We are All Coaches

This week, I edged back into the second week of work after the holiday.  The first week was a nice ease into work, but this week came in like a ton of bricks.  I had the opportunity to do some good learning, but it is exhausting.  I participated in two days of Cognitive Coaching, delivered some professional learning for Instructional Technology Facilitators and ended the week doing some work with Adaptive Schools.  It was good to get back into learning to help me reflect on the work that I do as a supporter of Instructional coaches in our district.   I had the chance to ponder on a lot this week, but the main theme that kept circling back around is that in a dynamical system like a school system, we are all coaches or at least need to be coaches to move the district forward.


I love this graphic that depicts Robert Dilts's Levels of Logic:

Image: http://tomorrowsconsultant.com/journal-club-month-1-week-2-logical-levels/

As the graphic above shows, the environment and behavior are what is at the top, so those are the elements that get attention.  When we focus on the beliefs and values and a person's identity, then the behavior and environment change.  I am convinced that this kind of change comes only from communication and dialogue among educators. Here are some ways that I think we will impact change in our district with a focus on coaching skills:

School Leaders Are Coaches:

I cannot tell you how many times I sat with a teacher to go over their last evaluation, and the crux of the conversation was what the teacher did well and what the teacher could improve upon.  Our discussions centered around where the teacher landed on the rubric for teacher evaluation.   Inevitably, I would interject some strategies that the teacher may want to consider or offer some ideas that I know would help achieve higher ratings on the rubric.  When the teacher left my office, I had sufficiently shared with him or her how he or she can improve, and inevitably and unknowingly, the change I wanted to see-- the change our school needed to see-- had a small likelihood of happening because I had not really gotten to the underlying ideas and identity that the teacher held.  I offered strategies, but many of the teachers that we needed to see change in needed more than strategies.  Now enter coaching.  I have played back in my head some of the teachers that I have worked with that I know needed to change to be innovative and effective, and I wish I understood that as an administrator I was a coach, but I was not coaching; I was judging.  I wish that I had asked questions to the teacher about their practice:  What might be some possible ways that you could engage students in your class?.  I wish I had the skills to paraphrase and to listen to the teachers: "One thing that you hold value in is students' having passion for the content that you have."  Or, you feel frustrated because students do not have the passion you have and you are looking for a way to make that happen." The good news is that in my role I can help spread the word about the need for administrators needing coaching skills to have the impact that we desperately need to change schools.

Teachers as Coaches:

I see this as twofold:  Teachers need to be coaching each other, asking questions to each other about what they value and what they see through peer observations.  Teachers are also coaches to the students.  If we want students to be be critical thinkers, innovators, collaborators, question askers, creative participants, and communicators, they have to identify themselves as these. Coaching skills help all of us help others understand though processes to think about how they identify as a learner. We can bring as many strategies as we want to the classroom, but unless teachers and students identify themselves as innovators, we will not have innovative environments.

District Leaders as Coaches:

Often times at the district level, we design professional learning with the best intentions, but this professional learning focuses on changing behaviors or changing the environment.  We make mottos and statements that paint a picture of the end result.  This end result, if it is a god one, will require people in the organization to have common beliefs, values and in turn a collective identity of innovation and change.  Often, we fall short of impacting these deeper rooted characteristics and stay focused on the surface.  As district leaders, we must focus on what is underneath the surface.  It seems simple, but this kind of change is difficult.  If changing behaviors changed cultures, then we would have turned that corner a while ago.  As leaders, we need to employ the skills of coaching so that we ask the right questions, listen to those we guide, and focus on what is beyond the surface.  To have change that is sustainable, we have to challenge the beliefs of those we are trying to change and often guide some through the thinking that engenders that change.

I am a believer that a lot in this world happens for a reason.  The role that I am in in my district is giving me the opportunity to have the time to reflect and the ability to help influence change.  I am convinced that we can change the culture of a school and a district, but we have to be asking the right questions and authentically listening and communicating to see the change we want.  Together, I am convinced that we will get there.

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