Liz Scott Coaching and Training

Coaching leaders in education

by Liz Scott

How can coaching help Leaders in Education? It’s a question I often get asked and yet there isn’t any one easy answer. To start with coaching is hard to pin down. What is it exactly?

The easiest answer would be to say that it’s experiential and you have to try it out to understand how powerful it can be. Imagine trying to explain the rules of tennis to someone who had never seen a bat, court or even a ball. It’s the same kind of thing with coaching you need to try it out to understand it. However I realise that it’s not good enough to say, “Coaching is too hard to put into words, so I won’t” – so let me condense its essence as best as I can.

One of the greatest benefits of coaching is that it gives leaders time and space to reflect on their lives, their jobs and the vision of their schools. All too often, Head teachers are sucked into dealing with the crises of day to day life. The result is that they spend so much energy bailing out the boat they never get chance to set the course. Another nautical analogy is to liken a Head teacher to the captain of a ship. You want your captain on the bridge, navigating the way ahead. If they spend most of their time in the engine room helping out the crew then disaster is sure to strike.

Secondly coaching allows you time to reflect on the areas that need attention. For many of my clients this can revolve around work/life balance or delegation or time management or work load.

Head teachers lead busy and demanding lives and as a result there are dozens of areas that can often be neglected and overlooked. Once a client takes an honest look at their lives and a true ‘stock-take’ then he/she is able to focus on what needs to be done. Instead of wasting energy on worrying or procrastination this energy can be channelled into a positive outcome.

Thirdly, coaching enables leaders to get a sense of their true selves. It allows them to focus on their strengths and to discover what makes them the unique and powerful people that they are.

Margaret Thatcher once said, “Being powerful is a bit like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren’t”. The same can be said for leaders. Clients often come to me expecting me to give them an ABC guide to leadership. Nothing could be further from the truth. Leadership is not about telling people how great you are; authentic leadership is about understanding your own inherent strengths and developing them.

Coaching allows you to clear away the stuff that gets in the way of you being who you really are. Just imagine you’re in a car and it’s pouring with rain and you’re straining to see the way ahead. The coach is a bit like the windscreen wipers, helping to clear the windscreen so that you can move forward confidently and see the way ahead.

So in conclusion Coaching gives you the time and space to work on areas that need attention and to develop and extend your own strengths and skills.

If you’d like to learn more about Coaching Liz Scott is speaking at the ……….. on October 8th. She’ll outline the coaching trial that been running for Head Teachers over the past year and reveal how coaching has helped them in their roles.

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