Coaching and Mentoring in ELT

This was the title of the sixth in a series of monthly CPD webinars hosted by the British Council.  You can read more about the programme here.

This webinar was presented by Loraine Kennedy and what follows is a summary of what she had to say.

Loraine began by giving us some definitions:

Coaching

'Coaching is a developmental process by which an individual gets support while learning to achieve a specific personal or professional result or goal.'

Mentoring

'Mentoring is a means of providing support, challenge and extension of the learning of one person through the guidance of another, who is more skilled, knowledgeable and experienced, particularly in relation to the context in which the learning is taking place.'
                                                          Andrew Pollard, Reflective Teaching

Distinction between coaching and mentoring

• Coaches use questioning and listening techniques to bring out the full potential of the individual, whereas mentors act as advisors, suggesting new paths for the individual to take.
• To mentor effectively, you must possess an in-depth appreciation and knowledge of the subject on which you are advising.
• Often the relational positions of mentor and individual being mentored are equivalent to that of teacher and student.
• In a coaching event, the positional relationship is on a par as the coach's role is to create an environment for the individual to learn for themselves.
• A mentor is often an expert working with a novice.
• A coach is more for experienced people - they explore ideas together, but the individual comes to a realisation themselves.

Spectrum of coaching styles

A mentor is more likely to be at the directive end of the coaching spectrum, but non-directive styles are much more powerful and the learning gained is much more likely to stick.

Questions to ask

• Does your organisational culture support coaching?
• Are you part of a learning organisation?
• To what extent does your organisation support the growth of individuals?
• Does your organisation believe in collaboration?
• Does your organisation allow enough time for coaching to take place?
• What needs to change to allow the process of coaching and mentoring to thrive?

If you have the right environment, then coaching and mentoring can happen.

Coaching and mentoring situations in ELT

• Professional development plans
• Giving feedback on an observation
• Resolving work problems - fostering team spirit and maintaining individual morale
• Managing change
• Enhancing team effectiveness
• Counselling students on their progress and learning objectives

Qualities of an effective coach

• Patience
• Enthusiasm
• Honesty and integrity, including confidentiality and trust
• Friendliness
• Genuine concern for others
• Self confidence
• Fairness
• Consistency
• Flexibility
• Resourcefulness

Skills and abilities

• Communicating, especially listening
• Questioning
• Analysing
• Summarising
• Setting goals and objectives
• Establishing appropriate priorities
• Giving and receiving feedback
• Relating to people at all levels
• Planning and organising

Underlying principles of being a coach

1. Ensure you fully understand what coaching is - What is coaching as opposed to mentoring?  What is coaching as opposed to managing?  Be clear about when and why you're coaching.
2. Check your perspective on people - you always have to see the potential in people.  If you're dwelling on their past mistakes, or thinking that they're 'no-hopers', then you're not in the right frame of mind to be that person's coach.  You have to always be thinking about the coachee's strengths and how best to move him or her forward.
3. Learn and practise an effective coaching model - start out with a coaching model, but don't feel restricted by it.
4. Engage your boss - everyone in the organisation has to have bought in to the coaching idea.
5. Understand and value personality differences - we know that everyone's different and has different motivations.  We know that everyone is at a different stage of their career development.  We must value this and take each coachee from their own starting point.
6. Prioritise your time and stay focussed - time allocated for a coaching situation needs to be used for coaching!
7. Stop putting out fires - don't do things for your coachee!  Create a consciousness about being responsible for yourself.  A coach helps, but doesn't do!
8. Seek regular feedback - feedback should be given and received!
9. Listen, listen, listen!
10. Keep growing and developing - when you are a coach, you need a coach!! You'll be a better coach when you are being coached.  Things are constantly changing.  You never reach the finish line.
11. Be fully prepared - you always need to know where you got to in the last coaching session and how you're going to move forward.
12. Focus on progression, not punishment - what about the ones who don't want to progress?  What about the ones who've lost motivation?  If handled well, coaching can appeal to everyone.  It's about moving forward, not looking back.
13. Use the right questions
14. Remember that the coachee knows the answer already - if you keep quiet or explore the options with the coachee, it's amazing how many times they will come up with the answers themselves.
15. Break down big goals into little steps
16. There is no right and wrong - there are many rights!  My right may be different to yours, but both are equally valid.
17. Maintain forward momentum - keep focussed on solving problems.
18. Be a good coachee!

Ground rules for being a coach within a coaching relationship

• Clarify the purpose of the coaching relationship from the start.
• Set and agree the objectives for each 'coaching conversation'.
• Be honest.
• Build your understanding of the coachee's world - what stage of their career are they at?  How is their home situation?
• Build your understanding of the coachee's relationships - how do they fit into the team?  Do they get support from their family/their friends/their colleagues?
• Insist on action.
• Insist on accountability.

Peer coaching

• Identify a partner you trust and who trusts you.
• Ensure that both of you want to learn.
• Set a schedule for conversations.
• Each identify their learning objectives.
• Divide the time between coaching and being coached equally.
• Strive for objectivity, not empathy - empathy is important, but you need to be frank and honest.
• Avoid moaning and grumbling.
• Focus on positive action.
• Agree to hold each other accountable.

Tools and models

1. ADKAR change management model

It is important that the steps are carried out in the order shown.

 

2. GROW model of coaching

 

This is a good model to start with.

 

3.  Achieve coaching model

 

4. Reflective practice

5. High level listening skills

• Intend to understand
• Pay close attention
• Defer judgement
• Explore for deeper meaning and understanding
• Concentrate
• Don't interrupt inappropriately
• Get inside the other person's frame of reference
• Listen with your eyes and mind, not just your ears
• Listen for meaning and feelings
• Beware of your body language signals

Avoid being patronising

• Find out what the other person knows and feels, don't presume.
• Understand the person's character and style of working and respond appropriately.
• Be careful with words and expressions that can be interpreted negatively and watch the tone of your voice.
• Don't insult someone's intelligence even if they don't know something you know - don't make them feel small.
• Avoid using suggestion questions - e.g. don't you think you should answer the phone?
• Withhold unsolicited advice - wait to be asked or ask if you can make a suggestion.

Courses

• Coaching Academy
• Centre for Coaching
• Coaching.com

Books

• 'Coaching Questions: a Coach's Guide to Powerful Asking Skills' by Tony Stoltzfus available here.
• '101 Coaching Strategies and Techniques' edited by Gladeana McMahon and Anne Archer (Routledge)
• 'The Manager's Coaching Toolkit' by David Allamby (Pearson Business)
• 'Coaching for Performance: Growing Human Potential and Purpose' by John Whitmore (Nicholas Brealey Publishing)
• 'Reflective Teaching' by Andrew Pollard

Websites

• National framework for mentoring and coaching 
• Excel group development

Mentor teachers - an #eltchat summary

This is a summary of the #eltchat which took place at 12 noon on 23rd January. The full title of the chat was:

'Mentor teachers' (those responsible for a team of teachers) and their role; best practices, pitfalls, tips.

This was my suggestion and, after a few shenanigans with a tied vote and an eleventh hour decision from our excellent moderators, @Shaunwilden and @Marisa_C, I'm pleased to say that it won and a very lively (over 500 tweets in the hour!) chat ensued.  What follows is my attempt to do justice to all of the valuable contributions from the participants.

Mentor teacher - defining the role

What is involved in being a mentor teacher?  Some suggestions:

• being a walking advice source
• inspiring mentees
• being a professional checklist
• being 'available'
• taking a mentee 'under your wing'
• answering questions or, better still, directing the mentee to find the answers himself
• showing the way
• being a quality control officer
• observing the mentee in the classroom and being observed by him to learn about each other's teaching practices and discuss the reasons behind them
• discussing problems and making sure teachers don't suffer in silence
• helping a new teacher get used to the admin systems of their new workplace (and chasing them up when they don't do it!)
• helping new teachers plan lessons
• providing a listening ear
• inducting a new teacher into a new institution
• encouraging CPD
• helping a new teacher to grow as a teacher
• making a mentee independent

What is the difference between a mentor and a coach?

• @louisealix68 suggested that a coach oversees in-depth reflection sessions on non-subject related things, whereas a mentor answers general questions on practical matters and, on that basis, a coach can look after any teacher in the institution, but a mentor should guide someone in his own department. 
• @Marisa_C proposed that, unlike a coach, a mentor doesn't train, but rather he supports someone in a new learning venture.
• @MentorEvo said that mentoring is a more frequent and detailed attention to day-to-day development than coaching is.

Who should be a mentor?

@touqo said that it was important that the mentor and the mentee be 'organisationally independent of each other' in order to ensure an informal atmosphere free of the day-to-day aspects of professional life, but @eltknowledge pointed out that this wasn't practical if part of the mentor's role is to assimilate the mentee into the organisation.  @touqo responded by saying that if the mentor's goal is to boost the mentee's career, then it is best that the mentor comes from elsewhere.

On a lighter note, @pjgallantry told us, 'As a mentor, my own role model is Obi-Wan Kenobi, though obviously without the being killed by a light sabre bit by a guy with asthma!'  This comment led to some of our participants ('geeks', perhaps - @Shaunwilden's term, not mine!) going off on a Star Wars tangent which kept them amused for the rest of the #eltchat!  Our aim is always to entertain as well as to inform!! :-)

The mentor/mentee relationship

It was generally agreed that the relationship has a natural life cycle and that, once a mentee has no further questions to ask, the partnership simply fades away.  After this, particularly if the arrangement has worked well, the mentee may become mentor to another new teacher.

Many #eltchat contributors felt that the relationship could only work if it was bi-directional, that is to say that both parties benefit from it.  It was also largely agreed that senior staff should swap mentee relationships each year in order to provide different perspectives.

@touqo suggested that the mentee should choose his mentor himself.  @yya2 went on to say the more a mentoring relationship is established by an institution, the less effective it is and that informal relationships seem to work better.

@Shaunwilden felt that both parties had to be working from the mentee's agenda for it to be a successful venture.

@yearinthelifeof commented that mentoring has to remain a symbiotic relationship built on mutual respect, trust and recognition that both sides can learn from.

Dos and don'ts of being a mentor

• DO ask questions which encourage reflection - e.g. 'Have you thought about....?', 'What might happen if you......?', etc.
• DO NOT make it a power relationship.
• DO ask difficult questions of your mentee before the 'real world' does!
• DO talk about expectations at the beginning of the relationship.
• DO listen.
• DO ask more questions than you answer.
• DO NOT shout or curse at the mentee! (Not outwardly, anyway!)
• DO make time to have a quiet cuppa with your mentee every week, even if he has no questions to ask.
• DO be patient.
• DO NOT impose your ideas on a mentee.
• DO know when to keep quiet and fade into the background.
• DO NOT have a 'know-it-all' attitude or act in a superior manner.
• DO find out about the background of your mentee.
• DO have a clear focus.
• DO be sympathetic and empathetic - these qualities are more important than the mentor's knowledge.
• DO ask the mentee what they would like you to help them with and any specific things to look out for.
• DO use 'human video' type field notes which are non-judgemental and where the mentee can decide what to accept and what to reject.
• DO NOT criticise, even if your mentee's lesson hurt your eyes!
• DO remember that you are learning as well.
• DO read this excellent book.
• DO continue to educate and develop yourself, both as a teacher and as a mentor.
• DO have a checklist, but DO NOT mentor according to it!!

Potential problems

• The mentor role and responsibilites are often not clearly defined.
• The mentor is often not trained in the role, prompting the question, 'How do you teach teachers to become mentors?'
• Mentors are often appointed simply because they are the people who have the time, not necessarily because they are the best people for the job.
• As soon as 'judgement' (e.g. critique of a lesson) of any kind gets in the way, the mentoring relationship will probably break down.
• People assuming that more experienced/older teachers automatically make better mentors.  As many contributors pointed out, 'newbies' often have a lot to teach 'oldies'!

Are mentors necessary?

This question was raised, particularly in places where there is a fantastic staffroom where experienced teachers all chip in to help with the CPD of new teachers.  It was also suggested that for those of us with an amazing PLN, mentors probably weren't needed.  In fact, some contributors consider #eltchat itself to be their mentor!  In most cases, however, it was agreed that there was a need for some kind of formal mentoring system as, nice as it would be, we can't often rely on everyone to care about their colleagues' CPD.

To conclude:

I joined the 2013 Mentoring EVO course a few weeks ago and I suggested this #eltchat topic because I redefined the role of senior teacher in my institution at the start of the 2012/2013 academic year.  The job title changed to 'mentor teacher' and I wanted the focus to shift to CPD.  This is a 'work in progress' and I was still unclear as to exactly how the relationship between mentor and mentee should work.  This chat has given me so much food for thought and I thank all the contributors for that.

@AlexandraKouk summed up the key elements of the mentor role:

• personal or professional development
• reflection
• informal transmission of knowledge
• relationship based

As @OUPELTGlobal put it, 'having a mentor is like having a good friend at school.'  @Teachersilvert added that 'a mentor is a friend with benefits'!!  However, @chiasuan pointed out that a good friend is socially but not professionally obligated to listen to your problems about work whereas it's vice-versa for a mentor! 

In the end, everyone agreed that, whilst training and qualifications were important, being open, approachable and empathetic were much more crucial qualities in a good mentor.

Links

The aplanet project on mentoring and 'Mentor' is a Greek word via @Marisa_C
Mario Rinvoluci's review of Fanselow's book via @KerrCarolyn
'Demystifying Mentoring' an article from the Harvard Business Review via @KerrCarolyn
Heron's Six Categories of Invention via @AlexandraKouk

Contributors