Great Coaching should help to Create New Habits and Present their Impact.  

 

OLEVI believes high-quality coaching should empower and challenge teachers and leaders, to move beyond the acquisition of new knowledge or short-term improvement in practice, and create new, sustainable habits so the learning and impact can be codified and cascaded. It is only when this happens that students and other teachers benefit from that person’s professional growth: High-Performing People, Transforming Cultures.

As explained in the last Think Piece, OLEVI has created the ANALYTICAL COACHING programme. This highly structured coaching programme focuses on incremental growth in an area of pedagogy. Evidence so far has shown it leads to more expert practitioners. The last element of this programme is the 6-week EMBED Phase that follows the IMPROVEMENT phase. Guided through the process by the coach, the teacher or leader will articulate their Learning Progress and conduct a Presentation of Learning and Impact to colleagues.

This Think Piece will explain the importance of the EMBED phase and how it works within the Analytical Coaching Programme.

 

What is the purpose of the EMBED Phase in Analytical Coaching?

 

The EMBED Phase has three elements. The first element it is to ensure the teacher or leader masters the new practice and Creates New Habits that stick. The 21/90 rule states that it takes 21 days to make a habit and 90 days to make it a permanent lifestyle change, hence the programme lasts almost 90 days. When teachers and leaders perform a new practice over and over, in different contexts, it becomes deeply embedded in the brain. As a result, it takes significantly less effort to repeat that action than it would to choose a new one.

The second element to this Phase is Codifying the Learning. This means they can articulate their learning progress so well that they can contribute to the learning and growth of others. This is demonstrated during the third element when the coachee undertakes a Presentation of the Learning and Impact.

 

CREATING NEW HABITS. 

 

At the end of session 3 (The IMPROVE phase), coachees should have developed a clearly-defined vision statement and 6-week action plan to ultimately master the new skill. Some professionals simply advocate repetition of a skill, however OLEVI’s model is more sophisticated and, we believe, more effective. This means the action plan created, with the coach’s support, should include all, or as many as possible, of the 5 ways to form a lasting habit.

During these 6 weeks, by applying courage, humility and discipline, New Habits can be created. The 5 measures are below:

 

 

The coachee should:

HONE: Deliberately practice sharpening the skill or technique in a specific context (for example, a Year 7 class).

ENHANCE: Tweak the strategy with their own personal flare – this adds an authenticity to its application.

EXTEND:  Stretch themselves further by adapting the strategy and applying it across different contexts.

PERFECT: At this stage, have perfected their craft in this area and in the different contexts mentioned above so they can observe positive impact: “To perfect is to be free from faults”

MASTER: At this stage, be confident that the skill or practice is embedded and so move onto the next stage.

 

CODIFYING THE LEARNING 

The purpose of the 4th and final coaching session in this programme is to ensure the coachee can really articulate their learning and demonstrate its tangible impact on students and/or colleagues (the ‘so what’). OLEVI strongly recommends that, at this stage, the coachee should be considering how they can transfer their newfound expertise to others.

 

This is not only so they better understand and thus embed their learning, but also to contribute to the growth of others and the organisation.

 

The coach will take them through 5 stages outlined below:

SIMPLIFY: By cutting out the complexity and irrelevance, the coachee will explore the learning points and/or impact.

CODIFY: Setting out the key messages in a format that clearly and simply outlines the key learning and/or impact.

ARTICULATE: Using the format, the coachee will practice articulating an argument for the value of the learning and/or impact.

TRANSFER: Consider how their articulation can be shared with others during a Presentation in an engaging and compelling way, enabling their deep thinking and insight (for example, in a model or activity).

CONTRIBUTE: Shifting the focus of the coachee from beyond the Presentation to how they can lead the learning and development of others over a longer period and/or beyond their immediate team.

 

PRESENTATION OF LEARNING AND IMPACT 

 

This element is at the heart of what OLEVI aims to do “High-Performing People, Transforming Cultures”. This presentation can take many forms (for example, for 15 minutes during an SLT or team meeting) but should embody the ethos of DR ICE (Deepen thinking, Role-model learning processes, Impact on learning, Challenge others’ expectations and Engage others in learning). Whatever the context, it should be an opportunity for the coachee to:

 

  • Celebrate their personal and professional growth.
  • Articulate the value of the coaching to improving their practice and performance.
  • Share what they have learnt in a way that will improve their practice and performance of others.
  • Contribute to the growth of a thinking and learning culture.

 

This underpins strong teams (LARF). By contributing to the Learning of others, the coachee will feel Affiliated to the organisation, Recognised by their peers and Fulfilled as a professional. This will build or reinforce a culture based on Empowerment through Collaboration.