Executive coaching is a way to support leaders, teachers, and support staff to flourish in schools.
Whether you are looking to hire an executive coach for yourself or want someone to support and develop your team, this article sets out some things you may wish to consider to ensure you get the maximum return on any investment you make.
What is coaching – and is it the service you are looking for?
There is still confusion over what executive coaching is and how this differs from other similar services. Confusion arises as consultancy, training, mentoring, or advisory services can occasionally be mis-marketed or mis-termed in schools as coaching.
While a blended approach may be exactly what you are looking for, having clarity about the type of impact and support you want will help to avoid any misaligned expectations.
Most people are familiar with the concept of mentoring or consultancy: professionals who draw upon their own expertise, knowledge, and industry experience to guide, advise, and offer solutions to help you achieve success in your role.
However, confusion between executive and instructional coaching is rife.
What exactly is executive coaching?
Coaching is essentially a powerful conversation aimed to enhance performance at work. The International Coaching Federation defines coaching as partnering in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires people to maximise their personal and professional potential.
The process of coaching often unlocks previously untapped sources of imagination, productivity, and leadership.
Executive coaching specifically refers to coaching on topics related to a person’s role, business, or workplace. In schools, coaching topics may include career progression, leadership development, overcoming work-related or wellbeing challenges – including managing workload, and developing stronger relationships with colleagues (especially where there may be difficult conversations to be had).
Coaching is a competency-based model – it assumes that the head that holds the problem also holds the best solution for that issue. A coach provides the space and structure for you to explore topics and goals that are important to you.
During the session you will have the full attention and support of your coach – however, they are not there to tell you what to do. Their role is to help you make informed choices and take the practical steps that will help you to achieve your goals.
They will listen and ask questions and where appropriate may challenge, reflect, use silences, or use specific tools or activities to help you overcome your challenges, encourage you to consider situations from alternative viewpoints, and help you to gain clarity of thought and to become “unstuck”.
Instructional coaching in schools has a laser focus and aims to improve a specific aspect of a teacher’s practice. The instructional coach has expertise in the aspect of teaching and learning that they are coaching on and following an observation it is the coach that will direct the focus of the coaching session.
An executive coach does not necessarily have any expertise in the topic they are coaching on. The coach’s skills lie in being an effective listener and being able to ask incisive questions that draw out the expertise that an individual already holds.
Instructional coaching has a very prescriptive cycle of observation, modelling, deliberate practice, and feedback whereas, executive coaching offers a much more flexible approach depending on what the client needs in that moment.
Coaching is not therapy
Despite the huge impact that coaching can have on a person’s wellbeing, it should not be confused therapy or counselling, professions which have their own qualifications and regulations.
Coaches do not work on “personal issues” or dig into the past. Coaching is usually based on an assumption that coachees are “well” and “functional” (as such if you are currently in therapy or have any specific concerns, you may want to discuss this with the coach prior to starting any coaching relationship).
Sometimes it is the wider issues in life that are affecting our wellbeing and effectiveness at work and work stress can often impact our personal life. This may be something you want to reflect on with your coach. A well-trained executive coach will have clear boundaries around how they work and will signpost you to other therapeutic professional services if alternative support is required.
Unclear professional boundaries can be a common issue with minimally trained coaches, so do watch out for that if you are launching an internal staff coaching programme.
What do you want coaching for?
There are many benefits to executive coaching aside from achieving personal and professional goals. The biggest is usually about personal wellbeing. Coaching can significantly impact people’s mood, mindset, attitudes, and beliefs which invariably is the butterfly effect to improving school culture and morale.
One of the most cited benefits of coaching by the school leaders I work with is the value of having dedicated time in their working week to offload in a safe confidential space away from their team.
Coaching becomes a safe space where leaders can think, reflect, and be challenged to consider alternative viewpoints or solutions to the challenges they are facing and the strategic decisions they need to make.
Whether you are considering coaching for yourself or for your staff, having clarity on the purpose and intended outcomes of the coaching relationship can help to ensure your desired return on investment and expectation.
If you are thinking of coaching for yourself, consider:
- What do you want to get from coaching and the coaching relationship?
- What are the main challenges you face?
- Which of these challenges would you like to focus on during your coaching sessions?
- How will you be able to tell whether coaching has enabled you to tackle the challenges you have identified?
- What will make the coaching relationship work best for you?
Aligning to school priorities
If you are considering hiring a coach to support the staff in your school, it is again important to consider what the desired purpose and outcomes of the coaching are. This again avoids any confusion between the multiple stakeholders.
Coaching is non-directive. This means that (perhaps unlike a line management meeting) in coaching it is the coachee who drives the focus of the conversation.
The challenge an executive coach faces is being able to successfully align both individual and school priorities.
If you are considering hiring an executive coach for the staff in your school, you might want to consider the following:
- What is the desired aim or purpose of the coaching service?
- What are the current school priorities?
- What are the biggest challenges the school and your staff are facing?
- What would be different, both in the individuals and the organisation, if the coaching was successful?
- Are there any vision, values, behaviours, competencies, or priorities that you would like the coaching to promote or align to?
- How will all parties know that this has been a worthwhile investment of time and money?
- What might potential measures or indicators of success be?
- What (if any) evidence of impact is needed?
Consider the qualifications and accreditations of your coach
Coaching is not a regulated industry. You can market yourself as a coach without any formal qualifications or experience at all. As such, if you are looking to hire an executive coach, you may want to enquire about the coach’s experience, qualifications and whether they are accredited by a coaching organisation such as the International Coaching Federation, the Association for Coaching, or the European Mentoring and Coaching Council.
While accreditations do not guarantee effectiveness, a coaching accreditation requires the coach to:
- Have significant coaching experience.
- Demonstrate a range of coaching competencies.
- Have relevant qualifications.
- Have engaged with regular CPD and supervision.
- Adhere to an ethical code of practice.
Executive coaches should also have professional indemnity and public liability insurance and, if working in schools, ideally be DBS checked.
Do you want sector-specific support?
You may want to reflect on whether you would prefer to work with a coach that has sector specific experience, who has walked in your shoes and really understands the challenges you are facing. Alternatively, you may find greater benefit working with someone from outside of education who can bring a fresh perspective and viewpoint to your situation.
Agree the limits of confidentiality.
Coaching conversations are confidential and usually sit distinctly from any performance management and appraisal process. It is in this “safe zone” that coachees can confidentially explore issues that matter the most to them.
However, it is good practice to agree the limits of confidentiality ahead of any coaching relationship. Limits to confidentiality are usually with respect to the safeguarding of students, issues of safety to selves or others, and unethical or unlawful conduct.
If you are hiring a coach for your staff, you may agree that certain themes may be shared anonymously and hypothetically with you to support with responsive leadership and to demonstrate agreed outcomes and a return on investment or expectation for the coaching service.
You may also agree that if your coach sees links for creative or innovative opportunities between staff members, that they can seek permission to share this information between individuals.
How might a coaching model look in your school?
Who is the coaching for? Do you want the coaching service to be open to all staff who wish to access bespoke support so they can tackle the issues that are having the biggest impact on their wellbeing and effectiveness at work? Alternatively, you might want a more strategic approach directing coaching support to your curriculum leaders, their improved wellbeing and leadership skills consequently benefiting the support and development of the teachers within their teams, for example.
How regularly do you want support? I find fortnightly sessions are optimal for most school leaders, but to accommodate high numbers or tight budgets four-weekly rotation formats are often preferable. Do you want the support to run across an academic year or do you want a fixed number of sessions? Can staff sign up for ad-hoc single sessions to talk through a one-off issue?
How long are the coaching sessions? Best practice is usually hour-long sessions; however, shorter and more frequent sessions may be required to fit within your school timetables. Longer sessions may be needed for more complex issues.
Where will the coaching take place? Whether the coaching takes place in person or online, a quiet room away from distractions and disturbances is essential to maintain confidentiality and a safe space. Headteachers and senior leaders may prefer to schedule coaching sessions away from the school site or out of school hours to minimise disturbances.
- Helen Webb is an accredited executive coach based in Leicester. She supports and develops school leaders so they can avoid burn-out, drive school improvement and get the best out of their team and themselves. Helen has more than 20 years’ experience in education as a science teacher, lead practitioner, PGCE and ECT mentor, ECF Lead and ECT induction tutor. She is a regular contributor to SecEd – find her previous articles via www.sec-ed.co.uk/authors/helen-webb. Find out more about her coaching services at https://helenwebbcoaching.co.uk/