Sharron Helmke

Effective coaching requires a true partnership. Some teachers are slow to warm up to coaching and others offer reasons why they do not wish to engage. To reach all teachers, coaches need a variety of ways to invite them into a productive coaching partnership focused on solving their problems of practice. In a previous blog, I offered ideas for starting coaching conversations with hesitant teachers.

Coaching is most effective when it builds problem-solving skills and self-efficacy in coachees. To achieve this, effective coaches structure their coaching conversations in intentional ways to promote and support a client’s thinking rather than simply offering advice or suggestions to address the immediate problem. These coaching decisions not only promote professional growth but foster ownership and accountability for implementation and ownership of outcomes.

As a certified professional coach who works with educators at all levels, I appreciated a recent blog published in Postive.News about the benefits of getting beyond surface-level conversations with others to truly connect with them. Author Tom Pattinson presented ways to initiate deeper conversations that will help anyone spark more meaningful connections this year.