Facing Ourselves – Building a Coaching Culture: The Power of Reflection for Adult Learners

In our extremely busy schools, and constantly racing attention-economy, the thought of slowing down and taking time to reflect often feels impossible. When we are so busy, we can’t imagine taking time to pause. But it’s the process of reflection, when we “synthesize, abstract and articulate the key lessons taught by [our] experience” that not only makes us more productive, but builds a sense of self-efficacy (Di Stefano, et all, 2014).

What if, instead of following our instinct to just race through, in fact, the opposite is true: slowing down enables us to be even better? Cultivating a culture of coaching is a powerful way to develop systems and structures that create space to reflect and process learning, for everyone in our school communities. Coaches, and coaching, can provide a framework to slow down our conversations, to deepen our work, build our collective efficacy and create a sense of belonging.

While we all likely have familiarity or experience with the word or concept of “coaching”, our definitions and implementations of a coaching program may be drastically different. However, based on my work with international schools around the world, there are three key elements that need to be in place for coaching to be successful and sustainable over time: clarity, consistency and community. To be sustainable, a coaching culture must reflect the systemic nature and impact of this work.

Over the course of the Fall Leadership Conference, and indeed, our everyday work in our schools, we will have engaged in so much deep learning. This plenary session will invite you into a process of reflection, modeling the work that coaches and coaching can do in our schools. We will take time to synthesize, abstract and articulate our key takeaways from this conference, so that we return our work at school with clarity and intention.

Works cited: Di Stefano, Giada & Gino, Francesca & Pisano, Gary & Staats, Bradley. (2014). Learning by Thinking: How Reflection Aids Performance. SSRN Electronic Journal. 2015. 10.2139/ssrn.2414478.

Cultivating a Thriving Coaching Culture

Teaching and learning is deep work. If we value and recognize the complexity in this work, we need space and time to process and reflect. We can do this by cultivating a coaching culture. However, in the constantly changing landscape of international schools, we see instructional coaching programs come and go.

Unfortunately, not all coaching teams and programs are created equally. We can easily see that coaching is more effective in some schools than others. Some schools are able to sustain a coaching culture, and others fizzle over time. Why, and how, does this happen?

After working with school leaders and coaches around the world for the last decade, I’ve learned that many of our schools share some common problems. There is a lack of clarity around the concept and definition of instructional coaching, and a common misunderstanding that the act of hiring coaches will create a coaching culture. The reality is that it takes more than staffing to make coaching successful and sustainable over time. It’s essential that schools recognize the systemic nature of this work, to build a coaching culture that will last the test of time.

This workshop highlights concrete steps that schools can take to build a coaching program that makes a deep impact on teaching and learning. We will unpack the three elements required for coaching to be sustainable over time: clarity, consistency and community (as defined in the Thrive Model for Sustainable Instructional Coaching).

Throughout the session, we’ll explore current research and trends in instructional coaching, particularly the recent research conducted by the Association for the Advancement of Instructional Coaching in International Schools (AAICIS), as well as stories and experiences from school leaders from international schools around the world on my podcast, #coachbetter.

You’ll walk away with concrete action steps you can take in your school community immediately to work towards developing a coaching culture – wherever your school is at right now.

Visit the FLC24 Resource Library to access any handouts and resources speakers have shared for their session(s). Please check back for late additions.