Embed Coaching In Your School

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Weekly Newsletter 2, 2007: You, The Unpaid Coach

With the current emphasis on leadership coaching, I thought this article was worth sharing.  BUY a workshop booklet and PowerPoint "Embedding Coaching and Mentoring in your Organisation" (see below).

How to Coach  (This is a great article by Trisha D. Scudder)

What do top performers in tennis, football, the Olympics and performing arts have in common? They aim for the highest level of excellence - and they work with a coach.

To them coaching isn't about something being wrong. It's about something more being possible. A coach sees things the player can't see. And that perspective and the unique way of communicating called coaching makes all the difference.

A coach's role is distinct from the role of a manager, teacher, doctor, therapist, friend or confidant. It is a relationship of equals, both committed to breakthroughs in the performance of the coachee.

Everyone wants to enhance his or her effectiveness and results in life, so everyone would benefit from skilled coaching. Look around you. Who would benefit if you were capable of coaching them on some important goal? An employee? Colleague? Client? Spouse? Friend? Teenager?

Being a professional executive coach requires years of training and experience. Here are seven necessary elements for being an effective, informal, unpaid coach:

1. The coachee must request coaching. If coaching is requested or your offer to give it is genuinely accepted then you have a basis for coaching. To give coaching to someone who doesn't want it is a waste of your time. Your coaching will be rejected and resented.

2. Stay above the fray. Hear what the situation, problem, goal or issue is for which the coachee wants coaching. If it's a soap opera, if there are bad guys and good guys, don't get sucked into your coachee's emotions and points of view. Stay above the fray. Don't agree. Don't take sides. Be compassionate but don't bemoan their situation. Provide the unshakeable centre your coachee needs. If you can't provide that, don't coach this person.

3. Facts vs. interpretation. Hear the story. Then ask for the facts. If there's a lot of emotion around the goal or problem they will have difficulty telling you the factual, measurable aspects of the situation. You serve the person by helping them separate fact from interpretation. Worry and suffering comes from their interpretations. Ask questions that help them identify and acknowledge that the facts are the facts.

4. Speak in questions. Coaching is an inquiry, a creative conversation that leads to discovery. Coaching is not about giving your good advice, nor telling your war stories, nor sharing your experience. It's not even about you solving their problems for them! Ask questions instead. Ask more questions. Ask uncomfortable questions, with compassion and respect. Questions open up an inquiry. Your answers shut things down.

5. No victims allowed. No matter how horrific the story, your coachee is not a victim. Watch for coachees who blame everyone else for their situation - the clients, management, his/her assistant, the team, the economy. Those entities are not being coached, your person is! The route to a breakthrough is to interact with the coachee as if he/she is 100% responsible for their experience of their life. If you can't do this, don't coach this person.

6. From insight to action. Move the conversation to action once your coachee sees the situation in a new way, or creates a new possibility for their future, or invents a whole new solution. Since coaching is about performance and results, ask your coachee what actions he/she promises to take, and by when. Keep a record of all promises made. Ask the coachee to inform you whether he keeps his promise, or not, and the results achieved.

7. Integrity. No coaching relationship can succeed without integrity from both parties. Integrity includes all aspects of keeping your word to each other, from confidentiality, to being on time, to doing the promised actions. The minute the integrity is broken the relationship becomes ordinary and extraordinary results are out of reach.

Legendary NFL Coach Tom Landry once said "A coach is someone who tells you what you don't want to hear, so you can see what you don't want to see, so you can be what you've always wanted to be." Coaching is profound, creative and life-altering work. It's a privilege to do it.  

TRAINING MATERIALS:
Our materials take the effort out of quality professional development, allowing you to deliver the goods at a realistic cost.
Coaching and Mentoring Program Learning Objectives: This module will enable you to define the key concepts associated with Coaching & Mentoring.  This can be a one-day workshop, or can be run as a series of 90 minute sessions.  

  • Understand the basic processes behind coaching & mentoring.

  • Have the ability to introduce coaching & mentoring into your organisation.
  • Understand the benefits of coaching and mentoring in the organisation.
  • Identify opportunities for coaching & mentoring.
  • Understand the nature of the relationships that must be managed in any coaching and mentoring program.
  • Use the knowledge for the overall benefit of the organisation.

Program materials: 30 page workbook (MS Word) and 61 slide PowerPoint.
Cost: $55.00 incl GST.

How We Help

MindSights™ "Your Mind At Work"
This amazing software is an essential tool for all leaders who want to excel at their jobs.  Thinking and planning patterns based on tasks you face!
Integrate:
>  4 Major Work Functions
>  40 Problem-Solving Task Question Sets
>  9 Thinking Tool Sets
You will become a leader and facilitator who achieves at extra-ordinarily high levels.
Contact Mel for demonstrations on-site.  Previous clients are eligible for updates within 12 months of purchase.

Student Success Coach
The Student Coach course is suitable for students ranging from upper Primary School through all levels of High School and even College and University. It consists of interactive workshops covering the areas of the syllabus listed at our website. A workshop manual, a CD with the software and a license to use the software on an ongoing basis, will be issued to each participant.
Remote schools can access the program via bulk licence arrangements.

Leadership Coaching
Did you know that Mel Phillips provides a quality service, coaching and advising leaders on personal and professional development and critical issues?  Don't reinvent the wheel.  Build on Mel's 13 years experience as a Band 11 Principal and 36 years in education..

Professional Development
Professional Performance Australia has an extensive library of outstanding workshops, sourced from world leaders in the HR field.
Check the list - it provides exciting opportunities for leadership, management, team and staff development.

Conferences4One
This exciting, innovative approach to professional development now has its second generation of satisfied clients.  You combine business with pleasure, doing your professional development at a conference just for you, in the venue of your choice.  Check Conference Claim Hints for vital information.

Merit Selection Workshop Dates
(Principals, Appl. Writing)
 Brisbane (Alderley) 19 Feb
Brisbane (Mt Gravatt) 20 Feb
Gold Coast 21 Feb
Sun Coast 26 Feb
Toowoomba 28 Feb
 (Principals, Interview Skills)
 Brisbane (Alderley) 19 Mar
Brisbane (Mt Gravatt) 20 Mar
Gold Coast 21 Mar
Sun Coast 26 Mar
Toowoomba 28 Mar

(Assoc Admin, Appl. Writing)
Brisbane (Alderley) 23 Feb
(Assoc Admin, Interview Skills)
Brisbane (Alderley) 23 Mar

Email Mel to arrange workshops in your area. (Ph 07 5530 2676)

Sent by Mel Phillips; (07) 5530 2676; mel@willdo.com.au; www.willdo.com.au
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