1. Leadership and Coaching
Nick Burnett

2. Structure
• Why?
• What?
• How?
• Discussion and self reflection

3. Quotes to ponder 1
• ‘Elite athletes crave
feedback educators don't’
Chris Wardlaw, Victoria

4. Why coaching?
• Can be customisedandprivate
• Can be ‘just in time’ andflexibly
scheduled
• Provides for continuity
• Provides for accountability
• Provides support while new skills are
being mastered

5. Coaching is a way of
helping people learn
• The sharing of theory or description of a new skill 10%
• Demonstration or modelling of a new skill or strategy 12-13%
• Practice trying out the skill 13-15%
• Feedback is given 18-19%
• As the new idea or skill is applied follow-up
help or coaching is given 95%
Joyce & Showers, 1998

6. Research
Coaching offers significant benefits for
practitioners and pupils.
• For pupils there are enhanced: learning
outcomes, motivation, organisation,
questioning skills and an increased choice of
learning strategies including collaboration.

7. Research
• For teachers there is enhanced: self-confidence,
willingness and capacity to learn and change,
knowledge and understanding, a wider repertoire of
teaching and learning strategies and increased
confidence in the power of teaching to make a
difference.
• For school leaders there is enhanced: leadership of
learning. That is all of the benefits for pupils and
teachers, together with enhanced organisational
effectiveness.
(National Framework for Mentoring and Coaching, DfES,
2005)

8. Coaching?

9. Coaching is not about:
• giving answers or advice
• making judgements
• offering counselling
• creating dependency
• imposing agendas or initiatives
• confirming long-held prejudices

10. One Minute Connection
• Find a coaching partner
• Discuss what you already know about
coaching

11. Coaching Is….
…unlocking a person’s potential to
maximise their own performance.
It’s more often about helping them
to learn rather than teaching them.
John Whitmore, Coaching for Performance.

12. Quotes to ponder 2
• ‘Enlightenment lies not in
the answer but in the
questions’
Socrates

13. The right answer?
• “Yourown insight is much more powerful than my
advice”
• “... a less optimal solution the coachee develops
often produces better results than the ‘right answer’
coming from the coach.”
Tony Stoltzfus, leading coach trainer

14. Coaching is about achieving goals
Where are How will you Where are
you today? get there? you going?
Internal
State
Existing Political Cultural Desired
State State State State
Technical
State
© growth coaching international

15. Building Awareness and Responsibility
Awareness Responsibility
• growing awareness changes • commitment &
the game. It moves us from performance arises from
being acted upon to being in choice
a position to act on the issue
or challenge. • taking responsibility &
ownership for change
© growth coaching international

16. Solution Focused Questions
1. Reframe problems and createmovement
2. Look at strengths to build resourcefulness
3. Focus on possibilities

17. Strengths and Weaknesses

18. Inquiry Creates Change
It is argued that inquiry and change are
simultaneous. Change begins the moment we
start asking questions.
The first questions we ask in a situation are
particularly important, since we form initial
thoughts, beliefs and impressions going
forward.

20. Words Create Worlds
“ We live in continuous conversation with
each other and ourselves. Through
conversation we form and reform our life
experiences and events; we create and
recreate our meanings and
understandings.”
Notes based on Kelm JB (2005) Appreciative Living. Venet Wake Forest NC

21. The importance of building
relationships
Without trust and support,
feedback = noise

22. “The task of leadership is to
create an alignment of
strengths…making a
system’s weaknesses
irrelevant”.
--Peter Drucker

23. Leadership
• ‘Good leaders inspire people
to have confidence in them.
Great leaders inspire people to
have confidence in
themselves’
Sam Ewing

24. Leadership and Coaching
• The coaching model is a professional
partnership with reciprocity of learning and
co-construction of new knowledge. The leader
is a learner in this model
Jan Robertson

25. Leading Coaching in Schools
• Leaders have a moral responsibility to
promote everyone’s learning, both adults and
pupils.
• Leaders have a moral imperative to develop
the next generation of school leaders.
• High-quality coaching in schools supports
professional development, leadership
sustainability and school improvement.

26. Leading Coaching in Schools
• Leaders therefore have a responsibility for
providing the processes, structures and resources
to support coaching.
• Central to these propositions is the role of
learning conversations, which make tacit
knowledge explicit and engages staff in open and
honest feedback.
• Leaders should model the dialogue and personal
approaches that create a culture of high-quality
coaching interactions across the school.

27. Learning Culture
• What type of learning culture
are you developing?
• Our own practices determine
the type of culture and
practices around us.
Jan Robertson

28. Leadership Impact on Learning
Culture
• The single most important lesson a
leader can learn is to understand
the impact their behaviour has on
others.
• It's not just what you do it's how
you do it.
Shaun McCarthy, Human Synergistics

29. Coaching practice in schools is built
on four essential qualities :
1. a desire to make a difference to student
learning
2. a commitment to professional learning
3. a belief in the abilities of colleagues
4. a commitment to developing emotional
intelligence
NCSL ‘Leading Coaching in Schools’ 2005

30. Action Implications
• 1: To develop a system, first develop yourself
• 2: Make sense of the whole
• 3: Create systems
• 4: Focus on principles
• 5: Equip staff with coaching skills
• 6: Review and reward good coaching practice
• 7: Use and build external links and networks
NCSL 2005

31. Action Implication 1
To develop a system, first develop yourself.
As an individual consider the following questions.
• How do I know how open staff are with me about
their work?
• Which staff give me upward praise and critical
feedback?
• Do I have other information about my work with
others (eg 360-degree feedback)?
• How can I make myself more alert to interference
from power relationships?

32. Action Implication 1
• School leaders are used to operating under
pressure, providing solutions, drawing (and
sometimes jumping to) conclusions from what is
said to them.
• This can get in the way of listening, hearing and
understanding spoken and unspoken messages.
• ACTIVE LISTENING
• What is the single most important takeaway you
have gained from the conference?
• What is one thing you are going to do next week
to implement this?

33. Action Implication 2
Making sense of the whole
• Take time with staff on understanding and
agreeing the following:
– the rationale for coaching
– what is needed for this school
– the school’s approach

34. Action Implication 3
Create systems
• Coaching does not need to be an additional initiative. It
can be an intrinsic element of other developmental
and school improvement initiatives that already exist.
• It will be important to agree internal coaching
relationships:
– as part of leadership and management activity
– as part of senior staff roles with a teaching and learning
responsibility
– as part of teaching and learning PD/PL
– as part of specific coaching that forms an element of the
schools approach to supporting and developing staff

35. Action Implication 4
Focus on principles:
• “How do we ensure a culture of appropriate
challenge?”
• “We focused on three things: the principles, a
learning contract and a code of ethics.
Working on things like coaching question
stems – not a script, just suggestions that
people can build on was really helpful.”
(Leading Practice seminar delegate)

36. Action Implication 5
Equip staff with coaching skills
How can we make sure we do it well?
• School leaders will need to consider a number
issues in building capacity for coaching in their
school.
– investing in skills development
– being clear about the core skills
– the importance of evidence
– agreeing a system of coaching

37. The GROWTH coaching system is…
relationships building trust
g goalswhat do you need to achieve?
r realitywhat is happening now?
o optionswhat could you do?
w will what will you do?
t tactics how and when will you do it?
h habits how will you sustain your success?
results celebrating the results

38. Action Imperative 6
Review and reward good coaching practice
‘If coaching is framed as an entitlement for staff,
and staff increasingly view coaching as a
potentially powerful vehicle for professional
learning, they will be keen to offer feedback
on its effectiveness.
It is, therefore, possible to develop monitoring
and quality assurance feedback on coaching
across the school.’

39. Action Imperative 7
Use and build external links and networks
‘Schools with highly developed cultures of
coaching commonly have links with other
organisations and networks that support their
work and provide new expertise, knowledge
and stimulus for reflection and development.
Such links and networks help sustain and
develop coaching within the school.’

40. • Coaching now occupies a place of honour on
the management stage and is destined to be
the leadership approach of the twenty-first
century.
• (Belasco 2000: foreword)

41. The Ideal Leader of Coaching
Start…..
What do I need to do more of?
Stop…..
Anything I need to do less of?
Continue…..
What do I need to make sure I
continue doing?

42. Coaching should never be viewed as the flavour
of the month or as just another new initiative.
It is more importantly another step in the
ongoing evolution of participative human
interaction.
As such it applies equally to leadership, to
management, to parenting and to teaching
and learning.
Coaching demands authenticity, honesty and
openness. It delivers mutual respect, support,
trust and a sense of self-belief.
John Whitmore

43. Coaching is not the answer in all
situations but always consider is this
the best time…

44. Social Media Marketing or a
desire to be needed??
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Nick Burnett CCP
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45. Thanks for listening…
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