Coaching for leadership: executive coaching provides confidential, ongoing support for school leaders, helping them reach their goals and make the changes they desire

Leadership, Jan-Feb, 2004 by Karla Reiss

He was stunned. And angry. Two years ago, he moved from a small district to one of the largest in the county. He had years of experience and positive relationships with colleagues. In his new district, Jim, director of language arts, felt welcome--in most buildings. In one, the principal seemed to keep him at a distance. Two years later, he was out of a job. He hadn't a clue why he was let go.

For months, Elaine, director of curriculum in a small suburban district, vented about unfair treatment by a new boss. Her first two years had gone well, and she received positive feedback from her boss. Along came a new boss. Suddenly things weren't going so well. Half way through the school year, Elaine was informed she wouldn't be receiving tenure. She felt unfairly treated. Five months of stagnation followed while she struggled to survive until June in a hostile environment.

It happens all the time. It's more common than we care to admit. No one talks about it. But let's face the truth. With higher demands, shrinking budgets and fewer people entering leadership roles, we must provide improved support to ensure the success of current and new leaders.

Inertia occurs whenever a leader leaves a district, whatever the reason. Often, several leaders leave during the same year. The cost, both financial and in lost human energy, is great. We can prevent administrator turnover by confronting the causes and offering support for solutions. Executive coaching provides confidential, ongoing support for leaders, ensuring that they perform at their peak and bring out the best in their staff.

After almost 20 years of developing professional development programs for educators in a regional education service center in New York, I realized something was missing--support for leadership. No matter what time of day, it was impossible to bring leaders together for continued learning. I felt I was operating in a broken system. The system needed a change--but how? How could busy school leaders who could barely find time to leave their buildings become engaged in ongoing professional learning? I knew there had to be a better way. Leadership Coaching for School Change was developed to fit the needs of busy school leaders and complete the school improvement system.

Rationale for leadership coaching

We talk about continuous improvement for schools--and provide cartloads of professional development opportunities for teachers--so our students, and their test scores, improve. Budgets exist for teachers to learn new instructional strategies, but not often for school leaders.

Although little research exists on executive coaching as a model of professional development in education, the business world offers encouraging information. In a 2001 study of 100 executives, mostly from Fortune 1000 companies, Manchester Inc. found that the average return on investment was almost six times the cost of coaching. Participants report rich learning environments and improvements in decision making, team performance and motivation, and highly recommended coaching. Companies were more likely to retain executives who were coached.

Executive coaching is a common leadership development practice among business leaders. Given the pressure and challenges facing today's school leaders, I believe all school systems would be stronger organizations, and reach higher levels of performance, if leaders had the benefits of coaching.

An ongoing partnership

Working with a coach is much like developing your school improvement plan. You explore your values and create a vision for yourself, your career, and all aspects of your life. You set goals and commit to weekly action steps.

The International Coach Federation defines coaching as "an ongoing partnership that helps clients produce fulfilling results in their personal and professional lives. Through the process of coaching, clients deepen their learning, improve their performance and enhance the quality of life."

A highly trained coach is skilled in the process of change--helping people make the changes they want for themselves and their organizations. A coach helps you look at challenges and create new patterns of thinking. A coach is trained to "hear" between the lines--to listen for fears, self-doubts and limiting beliefs that get in the way of success. A coach will brainstorm possible approaches to your weekly challenges, challenge you to step out of your comfort zone and hold you accountable.

A coach is adept at dozens of specific skills, such as acknowledging, validating, clarifying, focusing championing empowering, questioning, prioritizing, thinking outside the box and reframing.

The model defined

The Long island School Leadership Center, funded by New York State Education Department, co-sponsored an initial project for Leadership Coaching for School Change by inviting interested educators to participate in a four-month pilot.

All participants met for an initial session. Follow-up sessions were conducted on the telephone. Alternating between individual calls of 30 to 45 minutes and group calls of one hour, each participant engaged in weekly coaching sessions. Each participant had his or her own goals--no two were alike. Feedback was enthusiastic.