have received is the hope that coaching ‘challenges me”.
Challenge is unique to everyone. You might be seeking an alternative perspective on the challenges you face in your leadership team. Or perhaps you want coaching to increase your self-awareness, to help you see your strengths and those traits that need your attention. The challenge might come from the mirror I hold up and the behaviours that I observe.
Whatever it is for you, coaching needs to be challenging. Yes, you want the safety of a trusting professional relationship. Of course, you want the psychological safety to be able to share emerging ideas or perspectives. But you also will gain from an independent viewpoint and a calm, honesty about your professional growth. You don’t need more platitudes about your success, you need supportive coaching to strive for your next step.
Sometimes that honesty can be uncomfortable and a little jarring, but you will know it is coming from a place of genuine support and commitment.
Consistency
Creating new positive habits and behaviour is an important outcome of coaching. We want to be able to identify negative assumptions we are making, detrimental behaviours that we should reduce, and seek positive change. Consistency is key. Regular sessions that we both rely upon, that offers a safe and reliable structure to your professional growth.
I often look to regular one-hour coaching sessions every fortnight, which for education clients is an effective consistent pattern. It allows enough time to apply the new ideas and mental models we work on. Or to reflect and observe our normal daily practice as part of our coaching cycle.
It is not just about timing though. We also rely upon the consistent expectations and the level of accountability that each coaching session has. I hold you to what you said you would act upon. Those small steps between each session are important. That is you getting better and they accumulate over six months or a year, to significant change. We celebrate, debrief and explore those actions in a consistent way every session.
Conditions
We both play a role in creating the right conditions for quality dialogue to flourish. It is not just my job and it is not just yours. There is a collective responsibility to contribute to the conditions for professional growth and dialogue that supports you.
This means different things for different people. For some of us, it is about focus and being present – ensuring that a coaching session is not interrupted or compromised by competing agendas. For others, it is about remaining open to the challenge of learning and hearing another perspective. We both play a role in creating the ideal conditions for coaching dialogue and collaboration.
I often think of it as creating a space for you to step into. As if you step out of your daily routine into a world that is operating under different conditions, an environment intentionally tuned to your needs. A space that is safe, yet challenges you. A space that is trusting, yet honest and direct. A coaching space that holds you accountable, but also provokes new thinking and generates inspiration.
Cognitive Toolkit
Coaching creates the space to explore new cognitive tools. One of the main ways we do this is by focusing on a range of mental models and thinking structures, during each session. These mental models provoke thinking and offer different perspectives to the challenges we explore together.
A key goal of my coaching is to help you develop your cognitive toolkit. Equipping you with a more diverse set of mental models you can use to navigate the challenges you face. At the end of each session, we stop and reflect on the mental models we have referenced or used together.
Collaborate
If we are in a coaching partnership it is highly collaborative. We create something together. That “something” is new ideas, new thinking, perspectives, solutions and potential paths that support your professional growth.
That is a really good question. I have some ideas already, but before I share them, what do you think?
An agreed expectation for coaching with me is that we are both ready to generate, share and explore new ideas without judgement. When we lose track of where the ideas come from or who started a train of thought, we know we are exploring in a dialogic way – a collaboration.
Dialogue
Ultimately everything contributes to the quality of dialogue that we share. [I also wanted to break the “everything starts with a C”] This is something I actively pursue when I am coaching. I strive to create the conditions where we share ideas, questions, thoughts and ponderings – where we create new meaning together through talk.
Dialogue is aligned with creativity. Through our talk, we create something new, original ideas that have value to your professional practice. When we are free to express ourselves in this way we move away from analysing the problem or feeling isolated to resolve it, we collaborate and develop new ideas together.
I am excited to be starting the journey of coaching soon, with teachers and school leaders in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney, who are new to my approach. It is always a privilege to be chosen to be a coach and to be invited to act as a key member of a professional support network.
If you are interested to find out more about how I could support your professional growth with coaching, I have a few places available, please email me at tom@dialogiclearning.com – alternatively, you can fill in the handy form below.
from Tom Barrett's Blog
https://edte.ch/blog/2020/10/02/creating-the-conditions-for-coaching-and-professional-growth/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=creating-the-conditions-for-coaching-and-professional-growth
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