As an instructional leader, you walk into every conversation with your own agenda.
We all have our To-Do lists, and we all have an urgent need to cross each item off that darned list. It’s what we do…we are educators and if there’s anything we are really great at, it’s getting things done. On more than one occasion, I have been reminded to set my agenda aside and truly listen to the teachers I coach.
On a particularly dreary day, I was hoping to meet with a teacher to discuss her required Professional Development Plan. She had been hired into a position that forced her to complete her Associate’s Degree within the next 3 years. I copied off our official Professional Development Plan form, grabbed the course schedule from our local community college and asked the teacher to prepare by having her unofficial transcript ready for my review. I had certainly prepared in every way possible, as I was hoping to get this crossed off my list today! We were going to have to work together to create a plan for those class offerings that weren’t in the evening, but during class time. She was going to need classroom coverage and a detailed plan to move forward. Thankfully, I was confident that I could help her problem-solve and we could collaborate to create a viable solution.
But, when the teacher walked into the room, I could see in her eyes that she wasn’t ready to address this task at hand. She had something that was heavy on her heart. Something wearing her down. Something causing her shoulders to tense. Potentially something that would stop her from being productive in our conversation. Potentially something that could stop her from thinking critically to create a solution.
When she sat down, I knew I had two options. I could bull forward with my plan to discuss her degree and get this irritating task off my list….or….I could dig deeper to discover where that look in her eyes came from. Which would be the most beneficial in the long term? Getting her Professional Development Plan complete? Or addressing her overwhelming need and her priority? As soon as I asked, “How are things going?” it was evident that she needed support in ways that I would have never known. Recognizing that my agenda for our time together was going to be very different than her agenda was an important epiphany.
As a coach, I have crossed this same scenario time and time again.
Our natural tendency is to get everything done…cross it off our list already. After all, her professional development plan is just one small task on my very long To-Do list. But, if we really want to build a culture and climate where our teachers are empowered to solve their own problems and see us as a resource to do so, we have to address their emotional and mental needs first. I could have easily told her, “Here is what you are going to do,” and quickly wrote up her professional development plan. But, the reality is this: When something doesn’t work for her plan, when something goes wrong, when something fails…she only has me to blame. And it is certain that our plan will not go off without a hitch. Nothing goes off without a hitch. There are always kinks in the system and adjustments that have to be made. Always. Always!
I’m sure you have experienced this same situation. I’m sure you have found yourself in this same dilemma. After my first few years of coaching, I started to picture how each conversation should flow and my mind organized this idea into a continuum. Those thought bubbles organically grew into a fully developed continuum that I still use today. The continuum I developed contains 5 C’s which I call “Coaching Conversation Continuum.” Comforting, Calibrating, Consulting, Collaborating, Coaching. The continuum recognizes that teachers need varying levels of support and that the coach can move teachers along the continuum as the conversation progresses. Some days I can move the teachers along to a level of problem-solving and self-reflection, and other days we simply stay within the level of Comforting because the teacher is carrying much on their shoulders. Eventually we can move forward and progress, but I have learned to recognize that it isn’t necessarily on my timeline.
For this particular teacher and this particularly dready day, our conversation stayed in the Comforting level of “The Coaching Continuum.” I learned that she relies heavily on her faith to help her when she feels overwhelmed. Through our conversation, I learned that she had concerns that I could help with and support her in. Our plan focused on that. We never completed her Professional Development Plan. In fact, it is still on my To-Do list. But, I know that I will get to it and maybe (just maybe) when I schedule another conversation with her and ask, “How are things going?” she will be ready to move along the continuum and think critically about the problem we share.
Interested in learning more about my “Coaching Conversation Continuum?”
For the past five years, this continuum has just lived in my brain filed under “coaching.” I have taken information from trainings & workshops I’ve attended, books I’ve read and my own trials-and-errors, and have developed a user-friendly set of tips & tricks for conversations with teachers. It has taken some time to grow my knowledge and perfect my system, but now, I finally feel prepared to share my coaching knowledge with others! I have been invited to present at the National Head Start Association Annual Conference (check out my session here), where my coaching continuum gets a front row seat! Taking my ideas from my brain and truly organizing them into a continuum that can be used by coaches nation-wide is nothing but a dream come true! The NHSA Conference is just the push I need to complete my continuum and ensure it is show-stopper ready! Stay tuned, as it will also be posted on my Teachers Pay Teachers Site early this spring!
