Growth Coaching and the Professional Learning Cycle

 Our school uses the 'C2C' (Coach2Coach) model as part of our appraisal process.  When I first started as Principal, I could see that teachers valued the process and enjoyed the learning achieved through this approach.  I knew growth coaching was a system I needed to learn and fast, so I enrolled in the Introduction to Leadership Coaching course facilitated by The Education Group.  It just so happened that the previous principal of our school now worked as a facilitator of coaching with this group, so I was fortunate to have her guiding this two day workshop.  The workshop served as a good introduction to understanding the process and benefits of it to my staff, however as a newby to coaching, my skills in this as apposed to mentoring, which I was more familiar with, needed a lot of work.   I felt as though I stumbled through the process with the poor teachers who were my coachees.  My questioning techniques were very poor and I couldn't help myself in giving advice as sessions went on.  I knew I wasn't doing it right and apologised to my coachee on a number of occasions but she was gracious in working with me throughout the year.

This year, I made it a goal to work on my coaching skills and further highlight coaching as a means for PLD and inquiry with our staff.  We had 8 staff members, both new and old who had not been on coaching PLD so we made the decision to get them started through the Video Enhanced Coaching workshops. Unfortunately, COVID had a hand in postponing these workshops as the year progressed, so it wasn't until term 3 that we managed to attend our courses.  While those staff partook in video coaching, I began the level 2&3 accredited coaching course.  These courses are intended to grow the skills of teachers involved and further embed the value of the coaching programme at our school.                                              For me there was plenty to take away from the 2 day workshop I attended at Level 2 of accreditation.  My understanding of the process is much clearer and with that so too is my understanding of the role of a coach.  We unpacked the different types of support given across different spaces i.e: Counselling, training, mentoring, consulting and coaching.  That clarity gave me a much improved understanding of how the questioning worked in the coaching process.  I feel much more confident in how to question my coachee and the benefits of coaching compared to mentoring. 

We were asked to identify an imaginary 'board of directors' - a small group of people you would select as a board of leaders you most admire - it could be anyone in the world.  I went all out and listed Jacinda Adern, Michelle Obama, Brene Brown, Maya Angelou - to name a few.  We then identified qualities these people had that you considered admirable in a leader/coach.  Top of the list for me was trustworthy, I felt that all of these people gained my trust through their honesty of experience, their passion for what they believe in and their willingness to share it...and their vulnerability in doing so.  By unpacking this, I was made more aware of the importance of trust as a coach and made me consider how I can gain the trust of my coachee.                                        The topic of a 'Coaching way of being' was also interesting and gave me heightened awareness of what that means and looks like.  I reflected on whether I had a coaching way of being as a school leader and now have my own areas to work on within this.  I realised that I have a pretty healthy unconditional positive regard for most things - I try to keep this focus for staff otherwise negativity from the top will only drag everyone down.  I do know that mindfulness and growth mindset need to be more openly practiced with staff to imbed it in the culture of the school.  This is something I want to work on within my own leadership practice.                                                                There is still much to done on my coaching journey, but I feel after this workshop, I am now on my way to growing my own coaching 'way of being'.  

Being prepared...Media Training.

Being in the role of principal, learning and leadership are at the forefront of everything we do.  Most principals are happy to work in the background, completely focused on their students, teachers and community.  Probably one of the biggest jobs that I'm sure all principals would rather avoid is being the face of the school in front of media.  We all want the best for our schools but as I'm sure we've all seen over the years, stuff happens that is not always in the best interest of school and Principals are faced with scrutiny in the media.

With COVID being at the forefront of the current media cycle, school leaders have been contacted to seek comment around the Government and Ministries of Health and Education's handling of the pandemic within a school setting.  I was contacted by a journalist from ONEnews to comment on the disruption, barriers and concerns I was facing as a school leader during COVID.  Being inexperienced in working with media, I was reluctant to make a comment, so gave a very general apology for being very busy in managing our pandemic plan so was unavailable for an interview.  Whew...dodged that interview but this highlighted for me the need to be prepared if a brush with the media ever did eventuate.  So after seeking some advice from my BP mentor I was guided to Mr Pete Burdon, media consultant.  I sought his course outline and costings and then shared the information with three other principals in my CoL and proceeded to engage his services for an in-house media workshop.

It was an intense course where we were given a variety of scenarios and were filmed carrying out dummy interviews.   I appreciated the opportunity to review each interview, all the while unpacking and highlighting aspects of my responses I could improve on or in some cases avoid all together.  Doing the interviews with my fellow principals gave us a shared understanding of interview techniques, and insight into what reporters may be looking for and how they may take your responses and rework them possibly to your detriment.

My biggest takeout from the day was unquestionably the three 'R's - Regret - Respond - Reassure.  

REGRET - without apologising/saying sorry which indicates blame, show regret for the scenario/situation and understanding for how the 'wronged' party may be feeling.

RESPOND - indicate how you/the school/the board intend to correct the situation, what will be put in place, actions to be undertaken.

REASSURE - give parties reassurance that measures are being put in place, the situation is being delt with and that health/safety/security is paramount in our minds for our students/staff/whanau/community.

Keeping a level head, giving an initial general response in order to create breathing space for developing amore concise, thoughtful and accurate reply is important to avoid serious fallout.  It's also important to seek help from advisers when unsure or not confident.  If you're ever in a situation where media seek comment or show interest, it's not beneficial to try to put interviews off completely as that could give the media opportunity to mould the story.  It's better to get in front of the story and steer your narrative than give media range to modify or sensationalise aspects of it.

This was a workshop definitely worth taking and the learning is something myself and my team of principals will continue to revisit and practice.