The Power of Coaching: Part One

I first realised the power of coaching five years ago when my previous school offered to train teachers and leaders as coaches over a 2 day course by the wonderful Mary Phillips of Vision Vendor Coaching and Consultancy.

After that phenomenal two day training, there was nothing. We had the training but no way of applying it. When I spoke to the Deputy Headteacher (DHT) and asked whether we would be utilised as coaches, she said ‘you’re a Lead Practitioner; why don’t you lead it.’ She was right. Here I was waiting around for someone to take the lead but not once had I thought about being proactive and asking to lead it instead. So I did.

Since then, I have led the whole school coaching programme at my previous school and I am now doing the same at my current school. I have coached many teachers and leaders inside and outside of my organisations and I have loved every second of it.

Having received coaching over the last five years and through coaching others, I know its power in helping others reflect on their own practice, its power to help coachees move forward in a situation, its power to enable them to step outside of their comfort zones and its power to empower coachees so they can choose their own paths.

Coaching is powerful because it encourages us to look beyond our current situation and look to the future. It helps us see and hear a new world where our vision is a reality and a success. Through the questions of the coach, it helps the coached to identify what might hinder one from achieving the goal and work to remove those barriers. The strategy of future pacing can also be applied to any goal one wants to achieve, personal or professional.

At the heart of coaching though is listening. For the coach, listening in order to just listen and not to respond can be a huge challenge. It takes a concerted effort from the coach to stop themselves from imposing their thoughts and feelings on their coachees. However, if coaches want to have impact, they must listen in order to allow others to think for themselves.

As Nancy Kline states in her book Time to Think: ‘attention, the act of listening with palatable respect and fascination, is the key to a Thinking Environment. Listening of this calibre is enzymatic. When you are listening to someone, much of the quality of what you are hearing is your effect on them. Giving good attention to people makes them more intelligent. Poor attention makes them stumble over their words and seem stupid. Your attention, your listening is that important.’ (Kline, 2011)

The coach, through their attentive listening, allows their coachee the space to think about the possible options they have and make thoughtful choices as decided by them, not the coach. By listening effectively, the coach is showing their coachee that what they think and feel and say matters. If we are to truly empower others and create successful organisations, we must provide colleagues with the time and space to think and process.

Of course, this is not to say that offering advice, suggestions and guidance do not have a place in a coaching conversation. In Myles Downey’s book Effective Modern Coaching (2014), he provides a diagram of the spectrum of coaching skills.

This acknowledges that all of the skills in the above diagram including instructions and giving advice should be skills in a coach’s tool box ready to be used when necessary. For example, at a point when a coachee may be struggling to see and articulate their options, the coach may share possible suggestions for the coachee to choose from. Ultimately though, the power is in the hands of the coachee. Why? Well, as Mary Phillips says ‘it’s about eliciting the brilliance within others.’

Having seen the benefits of coaching first hand, I know that it can transform the ways teachers and leaders think, reflect and act. Surely, this can only be a brilliant thing for our schools and education systems?

References

Kline, N. (2011), Time to Think: Listening to Ignite the Human Mind [e-book], London: Octopus Publishing Group Ltd, Available at Amazon Kindle.

Downey, M. (2014), Effective Modern Coaching: The Principles and Art of Succession Business Coaching, London: Lid Publishing Ltd.

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