Executive Coaching is not that well known in the world of Education in my experience, and the label often conjures images of remediation or inexperience for this profession, rather than a reflective space for leadership development, strategy development, resilience building, self confidence or enhanced performance and results. I have coached ten headteachers over the last five years. In this blog I seek to demystify coaching for this incredibly important profession, offer a window in to the benefits of coaching for Heads and share reflections on what I have noticed over the last few years, on why coaching works so well for Headteachers.
Head teachers are in quite an isolated position in their role. When I coach CEOs or Executive Teams, they have each other to lean on or the CEO will have trusted confidants they can talk to within an organisation. Because of the small size of a school staff team, they don't have that luxury. Heads do have their Deputies but even then, there are some things they can't discuss with them. The Heads have told me they really value having a safe space to talk about any issue in confidence and develop their thinking on complex matters. Additionally, it helps them gain a broader perspective of issues in what can be a very insular environment.
I notice that the role is a particularly stressful one. In part because of the isolated nature but also because it is "operational" - anything can come up at any time that requires immediate attention. Heads are dealing with risk often, there is sometimes urgency e.g. safe-guarding issues. The coaching gives Heads space to think strategically in the midst of an operational role. It also allows them to restore energy and increases their resilience. There is a lot of growing data about the importance of coaching in creating and maintaining resilience and I see this playing out with those I work with.
Typically leaders want to work on self-confidence, impact and influencing, being personally effective, leadership style and Heads are no different. Coaching is particularly good at developing these skills because its self-reflective. The Heads use the coaching to reflect on their leadership in real life scenarios and decide what they can improve or do differently. Assertiveness, change management and HR issues come up often. The hours coaching provides excellent development for leaders because it is tailored specifically to them and also allows them to apply new learning immediately, and then reflect upon what they have applied. This completes Kolb's Learning cycle in a very effective way, perhaps more effectively than a development programme.
Heads have multiple stakeholders, some of whom can have strong personalities or vested interests and they are regularly on the receiving end of demanding behaviours. Coaching is an excellent tool for developing the interpersonal skills and knowledge of how to handle difficult relationships and strengthen them. The Heads bring these scenarios to coaching frequently and leave knowing what to do to shift the relationship in to a healthy and productive place.
Very often the Head's will bring their most knotty, difficult issues to coaching - the things that are keeping them awake at night, and within that hour go away knowing what to do, what to try next or feeling more confident about how to tackle the issue. The Heads report to me that they find the coaching invaluable. It is something they look forward to each month where they can give time to themselves, perhaps for the first time that month; stop, reflect and plan, re-energise and restore, develop and learn.
With the importance Headteachers have in helping shape our society and educate our children, I would love to see more Academies, Local Education Authorities and even the Department for Education providing this kind of leadership development and support to our Heads and other school leaders too. I’d love to know your thoughts…please get in touch if you would like to know more about the work I do and how I can help you and your organisation to centre relationship and reflection for the best long-term results and outcomes.