John Cambell from Growth Coaching International posted a blog that describes sustaining effort and motivation for a coachee’s goals as part of the coaching process. He presented three strategies that coaches can use to support ongoing effort and momentum.
The first strategy was labeled Implementation Intentions. That phrase comes from the work of Peter Gollwitzer who points out that “what if planning” in advance greatly increases the chances of achieving one’s goals. These plans are often in an “if-then” format (e.g., “If situation X happens, then I will do Y”). This method helps people decide in advance how to respond to particular situations or challenges that may arise.
I have been using a questioning strategy that asks a coachee, who is leaning toward a particular decision or course of action during our coaching, to predict what possible positive and negative outcomes of their actions might be. It can seem contradictory to ask what could go wrong when the coachee is ready to commit to action. However, by predicting a problem or challenge and preparing a what if plan, one lowers the risk of implementation.
Here’s an Example: A teacher is designing a more complex project-based activity than she has previously implemented. I might ask, “Are there any concerns you want to consider before you implement?” The teacher may mention that the time students need for the project might be more than she has planned. At this point we may discuss how to track and predict time as the project progresses and what modifications could be made to the project along the way if needed.
By integrating implementation intentions into coaching conversations, coaches can help teachers translate their professional goals into specific, actionable plans that are more likely to be successfully implemented and sustained over time.
Cambell’s second suggestion references the work of Richard Ryan and Edward Deci’s on Self Determination Theory and ‘intrinsic motivation’ to highlight the importance of linking goals to values and deeper meaning. “A question such as, ‘Why will achieving this be important to you?’ can be a helpful and significant coaching question when discussing a goal.”
Seeking values and deeper meaning are my reasons for building an understanding of what I call the teacher’s agenda into my coaching pre conferences. I describe this step as preparing to observe in the classroom through the eyes of the teacher before I observe through mine. Before considering “How” a teacher might want to make a change, I want a clear picture of “Why” the teacher would seek a change. What are the teacher’s beliefs about a goal, strategy, or learner outcome as well as what degree of teacher effort would she want to invest in achieving any change? Understanding the teacher’s WHY and Effort Investment upfront guides my coaching actions.
Consider the teacher looking to raise the complexity of project-based learning tasks, I’d explore how she sees that change positively impacting her learners. What will students gain from her investment in the change?
Lastly, Cambell points to a paper by Marshall Goldsmith and Howard Morgan titled, “Leadership is a Contact Sport: The ‘Follow-up Factor’ in Management Development.” I found their comments on leadership development directly applicable to teacher development.
Their studies showed one variable emerging as central to the achievement of positive long-term change: “the participants’ ongoing interaction and follow-up with colleagues.” Leaders who discussed their own improvement priorities with their co-workers, and then regularly followed up with these co-workers, showed striking improvement. Leaders who did not have ongoing dialogue with colleagues showed improvement that barely exceeded random chance.
They described that in many ways a coach is like a personal trainer. The trainer’s role is to “remind” the person being trained to do what he or she knows should be done. Good personal trainers spend far more time on execution than on theory. The same seems to be true for leadership development. Most leaders already know what to do. “For most leaders, the great challenge is not understanding the practice of leadership: It is practicing their understanding of leadership.”
Making our growth as educators a social activity greatly increases the likelihood that we can maintain the conscious practice and reflection necessary to identify and internalize the skills that guide our learners to success. This is a benefit of PLC members having shared goals that generate ongoing conversations which remind members to engage in conscious practice.
Whether you are an instructional coach, administrator, or teacher leader planning and supporting the growth of colleagues or designing your own personal improvement plan consider how to maintain momentum and push through the learning dips with implementation intentions, connections to beliefs and values, and a network of colleagues who provide reminders.
