Have you ever intentionally looked for patterns and trends in your coaching data for the year?
I was just talking to our current members of the Coach global cohort and we talked about how important it is to just start collecting data and building in a practice of reflection – even if you are worried that you won’t have “enough” data. The data you collect right now can become your baseline data to refer back to in future years.
On that call I shared this infographic.
Even if you’re not sure what data to collect, or what to do with the results, waiting until you feel ready just delays your progress. When you start now, you get the opportunity to:
- collect that baseline data,
- learn what kinds of questions you want to ask, and
- better understand how to analyze and unpack the data you find
And that’s what we’re talking about in today’s episode!
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 Study Document via email.
What patterns might you find?
Today we’re going to share some reflection stories that we’ve heard (or experienced ourselves)
Of course, these reflections don’t have to wait until the end of the year. Throughout the year, in The Coach, clients are sharing the stories about what they uncovered when they took some time to reflect on the data they collected.
When they take time to reflect on their coaching data, they have shared stories about:
- Not realizing how rarely they were working with a specific population (ie: didn’t work with PE at all)
- Realized they were in a consulting stance most of the coaching conversations they were having
- Better understanding of how they were spending their time overall – seeing if it was mostly in support of coaching work, or “other duties as assigned”
- Realizing that once they started communicating about the role, more people started being interested in working with them
- Getting a better understanding of common trends that teachers are interested in
- How often they ended up skipping the reflection part of the coaching cycle
- Getting a better understanding of the the impact on students
- Recognizing a turning point in the outcome of coaching conversations when they’re planned in advance (ie: specific questions do have a powerful outcome in coaching conversations)
When you step back and look at the data over an extended period of time (maybe even the entire year), you might begin to see some patterns. You might even feel like you know what you’re going to see, but the data might surprise you.
This is why we’re always encouraging you, and our participants in The Coach, to consistently collect data about your practice. It can be easy to think we know what’s happening, but having concrete data about what is actually happening is really the only way to know for sure.
It’s worth pointing out that data doesn’t have to be just numbers, it can be coaching stances,
- topics or trends, who you’re working with,
- reflections or annotations on coaching conversations,
- stages of coaching cycles,
- feedback form surveys,
- emails or hallway conversations.
If any of these sound familiar to you, or you’ve experienced some of these in your own practice, or you’re curious what the patterns might reveal in your practice, you might find some prompts helpful in your reflection. Here are a few of our favorite prompts that might help you see the patterns in your data:
- Who did I work with?
- What kind of work did I do? (Consulting collaborating coaching)
- What was the outcome? For teachers, students, yourself or the school
- What was the opportunity cost? (there’s only limited time & effort, so there’s always something that we aren’t able to do, because we focused on our time and effort in one place).
- What stories can I share? (for a case study to share, with permission)
- How did all the little things contribute to the bigger picture of the work?
These might prompt some “aha” moments like we shared earlier. And if they do, we’d love to hear about them! Please drop us a comment below if you’re watching on YouTube, or send a message on Instagram or leave a comment below.
Once you have those realizations, you might also want to think about:
- What can I celebrate?
- Did the accomplishments for this year align with your goals?
- What can you adjust for next year? Who might you need to talk to?
- How can I do more of what’s working? And learn how to say no to what’s not?
As you’re thinking about your reflection from this year, please remember that it’s not all going to be sunshine and rainbows. It’s ok to uncover things that are unexpected or that you might want to change – that’s exactly how we grow (and that’s why having the support of a mentor and global cohort is so powerful – we talk through all of these “aha” moments throughout the year). That’s what’s so powerful about data – it gives us an opportunity for understanding more. You’ll have “aha” moments, and then the next step is to decide what to do with them – that’s one of the ways having a mentor for support in the Coach can have such a powerful impact on your practice.
As we were prepping for this episode, a few “inspirational” quotes sprang to mind:
- Draw a map with a pencil and make sure you have an eraser
- Hope for the best, plan for the worst
- Always plan for the fact that no plan ever goes according to plan (Simon Sinek)
Once you have these aha moments, it’s so valuable to have a community of support to process them. These aha moments can also give others and idea, or encouragement to try something new. Most importantly, it helps you realize that you’re not alone. Even though our situations are unique, our experiences are often much more similar than we might think.
You can’t have an “aha” moment if you haven’t taken a risk, or challenged your own thinking. That’s the support you get in The Coach.
What’s one thing you’re curious about uncovering in your data this year? Which of these prompts might you try in your reflection? Let us know in the comments below!
Watch the Video
And if you’re ready to start being more intentional about the data you track and how you analyse and reflect on that data, we can support you with that inside The Coach Certificate and Mentorship Program – which by the way was just renamed to the Thrive Coaching Certificate.
I know, it’s a small change, hardly even worth mentioning, but it’s very intentional. I want to make sure that even if you’re not in a formal coaching role – in fact if you’re a teacher, informal leader, or administrator passionate about cultivating a coaching culture, this is for YOU!
We have worked with educators in so many different roles in The Coach and the what they all have in common is they all want to
- create magical moments where teachers feel seen, heard, valued, and respected for the experts they are through coaching conversations.
- cultivate a culture where professional growth designed to improve student learning is authentic and alive
- simply start having better conversations and build better relationships with colleagues, students, their families and school leaders.
You can do all of that when you build your coaching practice at the micro level – and develop the systems and structures needed to make it sustainable at the macro level.
That’s what we do in the newly re-named Thrive Coaching Certificate! Learn all about it at edurolearning.com/coach
Ready to create a coaching culture that improves student learning and builds belonging?
Come learn with me!
I help educators, instructional coaches, informal or positional leaders work together to create thriving coaching cultures that improve student learning and build belonging.
Coaching programs based on the Thrive Model, with clarity, consistency and community, can create time and space for educators to feel seen, heard, respected and valued for the experts that they are – creating a sustainable system of educator professional growth that ultimately improves student learning.
For this kind of coaching to thrive we need to focus on both the micro view of your coaching practice and the macro view of your coaching program, so while you’re developing your individual coaching practice you’re also intentionally developing a sustainable coaching culture.
If you’re ready to build this kind of coaching culture in your school community, join us for the Thrive Coaching Certificate program!
Wherever you are in your coaching journey, we can support you!
When you’re ready, there are three key ways we can work together:
- in the Thrive Coaching Certificate,
- in a private mentoring package, or
- through work directly with your school.
Leave a comment below, or reply to any of my emails and let’s start a conversation to see how we can work together to create a thriving coaching culture in your school setting!
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