Coaching

My new cluster has committed to developing the coaching skills of its members this year using the GROWTH coaching model, and this past week I have been fortunate enough to have several sessions on coaching as part of my RTLB training. Being new to both coaching and the RTLB service, I was eager to learn more about what coaching is, and how having this skill set can help me in my new position.

The role of the Resource Teacher of Learning and Behaviour is centred on conducting meaningful conversations with teachers, SENCOs and other education professionals with the objective of finding a positive outcome, and coaching aligns well with achieving this aim. A definition of coaching which seems to fit into the RTLB job description is: personalised learning where the coachee is actively involved in identifying, benchmarking and self-monitoring, with a focus on continual reflection.

In practical terms, for an RTLB using coaching could look like a conversation with a teacher being supported where the teacher’s strengths are first recognised and stated, e.g. “The way you ignored lower level disruption and focussed on addressing key behaviours was effective”, and the RTLB encourages the teacher to reflect back on what they believe is working in their practice while keeping the conversation strengths-based and focused on finding solutions.

It is important to keep the conversations on track, for instance not focussing on the child’s behaviour but what the teacher is doing about it. Fixating on past events or negative present circumstances will not be productive, it is necessary to bear in mind that the meeting is not an outlet for the teacher to let off steam about the current state of affairs, but an opportunity to move the situation forward in a positive and constructive manner. Do acknowledge what the teacher is saying, but redirect the trajectory of the conversation towards a more productive outcome. In practice, useful phrases such as “Yes, we have discussed this before. Why do you think this keeps coming back?” or “why is that important to you?” can help to reframe the discussion and encourage reflective thinking.

We ran a role play in this session where we had one coachee, one coach (me in this instance) and an observer to provide feedback at the end of the role play. In my role of coach I had to ask a series of questions, however I found it was tricky to pick the “right” question, and also to judge when was the best time to ask the next question, as I didn’t want to stop the flow of talk from the coachee at a point where they may be approaching self-reflection. Sometimes I would be about to ask a new question when the coachee would add a further comment, so I felt it best to hesitate a second longer than perhaps I would in a “normal” conversation.

The feedback I received was positive, in particular it was felt that I had done well in seeking to pinpoint what the problem was by asking “just to clarify, do you mean…” and rephrasing what the coachee had said. In future, I think I would try to speak even less, and focus more on listening so that I can paraphrase the coachee in a way that helps them to clarify their problem and direct them towards a reflection on it.

Using Coaching Beyond Appraisal: Advanced Coaching Practice.

In another session we discussed the differences between coaching, mentoring, training and therapy in order to further clarify what coaching “is”. Research (which I have not copied down the references for) has shown that unlike training, where information is delivered in a one-off, top-down method which results in approximately 10% of the new skill being understood, coaching with follow-up increases the understanding of a new skill by 95%.

The use of scaling questions, for example, “on a scale of one to ten, rate yourself as …” are common in some areas, and are followed up by further questions such as “what got you to that point?” which encourage coachees to think back on their own experiences and draw out important points.

We also discussed the Phases of Learning to Coach, which consist of: Learning the Core Skills, Practising the Techniques, Building the Performance of Coaching, and Gaining Proficiency. An underlying tenet of coaching is that the coach does not necessarily need to have a deep content knowledge of the subject they are coaching on, the important part is that they listen well and ask the right questions to cause the coachee to think more deeply.

Coaching Skills

In this session we learnt about how coaching is about creating optimism and building hope for the coachee. Having warmth, attentiveness and positivity are crucial for creating a successful relationship between the coach and the coachee.

We made some goals for the future, my next step to becoming a confident coach is to become more familiar with questions by spending two minutes a day reading and reflecting on the coaching questions we were given. My next step in using coaching in my casework will be observing and identifying how my coworker uses coaching in their meetings and reflecting on their practice.

We made notes on listening skills, for instance how much are we really remembering? We often miss important information when listening, so it is necessary to ignore other conversations around you, make eye contact and put your own thoughts on hold, don’t just think about your own response. Being able to show that you are listening without verbalising your acknowledgement is valuable, so nod your head and smile or say ‘yes’ occasionally. When replying, see if you can paraphrase what they have said to let them know you have been paying attention, and don’t interrupt.

We observed two of our colleagues running a role play where one was coaching the other. Person A (the coach) began by complimenting Person B on their choice of goal and how well it relates to her practice. Person B then spoke about why they had chosen that goal, and elaborated on potential problems. Person A paraphrased what B had said, and over the next few exchanges I noticed that the coach reiterated a particular question, perhaps she was aware of something the coachee was not?

Questions such as “is there any other source of information?” raised the importance of looking for other options for support, and the necessity of getting the coachee to realise that they may need to make more than one plan for success. In asking Person B what else she could do, the coach makes the coachee reiterate her plan so that it is clear in both their minds.

The coach then asks the coachee to think ahead and predict any challenges, before reading out her notes to clarify the plan. The coach then numbers the steps, giving the opportunity for Person B to change the order, before finishing with “well done, good plan, we’ll meet again in a week’s time.”

I will try to keep this process in mind when shadowing and co-working my cases.