How Does Coaching Support Educational Leaders?

In an effort to support educational leaders in Kansas, the Kansas Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (KASCD) and the Kansas Staff Development Council (KSDC) have initiated a project to provide high quality coaching to members of their organizations. Each organization provided funding to send seven members through the Coaching For Results coach training process. Now the organizations are offering coaching to their officers and board members who are often in high stress, challenging school situations, very pressed for time, and yet volunteering to be leaders in these organizations. They have also invited other members to apply to be coached as a way to provide ongoing, just-in-time, personalized learning and growing experiences for their member leaders.

Now we are evaluating the responses of the educators to their first coaching experience. Most of the “clients” (school leaders who have applied to be coached through their member organization) have not had any previous experience with coaching and in general, they have had no workshop to give them background for the process. Most are coming to coaching with uncertainty and curiosity—not really knowing what to expect.

We wanted to know, In what ways, if any, does coaching support and enhance the role of a leader? Responses from a mid-term evaluation survey of our current clients show that the educators are definitely seeing some benefits to coaching.

Here are some excerpts from survey comments:

• My coach helped me prioritize my work responsibilities and be more focused about what is really important.
• Through coaching I began to think differently about issues I brought to our calls.
• I evaluated what I was spending my time doing and what I wanted to spend my time doing.
• Coaching gave me an opportunity to get some objective feedback about issues.
• The verbalizing of thoughts provided an opportunity to hear someone else interpret what I’ve said. This helped me determine if I was clearly communicating what I wanted.
• By questioning and rephrasing, my coach helped me figure out many of the “sticky” issues in my district. I discovered that many of them were out of my control.
• My coach asked many questions that I had not thought of which really helped prepare me for upcoming meetings.
• My coach helped me work through the negativity in my district which allowed me to let go and move on…..
• It is such a benefit to have someone listen to you without any judgments.
• Coaching provides you with skills and language to use with others in solving issues.

Overwhelmingly, these clients reported strong improvement in professional performance as a result of their coaching (4.4 on a 5-point scale). This collaboration between two professional organizations shows great promise as a way to provide ongoing, relevant, and timely support to school leaders. It may also attract new members interested in innovative ideas. It is a win-win situation for everyone!

--Marceta Reilly, PhD
CFR Leadership Coach and
Coordinator of the KS Coaching Project

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