As coaches, we know that coaching experiences need to be confidential so we can create a safe space for teachers to be vulnerable, take risks and set authentic goals.
However, sometimes we worry that because coaching is confidential we can never share anything that happens within a coaching relationship.
So, what happens when:
- A coaching partner has success and sees an impact on student learning?
- Our administrators are curious about what we’re doing in our coaching cycles?
- Work that we’re doing with one coaching partner might be relevant or supportive to another one of our coaching partners?
- When we’re seeing trends across a division or subject area that would be helpful for leaders to know?
- We want to build interest in the impact of coaching by sharing coaching stories with the school community?
- We need to demonstrate the impact that coaching has made with people who manage the budget or the board?
Just because coaching is confidential doesn’t mean that it’s a secret or a black box where things are happening and no one ever knows what’s going on except for the coach and their coaching partner.
I was recently working with a school, with their coaches and their administrators together, unpacking this concept of confidentiality.
One of the administrators in the room expressed stress at not being able to know what’s happening in coaching relationships because they felt it is their responsibility to ensure that teachers are developing professionally.
They wanted to know what coaches were doing with their coaching partners – and to be able to “send” teachers who might need support to a coach.
Does this sound familiar?
This is a very common experience among coaches.
So, what do we do? How do we maintain confidentiality, while still supporting both teacher and administrator needs?
The phrase that I have used to explain this to coaches and administrators is “confidentiality with transparency” and that’s what this episode is all about!
As you might expect, this is a hot topic among coaches and administrators alike – which is why clarity is the first phase of the Thrive Model (which we use as a structure in all of our courses for coaches). When we all have a clear understanding of why coaching needs to be confidential and what we mean by confidentiality administrators can support coaches, and coaches can provide the right data to their administrators.
If you want to learn more about the Thrive Model and how to build that clarity in your school setting, head over to our website to get all the resources about the Thrive Model, you’ll find it at edurolearning.com/thrive and I’ll link a previous QuickTips episode that gives an overview to the model here!
Ok, ready to explore the concept of confidentiality with transparency? Let’s go!
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Confidentiality Builds Trust
When we’re creating a safe space for our coaching partners to share, take risks and be vulnerable, we need to keep our conversations confidential.
Our coaching partners must know they can trust us, and that the risks they take in the coaching process will not result in any negative outcomes.
But confidential doesn’t mean secret.
We’re going to explore this concept three ways today – and if you have other examples or scenarios where confidentiality has been an issue in your setting, please leave a comment, or reach out on social and let me know – I’m curious to hear, and would be happy to support you!
Scenario 1: Celebrations
When a great thing happens with a coaching partner and we think it would be wonderful to share with either the administrator or other colleagues we can directly ask our coaching partner to share, and if they don’t feel comfortable being the one to share, we can offer to share with their permission.
If you’ve been a subscriber for a while, you know I do this all the time. I have live coaching conversations that are shared on the podcast, I share work from students in The Coach Certificate and Mentorship Program all the time. You can see those examples on the Inside The Coach page on our website (I’ll link it in the show notes for you).
These are all private moments, but I directly ask for permission to share, and if granted, then I share. Permission isn’t always granted, and those pieces are not shared, and that’s totally fine. Seeing the outcome of coaching work, or hearing the stories from coaching cycles is a very powerful way to build a culture of coaching. It’s a wonderful way to celebrate the amazing work your coaching partners do.
In this case, confidentiality with transparency means: holding the coaching work confidential until you have permission to share; and being transparent about a potential interest in sharing – with the approval of your coaching partner.
The idea of “directly asking” might sound really simple, but it’s holding this boundary, and being consistent about how we communicate that is important.
Being clear and consistent in this kind of practice is actually how we build trust.
So, what might this look like in other scenarios?
Scenario 2: Curiosity
In that same school visit, and actually in another recent conversation in a private cohort of The Coach Certificate and Mentorship Program taking place on the other side of the planet, with a very different school community, the exact same situation came up (this is why I always say, if you’re experiencing these kinds of questions or challenges, you are not alone!)
The question is: what if the administrator wants to know what’s happening during coaching conversations? What if they are asking me to break confidentiality (whether or not we have outlined what confidentiality means, which spoiler alert would be the first step in addressing this issue – and it’s what we do first in The Coach Certificate and Mentorship Program in the unit about The Coach-Principal Partnership – but you can address this anytime).
In a case like this, confidentiality with transparency would be saying something like: I think this teacher would be happy to talk about this with you, please reach out to the teacher directly. As a coach, you might also consider letting the teacher know that the administrator is curious to learn more and, while you did not share anything in the meeting, you encouraged the principal to reach out directly. You could also invite the teacher to share their experiences with the principal.
In this case, this is confidentiality with transparency by maintaining the confidentiality of the actual work you have done with the teacher, and being transparent about the ways that either the principal or the teacher could share the results of that work.
All you’re doing here is encouraging the two relevant parties to talk to each other, rather than through you.
No one likes feeling like they are being talked about behind their back. As coaches we never want to share anything with anyone that we don’t have permission to do from our coaching partner. But we can ask for permission and we can invite
It might seem challenging to ask your principal to reach out to a teacher directly, but this is how we build trust. Holding the boundary of confidentiality, while encouraging communication is the way that we ensure that coaching remains a safe space to be vulnerable, while also encouraging the principal to engage in conversations about teaching and learning with other educators.
It might seem like an easy shortcut to talk about teaching and learning with the coach, but that creates very blurry lines, and we know that a foundational element of coaching success is confidentiality. So maintaining those boundaries is part of that process.
Scenario 3: Supervision & Appraisal
Another similar question is when a Principal is going through an evaluation process with a teacher and identifies an area of improvement for the teacher. Often the Principal would like to tell the coach to reach out to that teacher to support them in this specific area.
This is problematic in multiple ways:
- Whether intended or not, the coaching process becomes intertwined with appraisal, which is a surefire way to halt your coaching program in its tracks, because coaching becomes perceived as being a way to “fix” teachers or a deficit model which then often leads to the thought that coaching is only for people who are not performing which means everyone else avoids coaching at all costs;
- Coaching is about the teacher identifying their area of growth, it’s an invitation not a requirement. When teachers are required to be coached, or coaches are asked to start a coaching cycle with a teacher because of something that came up in the appraisal process, it’s no longer invitational – and in most cases it’s no longer growth. It’s mandated professional learning.
- Instead of directly stating the area of improvement, this is a “behinds the scenes” manipulation of the coaching relationship, asking the coach to navigate a very complicated situation while still attempting to retain a safe and trusting relationship
So, very similar to the previous examples, one of the best ways to address a challenge like this is for the administrator to clearly state the area of improvement for the teacher and then list the opportunities for support that the school provides, ideally this would be multiple options and the coach is just one of them.
The administrator can be very clear about wanting the teacher to reach out to the coach, but ultimately it is the teacher’s decision to want to be coached. In a follow up meeting the Principal can ask if the teacher has connected with the coach or not.
This means it is truly up to the teacher if they want to engage in coaching. They know there is an area of improvement, they know the supports that are offered, and they have the agency to choose which is the best fit for them. It’s not the requirement of the coach to “fix” the teacher.
In this case, this is confidentiality with transparency by maintaining the confidentiality of the teacher and the expectations the administrator has, and being transparent about the ways that the teacher can engage in a growth process.
None of these are easy to navigate, and these are just 3 very common scenarios that coaches face all the time. These three have been the most talked about in the various cohorts of The Coach Certificate and Mentorship Program over the past year or so, and these are questions that I hear the most when I offer workshops in person or online, especially with administrators.
In each of these scenarios we have educators and administrators who are trying to ensure that teachers are supported in their professional growth, and for teachers to feel like they can trust the coaching process, that work needs to be confidential. So, if there are times when confidentiality becomes an issue, lean in to transparency for how you address it.
This is not always easy, and there are always more complex dynamics at work than the very simplified versions that I’ve presented here, so if you’re wondering how to start a conversation like this with your principal, or how you address a different but similar (as we say in Thailand, same same but different) situation, I can help. This is exactly the kind of work I support you with in all of our courses for coaches.
I mentioned The Coach Certificate and Mentorship Program several times today because that’s the most in-depth program we have – and we get to work really closely together for an entire academic year, so I really know the stories of those coaches well, but it’s not the only way to get support – see all of our learning opportunities below the video!
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If you’re curious right now, you have questions, please reach out. You can leave a comment below, join our #coachbetter Facebook group, or find us on social media at Eduro Learning and send me a DM. I’d love to support you on your coaching journey. See you next time!
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