1. The Power of Coaching

2. The Power of Coaching OBJECTIVES
To understand what coaching is and isn’t
To understand how coaching can be used as a powerful leadership tool
To understand how coaching can be used with colleagues and with students
To have practiced using the GROW model of coaching
OBJECTIVES
To understand what coaching is and isn’t
To understand how coaching can be used as a powerful leadership tool
To understand how coaching can be used with colleagues and with students
To have practiced using the GROW model of coaching

3. Where did the idea of coaching come from?
Coaching has origins in sports psychology.
“ The opponent within one’s own head is more formidable than the one on the other side of the net”
Tim Gallwey – The Inner game of Tennis
The origins of coaching are in sport psychology.
Some people may think about coaching in sport being about the coach telling the pupil what they need to do.
This is not the meaning of coaching as we will be working at it. It is also not the definition of coaching in sports psychology.

4. Some Principles of Coaching
People should be empowered to come up with their own solutions
People have greater commitment to something they have shaped themselves
People need both support and challenge
Coaching fits well with a shared leadership approach
The four bullet points here are self-explanatory.

5. How do you eat an elephant?
Coaching is an approach to solving issues and problems.
This slide illustrates that when you have a really tricky situation, you need to:
Consider it from all perspectives before you decide how best you tackle it. Coaching encourages you to do this.
Deal with the situation one bit (bite!) at a time!
It links with the next slide as well.

6. “Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.”
Definition of Insanity
We often try to solve a problem by trying the same solution time and time again. Sometimes we are too involved in our issue to see all perspectives.
A coach can help us find solutions by enabling us to view the issue in a new way.
“Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.”

7. Coaching definition 1
“Coaching is the art of facilitating the performance, learning and development of another”
Myles Downey
Effective Coaching
The next four slides give four definitions (or statements) of coaching.
Ask the question:
Do you see in these statements anything that may be different from what may go on in schools in general?
What are some of the key principles of coaching that are apparent from the statements?

8. Coaching definition 2
“A relationship and process by which a coach facilitates the success of others through a belief in that person’s/team’s ability to find their own solutions and to enhance performance. Coaching seeks to maintain a positive, strength-focused state of mind”
Thomas and Smith 2004

9. Coaching definition 3
“unlocking a person’s potential to maximise their performance. It is about helping them learn rather than teaching them”
John Whitmore 1992

10. Coaching definition 4
“Inherent in coaching is the intrinsic belief that the answers lie within each and every one of us and that everyone has the potential to be brilliant”
Suggett (2008)

11. Activity 1
Do you see in these statements anything that may be different from what may go on in schools in general?
What are some of the key principles of coaching that are apparent from the statements?
Activity
Do you see in these statements anything that may be different from what may go on in schools in general?
What are some of the key principles of coaching that are apparent from the statements?

12. Summarising Coaching?
Coaching is a process of helping another individual realize their inner potential, delivering fulfillment to both the individual and the related organization.
Motivation
Excellence
Achievement
Intrinsic learning
Intense satisfaction
Research tells us that where coaching is used by leaders it has a significant impact in the organisation. At the same time it is the least used leadership style.
Why do you think this is?

13. Coaching is NOT… Leading Managing Instructing Giving advice
Offering opinions
People may here wonder why coaching is not leading but it is at the same time a great leadership style. The answer is that here we mean that leading implies giving direction (suggesting a way forward) whereas in using coaching as a leadership style we are enabling the person being coached to come up with their answers.

14. A Coach Does Not Need… To be the expert To know the “right” answer
To be in control
To “fix” it
To heal it or make it better
You don’t have to know a lot about the topic you are coaching. Think of many sporting coaches. Coaches are effective because they leverage the individual’s own knowledge, talents and expertise, not their own. This is not about instructions or advice.

15. The Key Elements of Coaching
Non directive
Non judgemental
Person centred

16. Coaching vs Mentoring
MENTORING is one person advising and informing another person about what they know.
COACHING is one person working with another to enable this person to arrive at the solutions that come from within themselves and that suit them.
This slide is to illustrate the difference between coaching and mentoring.
“Tell him all you know!” Odysseus said to Mentor
This quote comes from Odysseus as he is about to depart for Troy. He is entrusting his house and more importantly the education of his son, Telemachus, to his great friend Mentor. This is where the term Mentor originates from.
MENTORING is one person advising and informing another person about what they know.
COACHING is one person working with another to enable this person to arrive at the solutions that come from within themselves and that suit them.

17. The support spectrum Non-Directive Directive
Helping someone to solve their own problems
Non-Directive
Counselling and coaching
Mentoring
Teaching
Telling – directing (coercive)
This slide helps the participants to understand the general range of support that we can offer to people.
They may want to add other things into the spectrum such as consultancy. Let them decide where this would go. (It may be somewhere between “Telling” and “Teaching”, but they may decide on another position perhaps between “Teaching” and “Mentoring”.)
Directive
Solving someone’s problems for them

18. The 3 BIG Coaching Skills
1. Listening
2. Questioning
You might wish to ask the participants what these are.
In terms of listening you might ask:
What does good listening feel like? This can be from the point of view of you doing the listening or being on the receiving end of someone listening to you.
In terms of questioning we are going to look at some brilliant coaching questions.
In terms of reviewing, this is important as a way of:
Ensuring that what you have thought that someone has said is in fact what they said, or meant to say.
Summarising where the conversation has got up to and reaching agreement on this.
3. Reviewing

19. Additional Coaching Skills
Developing trust
Fairness
Encouragement
Building rapport
Giving and receiving feedback
These are further skills that coaches develop with experience.
One of the challenges you may experience with introducing coaching is that when people first encounter it they may think that they already “do it”.
There is no doubt that they will be using the different skills of coaching in their life to varying degrees and with varying success.
Like any skills however, the more we focus on them, practice them and seek to learn more about them the better we get.
This is equally true of leadership and teaching.
The power of coaching will become very evident to them very quickly if they are prepared to follow the process described in this unit.

20. Listening – Some dangers
Hear only what we want to hear
Fail to put ourselves in other peoples’ shoes
Think we know what other people are talking about
Listen to the words but miss the ‘music’ (ie: emotions)
‘Already heard’ – Made up our minds
These points speak for themselves – but will we all hear them?
You may say:
“You might be hearing my voice now and you may be seeing the words on the slide. But are you taking the information in?
Great listening is enormously powerful. You will get a sense of this from the exercise we will be doing soon.”

21. Listening - Aims Talk less and listen more
Be comfortable with silence (thinking time)
Let go of your solution (inner voice)
Maintain full attention and show interest (listen to words, pick up emotions)
Reflect back what you think is being said (testing understanding and summarising)
Be aware of what isn’t being said
Listen with the curiosity of a fascinated stranger
And this is what we try to achieve through listening.
The audience might reflect on these points and you could take some comments on those that strike them as being most interesting.

22. Chinese Symbol for ‘listening’
This is the Chinese character which means LISTEN
The section on the left denotes the ear
There are four sections on the right:
the top one says you
beneath that comes the eyes
next is undivided attention
at the bottom is heart
This is a beautiful symbol that seems to embrace all that good listening is about.
It is a great way of rounding off the importance of listening and how we use our ears, our eyes and our heart (feelings) to pick up as clear and as strong a message as possible.

23. Activity 2 Poor listening
Explain here:
You are to work in pairs
One of you (A) is going to talk for two minutes about something that they are passionate (or at least interested) in, and the other person (B) will “listen”.
However B’s listening is very poor. B should think of the work kind of listening they have ever experienced and demonstrate this throughout the 2 minutes.
The challenge for A is to keep talking throughout the 2 minutes with enthusiasm.
The challenge for B is to keep playing the part of a poor listener.
Instruct them to keep in role throughout and to try to not end up just having a chat with each other or breaking into laughter.
Tell them that they might find this quite difficult.
Now it is B’s turn to talk for 2 minutes about something that they are passionate about and for A to play the part of the poor listener.
The same instructions apply.
At the end of this elicit the views of people about how they felt when they were playing the part of the poor listener.
Also elicit their views about how they felt when they were trying to speak.
What does this simple exercise illustrate?
Have they ever experienced listening that was anything like this? (Some probably will have).
What did this make them think and feel about the other person?

24. Activity 3 Great listening
Explain here:
Now we are going to experience good listening.
Once again A tells her story about something she is passionate about. It might be the same thing that they talked about last time. In fact this works well to illustrate the difference in how they feel.
B listens using her very best listening skills.
The story again lasts 2 minutes.
After 2 minutes B tells her story and A demonstrates great listening skills.
Ask them what they were thinking and feeling this time?
Even though they are very aware of what they are doing, that it is a bit of a “game”, this simple exercise will have probably stirred great emotions.

25. Questioning Don’t use: Use: Why What When Where Who How
Shortly the audience will be practicing coaching each other.
The questions above encourage open responses. We don’t in general just want a “yes” or “no” from a question we ask. We want to encourage them to speak.
As a rule of thumb the 80:20 rule is useful here again. As a coach listen for 80% of the time and talk for 20% of the time.
They will probably come up with a wide range of reasons themselves as to why we recommend not using the “why” question. These may include:
It is threatening.
It can sound accusational.
It often can get a defensive response.
It makes the person being coached feel threatened.
It can break down an otherwise healthy relationship between the coach and coachee.

26. G R O W The GROW Model Goal Reality Options Will Do
The GROW model of coaching is used all around the world. It is simple, structured and powerful.
A useful metaphor for the GROW model is the plan you might make for an important journey in a car.
G - First, you start with a map. With this you need to decide and locate where you are going (your Goal).
R - Then you establish where you currently are (your Current Reality).
O - Then you explore various ways or routes for making the journey (the Options).
W - In the final step, you establish the route you will take (the Will)
The role of the coach is to support the coachee on this journey.
Now introduce them to the coaching questions in their Personal Resource Manual.
There are lots of questions to support them on each of the 4 stages of the GROW model.
Will Do

27. Teachers TV – Primary NQT
Activity 4
Teachers TV – Primary NQT
This is a useful clip to show.
The questions to ask here are:
What would you recommend that this teacher should try?
As well as being mentored would coaching help her do you think?

28. Activity 5 Triads Observer Coach Coachee
The triad of three people works like this.
Each person must think of a situation that is challenging for them at the moment. It doesn’t have to be bad. It could in fact be very good but they would like still to make progress with it. But they just feel as bit stuck. Examples of potential situations could be:
A difficult parent
A member of staff that is causing them some anxiety
A demotivated member of staff
A pupil that can be challenging
How they might bring in a new idea
How they might stimulate interest in the CC project
A critical element in this is that it must be something that they themselves are able and willing to take action on. It is no good for example simply complaining about a colleague who will never do “x” unless they are prepared to seek out actions that they themselves can take to improve the situation. Coaching is not about simply getting something “off your chest”. It is solution focused. Another imperative is that the thing that they want to be coached on is real. Without this the impact of coaching will not be experienced.
Now they can decide who will initially be the coach, the coachee and the observer.
1. The coach will be asking the questions, listening carefully and reflecting back at times what the coachee has said and where they have got up to. They may take a few notes down about what is said.
2. The coachee is the person being coached. They must be prepared to talk openly and give responses to the questions. Coaching does not work for someone who does not want to be coached.
3. The observer simply listens and may take down a few notes to give some feedback later. The feedback will be for the coach and not the coachee. (They also do the 7 minute signalling as in 7 below).
4. The coach will use the questions that have been provided in the PRMs. They will spend 7 minutes on the Goal section, 7 minutes on the Reality section, 7 minutes on the Options section and 7 minutes on the Will section. No section should be skipped or given a small amount of time. This is a total of 28 minutes. The Observer will signal the end of each 7 minutes.
5. At the end of the session the Observer can give some feedback to the Coach and the Coachee might want to comment on how they felt about the session. This should take another 7 minutes. In total the session is therefore 35 mins.
The triad then rotates. The coach becomes the Coachee, the Coachee becomes the Observer and the Observer becomes the Coach.
The same 5 step process above is then repeated. At the end of another 35 mins the triad rotates for the final time so that at the end of this session everyone will have experienced being the coach, the Coachee and the Observer.
Coach
Coachee

29. Plenary
What action will you now take to use the skills of coaching both in your own school and in the CC project?
Coaching is about enabling a person to feel a sense of success in their life.
What action will you now take to use the skills of coaching both in your own school and in the CC project?