Did you know you don’t have to have (or be a) coach to build a coaching culture?
This is an environment we can create in any school setting when we work with intentionality to create psychologically safe spaces, where everyone is encouraged to grow, and to engage in meaningful conversation and learning opportunities with each other.
I call this embracing a coaching mindset – and it’s something you can do in your school right now – whether you’re a coach or you have coaches or not!
In fact, the number one indicator of student success is collective efficacy (Donohoo, 2017).
When we believe in one another, student learning improves.
So embracing a coaching mindset, with intentionality to build better relationships actually supports improving student learning.
And this is something that every single person in your school community – teachers, support staff, students, leaders – can do!
You can see it in action in this conversation with Lindsay Manzella and John Stephany from a previous #coachbetter episode.
You can start building a coaching culture before hiring coaches!
That’s what today’s post is all about.
This post features a highlight from one of my favorite episodes from a previous season featuring Leigh Miller, Deputy Head of School at Munich International School. What I love about this clip is that Leigh describes what a culture of coaching looks and feels like from her time at a previous school.
What’s especially interesting to me is that they developed a coaching culture even BEFORE they hired coaches. Even before they had coaches, they had a community where everyone (teachers, leaders, students, support staff) were encouraged to embrace a coaching mindset.
And that coaching mindset created an open collaborative learning culture.
And then they hired coaches.
What’s YOUR level of coaching mastery?
All coaches go through various stages of coaching mastery. Once you identify where you’re at, you can begin to build the skills needed to move to the next stage.
This quiz is based on real-life case studies compiled from years of working with coaches inside The Coach Certificate & Mentorship Program!
When you receive your results, you’ll also get your matching case study from the STRIVE Case Studies to see where you fit in the stages of coaching mastery.
Ready to tackle your challenges and move on to the next level in YOUR coaching practice?
The STRIVE Model of Coaching Mastery quiz will help you identify your level of coaching mastery by matching you with case studies compiled from years of working with coaches inside The Coach Certificate & Mentorship Program so you can easily see where you fit!
When you complete the quiz, you’ll get:
- Your matching case study,
- Specific strengths & challenges aligned to your result;
- Suggested next steps for each stage;
Plus the Case Study Document includes:
- Case studies leveled by coaching mastery;
- A framework to identify essential stages of professional growth & key areas to focus on in your professional learning;
- Alignment with the THRIVE Model for a Successful Coaching Culture;
- Space for you to reflect & prioritize so you can take action immediately!
You’ll go straight to the Quiz, and get the Case Studies by email.
How did you start building a coaching culture… without coaches (at first)?
Leigh says…
It was always about students, teacher felt like the time was valued because it was embedded in their work.
In Budapest we actively created a culture of learning.
We looked to the Cultural Forces Ron Richart’s work. We…
- started with Learning Walks,
- created an open door feeling (which grew over time),
- began giving each other feedback using the common language of the Cultural Forces, based on the classroom.
First, we created an open collaborative learning culture. Then we added a coaching position.
We developed a process of Professional Inquiry Cycles where teachers had their own questions about their students and their practice, and had coaches to support their work.
Leadership support in this process is essential.
The message has to be clear that this is safe, a place to take risks, we want you to be experimenting and trying new things with students. When teachers hear that, they feel safe to try something new and the value is about me learning and students seeing me as a learner.
When I was co-teaching we would always tell the students, we’re inquiring into this together, we’re interested in… We need your input to see what’s working and what’s not.
There is a misconception that coaches are experts and teachers are coming in to fix you, so when teachers ask for my answer, I would never answer. The biggest challenge coaches face is that teachers see them as a problem solver. Teachers are very capable at figuring out what’s best for their students.
Watch the Clip
If you’re ready to build a coaching culture, join us for one of our courses for coaches!
Workshops for Instructional Coaches
To continue your learning, try one of our FREE workshops where you’ll be able to dig deeper into the concepts in this post, and get a peek at all of our courses for coaches.
We have workshops (and courses) to support coaches at every stage of their career: from educators curious about coaching, to new and aspiring coaches making the move from classroom to coach; to current coaches ready to be more intentional and strategic in their practice; to established coaches leveraging their coaching experience to lead.
You can them all on our coachbetter website at coachbetter.tv/workshops
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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