In this #coachbetter episode Kim talks with Margaret Park. Margaret is an education equity consultant and school leader and Kim attended one of her sessions at the EARCOS Leadership Conference last year. Her session was so insightful and Kim made so many connections to instructional coaching that Kim knew she would have so much more to share with you, too!

In this episode Margaret and Kim talk about…

What it means to be inclusive
How coaches and leaders can recognize their positionality
Engaging those who may not be interested in exploring their positionality
How coaches and leaders can be intentional about bringing a lens of equity and inclusion into their daily practices
How coaches and leaders can work together to create inclusive workplace cultures

This episode is full of concrete strategies and practices that you can use immediately to powerfully impact your own practice and your school culture. We all have a responsibility to create inclusive spaces, and coaches can be a big part of creating that culture in our schools.

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Show Notes

Please tell us about your background as an educator

Started teaching in NYC Public School, self-contained Special Education. Wanted to have a mental health lens and switched into counseling, ended up getting my license as a school counselor. In Boston and then Seoul Foreign School in Seoul. Did middle school and elementary counseling and English as an Additional Language. Then AP. Realized there was more need for representation in leadership in particular through an equity lens. “How do we create inclusive environments?” Transitioned to consulting.

What does it mean to be inclusive? How might coaches and leaders be “missing” elements of designing for inclusivity without realizing it?

Being inclusive means creating environments where everyone can thrive just as they are. They can come into a space without leaving any parts of themselves behind. Students, all faculty, and parents should feel like they belong.

Being inclusive rarely just comes naturally, even the strongest teachers and leaders might miss it. We have to create a culture of feedback. Used to be safe, then brave spaces, now Accountable spaces. Every person is accountable for their words and attitudes and behaviors in the spaces their in.

It is essential to be aware of your own biases. What you bring into the coaching experience is important. Effective coaching conversations are when the coaching partner can call out behaviors or bias.

When working with, leading or developing teams, what are key elements to consider when we are working towards being both inclusive and equitable?

Creating a culture of giving and receiving feedback: using protocols. Come into the meeting and have different ways for folks to communicate: solo reflection time, you cares, group work; little things that create an environment of safety. Forms of feedback: google form, spoken feedback. Different ways for people to be comfortable. Can directly ask: What is the most effective way to get feedback for this community?

Creating space for storytelling. Can be very simple like, “What’s your favorite way to play as a child” – took only 3 minutes. Just about planting seeds. A school I know did storytelling evenings.

Deep identity work. Understanding ourselves takes intentionality, knowing who you are. You need to do this work as teachers and leaders before teaching this to students. When you understand yourself you can really begin to listen to other peoples stories.

How can coaches and leaders recognize their own positionality to be more inclusive in their work – at the individual and group level?

Attend a workshop on identity.

Coaches and leaders can be more intentionally inclusive by thinking about the identities you think about the most often and the least often, and why. For example, I think a lot about gender and race. However, I don’t often think about being able bodied.

Sylvia Duckworth: Wheel of Power and Privilege. Where you identity might hold privilege and power in different contexts – it will be different based on the context.

Systems: who does this system work for, who does it not work for, who created them. When I look at systems, I can see who benefits and who doesn’t. This is a place where we can find if some groups have less privilege than others.

Diversify what you listen to, read, watch. The more stories you hear in different lenses in different platforms, makes you think about yourself as well.

Do an inventory of your media input monthly to see what you’re exposing yourself to.

What’s YOUR level of coaching mastery?

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Show Notes continued…

How do you get people who might not be interested in this conversation to be “reflective enough” to take the next step?

Assume: most people want to learn, and have good intentions.

Be curious about other people’s stories. Be respectful, you don’t have to agree. We’re going to have emotionally charged conversations. The most successful conversations are when we have protocols so people know how to engage in dialogue. Make protocols the norm.

If that person doesn’t want to engage or says something that makes you pause, you don’t have to answer right away and say “that really stretched my thinking, I’ll get back to you” (from Joel Laban Jr). Let myself pause and then allow myself to say “can you share more about your thinking about that?”

Most people are conflict avoidant so when things get tense, we revert back to what makes us comfortable, that takes a lot of skill. So if there’s opportunity to train a whole staff and student on how to have respectful conversations, it goes a long way. Having a script that you can make your own.

Feeling heard is really important. Use active listening. When people leave a conversation they leave with a feeling. Even if you disagree, if someone feels listened to, that goes a long way. Joel also says “do I want to be right or do I want to be effective?”

What are some ways that instructional coaches can bring a lens of equity and inclusion into their practice on a daily basis? What might we need to prioritize or examine?

Being aware of your biases. It’s important to start with the assumption that we all have them. Where could your biases be, what could that look like in a coaching session, and how could it impact your work. For me, I tend to be more open, friendly and excited when I’m working with Korean Americans because of our similar background. Knowing I have this bias, I have to prepare, I needed to have some checks to make sure that my work is fair across the board. You don’t want people to feel like you like people better than others because of your own biases.

Biases can change, it’s not a one-time thing. If you’re not thinking about it, it’s safe to assume that your biases are likely impacting your work.

When you’re preparing a coaching session, are you designing the session for your coaching partner? Is this space designed for the participants?

How do you see coaches and leaders working together to create inclusive workplace cultures?

Ask the community, using a culture of feedback. I try to design for who I feel is the most marginalized. I tried to design meetings for colleagues who identified as queer, women of color, because those colleagues had a lot of barriers. I made protocols, different ways for folks to participate, facilitated in a way that all voices were heard, making sure there is space to share feedback. Collect the data and make changes for the next meeting. Designing for the most marginalized benefits everyone. Research started with the curb cut effect for people with disabilities.

Personal story about plant-based eating being so difficult in some countries, that when a friend planned a gathering with me in mind, it really touched me, and the plant based food was gone first. I felt so heard and seen and heard

If you have one, we would love to hear a story about when a coaching conversation or experience had an impact on your work (particularly as an educator, but could be in any context).

I was being coached and what made it so powerful, we had a relationship, this person was so empathetic and showed so much care. What this coach did well, was really understand my situation and ask the right questions. She came in prepared with questions. I was frustrated by a leadership issue, I felt like I had tried everything. She paused and said: you’re working in a system that wasn’t created for you, when you understand that it will be easier for you to move forward. That one thought that she shared opened my heart, my eyes, my thoughts and I was able to look through that lens. It became so much easier to navigate the space I was in. I was so thankful. It took a lot of emotional intelligence for her to say that thing at that time. Post that moment, everything changed. Coaching is so powerful. I believe as a school leader I always want to be a coach, it’s coaching relationships that bring transformation. It’s so life giving, beneficial. Anyone who’s coaching, please continue what you’re doing. We should all go through life coaching each other. Students can coach us as we coach them.

If you have coaching skills you become a better friend, a better family member, a better partner, a better person. Everyone can benefit from coaching skills.

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Intentionally Inclusive Practices for Instructional Coaches and Educational Leaders with Margaret Park [299]