Making Instructional Coaching Irresistible

Recently on the #coachbetter podcast, I spoke with Leigh Miller, Deputy Head of School at Munich International School, and she said something that has been resonating with me ever since. She said, “the strongest teachers should be working with coaches, spreading the word organically, saying ‘this is the best PD I can have, because it’s about me.’ You want it to become so irresistible.” (Cofino, 2024).

Whether as instructional coaches, or as school leaders, this is the goal we’re striving for. We want to build a culture of coaching where educators choose to opt in to coaching experiences, and where coaching is seen as valuable, purposeful and relevant. Due to the complexities of the international school environment, including our transient population, developing a coaching culture is an ongoing process. Each year we need to refine and re-affirm what has already been established, while simultaneously deepening the understanding of coaching throughout our community.

Wherever you are in this process, this article highlights three key elements that Leigh and I discussed on the podcast, that will help continue to build a coaching culture. These elements are aligned to the Thrive Model for Sustainable Instructional Coaching and discussed in the many interviews conducted on the #coachbetter podcast (several of which feature in this article). The Thrive Model includes three key elements for sustainable instructional coaching: clarity, consistency and community. In this article, I’ll thread together Leigh’s key insights, as well as a few other relevant quotes from the #coachbetter podcast, in alignment with the three elements of the Thrive Model, starting with clarity.

1: Ensure Clarity 

Clarity around instructional coaching is essential for coaches, school leaders, and teachers. As Leigh says on the podcast, we need a “common understanding of what coaching is with a clear purpose and clear process” (Cofino, 2024). Clarity around the purpose and process of coaching is what empowers teachers to make the choice to opt-in to an instructional coaching conversation or cycle. This clarity begins by defining the purpose, mission, vision, and definition of instructional coaching with school leaders, and then continues through every interaction coaches may take with their coaching partners throughout the year, every year.

Opening up to a coaching conversation requires teachers to be vulnerable, to express their insecurities and potential challenges. Therefore, it’s critical that all teachers understand that the coaching role is non-evaluative, and that coaches are a non-judgmental thought-partner, focused on helping individual teachers reach their goals - for student learning, and for themselves, professionally. This may seem simple, but it’s worth repeating and demonstrating time and time again. Leigh highlights this sentiment in our interview, noting, “Every year we need to reinforce the purpose behind the program, and what it looks like, sounds like, and feels like here at this school” (Cofino, 2024).

On another episode of the #coachbetter podcast, with Samantha Olson-Wyman and Stephanie Cifuentes, both at the American School of Guatemala at the time, they also highlighted the importance of re-launching year after year. Stephanie said, “We can’t launch the same way every year because it becomes dull. Coaches are always looking for creative ways to launch: formal presentations walking through the steps, testimonials, panels, mini-super intense personal reflection engagements, and modeling coaching” (Cofino, 2024).

This process of developing and re-stating a clear vision for instructional coaching is essential for teachers to understand how it can work for them - and why they might want to opt in now. Understanding that instructional coaching is non-evaluative is a key element of creating a safe space for vulnerability. 

Building clarity in a coaching program is essential to its success and sustainability over time. An early step in the process is aligning the vision, mission, and purpose with school leaders. Once that purpose is clear, we have many opportunities to share this purpose and process in a variety of ways, at the individual, team, department, division and school-wide level. Maintaining a focus on clarity in your coaching program is essential before expecting a coaching culture to grow - which is why Finding Clarity is the first phase of the Thrive Model.

2: Implement Consistently

When schools are able to build in systems or structures to empower coaches to support their coaching partners with consistency, it helps teachers make the decision to opt in. When reflecting on her positive experiences with coaching in multiple schools, Leigh notes the importance of schools making it easy for teachers to work with coaches, saying that “anything a school can do to show the learning we value: learning from each other, and with our students” and then taking action to make it as easy as possible, by providing time and space for that kind of learning. (Cofino, 2024). Having ongoing opportunities to engage in coaching experiences, like conversations, learning walks, or a structured peer feedback process, helps teachers discover the value of the process.

Leigh also highlighted the importance of providing time for coaching. She advises that coaching “can’t be just one more thing,” instead it has to be “built into planning periods or team meetings so they’re all experiencing coaching together, and coaching becomes part of the fabric of the life at school” (Cofino, 2024). Having structured time for coaching means that teachers don’t have to choose between multiple opportunities in order to opt-in to instructional coaching. 

Along those lines, having a common language and process for coaching conversations creates consistency between coaches and teachers. Because the language of coaching can be a little vague, and the phrase “coach” or “coaching” usually brings other connotations to mind for most adults (often sports coaching, or executive coaching, for example), it’s critical to have a structure or framework for the elements of coaching within your school. 

On another episode of the #coachbetter podcast, Diane Sweeney, author of Student-Centered Coaching, reinforced this sentiment, saying, “coaching needs to be consistent. Teachers need to know that there’s a predictable structure to this work” (Cofino 2022).  This consistency helps teachers have a common understanding of what coaching is (and isn’t), because all their interactions with coaches will follow the same structure and protocol. 

Over many seasons of the #coachbetter podcast, it’s clear that when schools have implemented a consistent framework across all instructional coaching disciplines (from technology, to literacy, to math), teachers are more confident about the value and purpose of the coaching role. This consistency helps them understand the process and enables them to be vulnerable in coaching conversations because they recognize the focus of the work they do with coaches. Developing and implementing consistent practices ensures that coaching programs continue to grow and thrive over time.

3. Cultivate Community

When we think about coaching becoming irresistible, it means it will have become part of the fabric of the school. Leigh says, “It’s not just the role, it’s the culture, it’s one of being a learning community. Regular learning walks, learning labs, opportunities to inquire together and learn together, which fostered this passion and excitement for learning from and with each other, with students involved” (Cofino, 2024). Creating a community around coaching begins from a foundation of trust. We can build that trust by emphasizing that we are working towards a shared goal: improving student learning.

Leigh notes the importance of focusing on students and student learning, highlighting that “coaching should be an empowering structure. Teachers want to talk about their students, that’s who they’re there for; when coaching is always about the students, that’s worth the time. When a meeting starts with student data it helps you to know that you’re not just teaching the curriculum, you’re teaching students.” (Cofino, 2024). Regardless of the coaching model you chose, keeping the focus and purpose of student learning helps both the coach and coaching partner come together around shared goals.

One hurdle that both coaches and teachers can struggle with is the perception that coaching is about “fixing” teachers or focused on what teachers do. If we can switch the perspective to make our coaching practice about what we see students doing, and what we would like learning to look like, sound like, and feel like in the classroom, this provides a shared goal for both the teacher and the instructional coach.  

Steve Barkley explains the evolution of his thinking on this topic in a recent episode of the #coachbetter podcast (airing Oct 2024) when he says, “the biggest change in my history is now when I talk about coaching, I focus on what students are doing. Early in my career, I would have mostly looked at teachers” (Cofino 2024). On Steve’s previous appearance on the podcast in 2019, he was already grappling with the “expert” dynamic present in the coaching role, and how that leads to a coaches “fix” teachers mindset. He said “very often expertise gets in the way of coaching… When working with an expert, coaching becomes more like mentoring…The key is for the coach to build the model that’s coming from the request of the teacher. The model is based on who the coach is working with.” (Cofino 2019). When we are genuinely focused on our coaching partner’s needs, it becomes easier to step away from the inherent “advice monster” or unintentional “fix it” mindset that many coaches struggle with. Keeping the focus on student learning helps demonstrate how coaching contributes to the whole school community and makes it easy for teachers to share about their work with coaches and its impact on student learning.

We know that relationships are built on a foundation of trust, and helping teachers feel safe is what encourages risk. In all of our actions we need to provide an environment that allows teachers to be vulnerable. Leigh points out that teachers must “know what happens in the coaching cycle stays in the coaching cycle unless you want to share it out” (Cofino, 2024). Likewise, Stephanie Cifuentes says on her episode of the podcast, “We model and reinforce at all times that coaches are not reporting anything back to the admin. Teachers hear from each other about how incredible the work is and that makes them want to join in” (Cofino, 2024).

This works best when you have a school culture of trust and risk taking, but even if you’re working in a more traditional school environment, you can become a “lone island of trust” that Tico Oms, then middle school Dean of Students at International School Bangkok in Thailand, describes in his #coachbetter episode. “If the overall culture isn’t great, the coach has to build it themselves, they have to be an ‘island of trust.’ To build that island you have to show that you’re competent, you’re worth listening to, you have rapport and relationship with your colleagues, and you have integrity, so you’re safe to work with” (Cofino, 2019). Creating a safe space to engage in professional growth builds collective efficacy and creates a sense of community around learning.

Once you have the three elements of clarity, consistency, and community, coaching can begin to become “irresistible!” However, this is an intentional and ongoing process that requires specific focus and attention to each element of the Thrive Model every year of your coaching program. If you’re ready to dig in to creating a thriving coaching culture, set yourself up for success by following the Thrive Model. If a coaching program exists in your school, but you find yourself stuck in one of the “gaps” between partial and overall success, you can use the Thrive Model to understand where you may need to place more emphasis. Find a variety of resources to support implementation of the Thrive Model here edurolearning.com/thrive.

References

Cofino (2024, March 6). Untangling Instructional Coaching, Evaluation & Appraisal with Samantha Olson-Wyman and Stephanie Cifuentes  (234). [Audio podcast episode] In #coachbetter. Eduro Learning. 

https://coachbetter.tv/episode-234/

Cofino (2024, September 11). Building Structures for Instructional Coaching Success with Leigh Miller (250). [Audio podcast episode] In #coachbetter. Eduro Learning.    https://coachbetter.tv/episode-250/

Cofino, K. (Host). (Publishing October 2024). Planning Backward for Instructional Coaching Success with Steve Barkley. [Audio podcast episode]. In #coachbetter. Eduro Learning. https://coachbetter.tv 

Cofino, K. (Host). (2022, January 12). How to Coach Reluctant Teachers with Diane Sweeney (144). [Audio podcast episode]. In #coachbetter. Eduro Learning. https://coachbetter.tv/episode-144/

Cofino, K. (Host). (2019, January 16). We’re All on the Same Team: A School Leader’s Perspective with Tico Oms (18).  [Audio podcast episode] In #coachbetter. Eduro Learning.   https://coachbetter.tv/episode-18/ 

Cofino, K. (Host). (2019, October 2). How to Personalize Instructional Coaching with Steve Barkley (55). [Audio podcast episode]. In #coachbetter. Eduro Learning. https://coachbetter.tv/episode-55/