Schools
A synergy of skills Clare Barnett explores the similarities between being an effective teacher, manager and coach and why this is important. In the ever-demanding world that teachers and leaders within schools face, the role of coaching becomes increasingly important as a means of enabling them to find the most effective way of working with each other, with their pupils and with their staff. If I asked you to create a list of what it takes to be an outstanding teacher today, what would be on your list? Such attributes as ‘well organised’, ‘open to questions’, ‘prepared’, ‘good listener’, ‘committed’, ‘innovative’ and ‘technology literate’ might spring to mind. If I then asked you to compile a similar list of what it takes to be an effective educational manager and/ or leader, how different would that list be? Would your list focus on the outputs of a manager or their inputs – for example, what they need to achieve versus how they achieve their goals? To be ‘organised’, ‘a good listener’ and ‘always planned and prepared’ may well be requirements, but, in a school with a demotivated staff room, roles as well as standards may be very different and another set of skills altogether might be required. The final list I want you to create is one that identifies the skills of an effective coach. Again, what words would you use? ‘A good listener’, ‘strong, challenging questioner’, ‘builds an easy and supportive environment for coaching’, ‘professional’ – these could be the buzzwords here. With all three roles, there are similarities. In none of these areas is it simply about working harder, when we are already working as hard as we can: there are still only 24 hours in a day and seven days in a week. Instead, we need to think about working smarter, and that is where coaching comes in. According to the many theorists who write about leadership and management, the key focus of any effective manager is to achieve the correct balance between task delivery and people development. We know that it is sometimes possible for strong staff to be working towards the wrong goals, or for them to be aiming for the right goals but without the management backing that is necessary to bring staff in the right direction. Whether we look at Adair’s Action Centred Leadership or more recently the Alimo-Metcalfes’ Engaging Leadership, the importance of balancing task focus with an emotionally intelligent leadership style combining authenticity and adaptability has become the Holy Grail. Within the fast-paced, ever changing and highly customer-focused school environment, just managing staff is not enough. The challenge is about how we manage all our stakeholders, from the pupils in the classroom through to parents, governors and the community we operate within. So what makes an effective educational manager? Hales (1986) suggests focusing on these five stages. 1. The importance of ensuring a degree of congruence between actual and expected practices and performance. Do you know and understand what is expected of you, and can you achieve it?
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2. The degree of fit between behaviour and activities on the one hand and tasks and functions on the other. Is the managerial function structured in such a manner as to enable you to be effective? 3. The effectiveness of the manager, not only in their own work, but in overseeing the work of others. Do you have a team with the right skills and abilities to deliver? 4. The effectiveness of the whole management team. Is the whole team capable? 5. The issue of who decides what constitutes the proper management function and defines the managerial tasks, and on what criteria. Where does coaching fit into this discussion, and how can coaching enable me to be a better teacher, manager or leader? Put simply, ‘coaching is a conversation, or series of conversations, one person has with another’ (Starr 2003). Knowles states that ‘learning is the act or process by which behavioural change, knowledge, skills and attitudes are acquired’ (2005). When working in an educational establishment it is important to think through how we are developing our own learning, as well as the teaching and learning of our pupils. Ullrich and Smallwood (2007) discuss the importance of Leadership Brand and the impact that has on the organisational brand. In a highly competitive Independent School market place, the brand of your school needs to be easily identifiable. This enables you as a school to attract the parents and pupils who relate to your brand. A leadership brand occurs when ‘the leader’s knowledge, skills and values focus employee behaviour on the factors that target issues that customers care about.’ So, if we don’t value investing in our staff learning, how can we value the learning of our pupils? Coaching is a learning approach that enables people to develop their behaviour, to find new perspectives, to overcome barriers and unlock doors, and ultimately to become the best version of themselves that they can be. The skills of a coach are like those of a teacher: a good listener with an ability to ask curious questions (without necessarily knowing the answers); someone who can constructively challenge at the same time as offering encouragement and support; who holds the individual to account, keeping them focused and enabling them to see different options and perspectives. Fundamentally, it is a relationship based on a deep level of trust. How familiar are those skills within the classroom? These are the same skills which enable our pupils to become independent learners. Coaching is not only about the development conversations that we have as part of our learning path. It is about the everyday practices that occur within a school – the management briefings, the quick chats on how to solve an issue, the dealing with difficult parents, our annual reviews and so on.
