We introduced a coaching program for experienced staff four years ago. In the first year of operation we had 50 staff wanting to be coached, the second year we had 15, last year we had 5. We had quickly reached a crossroads and had to make decision to either abandon the program or reinvigorate it.

We made two fundamental changes. Firstly, instead of using the already taxed mentoring team to also act as coaches, we appointed two dedicated coaches and gave them a time allowance (again for the first time). Secondly, we sent both coaches to Kansas University to undertake an introductory coaching workshop with Jim Knight.

Jim argues that the way coaches interact with others makes or breaks the coaching relationship. “Even if we know a lot about content and pedagogy and have impressive qualifications, experience, or postgraduate degrees, people will not embrace learning with us unless they’re comfortable working with us.” He proposes a partnership approach to collaboration which requires relinquishing power. “When we give up top-down power and adopt a partnership approach to interaction, we replace the empty power that we get by virtue of our position with the authentic power gained through choice.” It is a twist on the old approach of treat others the way you would like to be treated.

Our two new coaches this year are a perfect fit. Both are veterans of the classroom, one an ex-Head of Department from South Africa and the other an ex-Deputy Headmaster who sees coaching as the perfect way to conclude his career. The most telling factor – staff want to work with them.

I am now looking at coaching as a model for many of the conversations that occur in schools based around feedback and goal-setting and I am drawn to the GROW model as a framework of structuring conversations:

Goals
Where do you want to be? The goal has to be defined in such a way that it is very clear when it is achieved. A good way is by creating SMART goals:
• Specific: It is easy to be vague, we try to improve our “focus” for example when this can mean many things. It’s much more effective to work on specific actions e.g. tossing the ball correctly if we’re looking to improve our free throw
• Measurable: If you can’t measure and receive clear feedback against your established goals, improvement is at best luck.
• Attainable: When we work and complete many attainable goals, our success builds up and our ability to solve more complex problems improves.
• Relevant: Goals should be established to improve behaviours or processes rather than outcomes.
• Time-bound: If we are not accountable to getting things done in a certain time, we tend to put things off; search for ways for keeping yourself accountable.

Reality
Where are you now? What are the issues, the challenges, how far are you away from your goal?
• Are there any roadblocks? Is anything slowing you down?
• What have you tried so far, that you could try differently?
• What resources do you have at your disposal, are there other people that can help you?
• What is the situation that you are currently in?
• What other things can you learn?

Options
What are the many possible options you have for solving a problem? Which one would you choose? It helps if you begin by understanding what your unique strengths are.

Way Forward
The Options then need to be converted into action steps which will take you to your goal.
• What will keep you motivated in the long run?
• What would reaching your goals do for you?
• What actions can you take right away?
• What will move you along when things are slow?

I wonder what would happen if we trained the School Executive and Heads of Departments in this framework for their interactions with staff? I also wonder what would happen if every staff member was given the opportunity to nominate one person on staff who they would like to be coached by. If I facilitated the connection and encouraged a conversation each term based on the GROW model, I wonder how many staff would be interested in volunteering? Might be worth a try…