Coaching For Success

1. Coaching For Success Texas Comprehensive Center January 4–5, 2007

2. Warning! Changes in structure alone…. • will not result in improvement.

3. The Myth About Feedback Feedback causes people to see themselves more accurately and allows them to be accountable to the team or organization.

4. Facts About Feedback • It reduces self-reflection and self-assessment—just the opposite of the self-directed, self-disciplined, and self-accountable behavior organizations need. • It reinforces the pattern that others will and should tell us how we are doing. • More deadly, it reduces our capacity to be self-reflective and self-accountable. (Adapted from Sanford, 1995.)

5. Facts About Feedback “The external feedback model, begun by parents, pattern-imprinted by teachers in school, and solidified by organizational work life, has actually caused external feedback loops to be addictive, with all the negative aspects that go with that metaphor. The individuals become dependent upon its continued presence.” Gregory Bateson

6. Facts About Feedback Feedback is useful only if two conditions are present: 1. It is perceived as judgment-free data. 2. It is perceived as judgment-free inquiry.

7. Adult Development Adults do not learn from experience; they learn from processing experience. Judi Arin-Krupp

8. (York-Barr, Sommers, Ghere, & Montie. 2006.)

10. Stages of Adult Learning • 17-22: Uninformed optimism & fear • 23-28: Live life fully • 28-33: Who am I? Where am I going? • 33-39: Settle in—Bandaids • 40+ : Not there, there • 50+ : Legacy

11. “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” Soren Kierkegard

12. Reflective Practice—Why? Adults do not learn from experience, they learn from processing experience. Judi Arin-Krupp

13. PrincipalsLeading Professional Learning “Organizations are made up of conversations.” Ernesto Gore

14. What do you notice? (Joyce & Showers, 2002.)

15. Characteristics of Professional Learning Communities • Shared Values and Norms • Collaboration • Reflective Dialogue • Collective Focus on Student Learning • Deprivatization of Practice (Louis & Kruse,1995.)

16. Characteristics of Professional Learning Communities • Shared Values and Vision • Shared Personal Practice • Collective Creativity • Supportive Conditions • Supportive Shared Leadership (Hord, 1997.)

17. Characteristics of Professional Learning Communities • Shared Mission, Visions, Values • Collaborative Teams • Collective Inquiry • Continuous Improvement • Action Orientation & Experimentation • Results Orientation (DuFour & Eaker,1998.)

18. Learningto unfreeze a frozen culture Learning creates the energy to grow and change—personally, professionally, and organizationally

19. Trust… from an interpersonal perspective A study of professional community in 248 elementary schools in Chicago found that “by far, the strongest facilitator of professional community is social trust among faculty members. When teachers trust and respect each other, a powerful social resource is available for supporting the collaboration, reflective dialogue, and deprivatization characteristics of professional community.” (Bryk, Camburn, & Louis, 1999.)

20. Trust… from an organizational perspective Bryk and Schneider (2002) explain that relational trust develops through day-to-day interactions with people who share some common experience. “Specifically, we see relational trust operating as a resource for school improvement in four broad ways. First, organizational change entails major risks for all participants… Second, the transaction costs associated with decision making are reduced in environments where individual are predisposed to trust one another…

21. Trust… from an organizational perspective Third, contexts with strong relational trust benefit from clear understandings about role obligations that are routinely reinforced in day-to-day behavior… Finally, relational trust sustains an ethical imperative among organizational members to advance the best interests of children. Participants in schools with high relational trust enact an interrelated set of mutual obligations with one another.” (Bryk & Schneider, 2002.)

22. Response StrategiesS.P.A.C.E. • Silence • Paraphrase • Accept non-judgmentally • Clarify—probe for specificity • Empathy—extend thinking

23. Art of Possibilities • Anybody can make a difference from any place in the organization • Need resources from everyone in the organization • No more hunting—move to creating • Be a relentless architect of possibilities (Zander & Zander, 2000)

24. The Knowing-Doing Gap • When talk substitutes for action • When memory substitutes for thinking • When fear prevents acting on knowledge • When measurement obstructs good judgment (Pffefer & Sutton, 2000)

25. Overcoming Know-Do Gap • Why before how • Do & teach others • Action counts more than elegant plans • No doing without mistakes • Fear increases knowing-doing gap • Beware of false analogies—Fight the competition, not each other • Measure what matters—Knowledge into action • What do leaders do? Time spent doing what?

26. Fierce Conversations • Most Pressing Issue • Clarify • Current Impact • Future if Nothing Changes • Personal Contribution • Ideal Outcome • Commit to Action (Scott, 2002)

27. Crab Bucket Culture (Duke, 1994)

28. Positive Deviance • Define — What is the perceived causes? Solutions? Desired outcomes? • Determine — Any place doing OK? • Discover — Unique practices • Design — Implement at intervention • Discern — Is it effective? • Disseminate — Make it accessible, scale up

29. References Bryk, A.S., Camburn, E., & Louis, K. S. (1999). Professional community in Chicago elementary schools: Facilitating factors and organizational consequences. Educational Administration Quarterly, 35(5), 751-781. Bryk, A.S., & Schneider, B.L. (2002). Trust in schools: A core resource for improvement. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation. p. 33. DuFour, R., & Eaker, R. (1998). Professional learning communities at work: Best practices for enhancing student achievement. Bloomington, IN: National Educational Service and Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Duke, D.L., (1994). Drift, detachment, and the need for teacher leadership. In D. R. Walling (Ed.), Teachers as leaders: Perspectives on the professional development of teachers (pp. 255-273). Bloomington, IN: Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation. Hord, S. (1997). Professional learning communities: What are they and why are they important? Issues ... about Change, 6(1). Austin, TX: Southwest Educational Development Laboratory. Joyce, B.R., & Showers, B. (2002). Student achievement through staff development (3rd ed.). Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development. p. 78. Louis, K.S., & Kruse, S.D. (Eds.). (1995). Professionalism and community: Perspectives on reforming urban schools. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. Pffefer, J., & Sutton, R.I. (2000). The knowing-doing gap: How smart companies turn knowledge into action. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press. Sanford, C. (1995). Myths of organizational effectiveness at work. Battle Ground, WA: SpringHill Publications. pp. 10–12. Scott, S. (2002). Fierce conversations. New York: Penguin Putman. York-Barr, J., Sommers, W.A., Ghere, G.S., & Montie, J.K. (2006). Reflective practice to improve schools: An action guide for educators (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. Zander, R.S., & Zander, B. (2000). The art of possibility: Transforming professional and personal life. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

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