Training Masters is a training and consulting company specializing in helping schools, businesses, and organizations reach their full growth potential.
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Ask yourself the following questions.
The underlying principle of coaching is that every team member is capable and willing to contribute. It is grounded in trust, support, and the goal of creating and sustaining positive change. Coaching recognizes that each person is a powerful force in his or her own experience. It's markedly different from directing, managing, browbeating, or cajoling people to change or to do the right thing. Rather, it allows change through the will of the individual and actively helps everyone to "get on a roll and stay there." It is a results-oriented, focused approach to workplace success that includes "inner" and "outer" work.
It applies equally well to individuals and teams or groups. In "one-to-one" coaching, campus presidents, supervisors, managers, team leaders, and department chairpersons work individually with a certified coach. Together they determine where they are today, where they want to be, the best way for them to get there, and the action plan to allow it to happen.
Coaching is all about change and includes built in accountability and support to make it happen fast and sustain it. That's why it works so well and why it can so effectively impact many areas of school operation. Coaching is done in person or on the phone. Coach and client usually meet once per week, using laser focus to take action, "be" different, identify and remove limiting beliefs and other barriers to success, and agree on next steps.
Coaching "one to many" with a team or group is usually, but not exclusively, done on site and focuses on the issues related to the group itself using that same laser-like approach to create change. Group coaching experiences are highly interactive, moving quickly to get "at the heart of the matter."
While many school organizations have various levels of supervisory oversight and training programs, providing coaches to the individuals who desire to make improvements in themselves and their work is a connection and payoff that the internal offerings often cannot achieve. The "outside" relationship with a coach allows the confidentiality and vulnerability to be shared that are often hidden with internal levels. It is this very personal approach that can foster the improvement process, and the coaching investment eliminates any barriers by allowing them to surface and then working through them to achieve the growth goals.
When performance levels are not up to expectations or personal traits are interfering with work performance, coaching can get people beyond the interferences strengthening their motivation and their results. When assessing the personal and work skills of employees at all levels of the organization, coaching can be a strengthening tool that turns average performance into peak performance.
At the time of hire, if any limitations are determined that cause concern with a candidate that otherwise meets the qualification of the job, coaching can be the factor that bridges the missing link. It might also help prepare employees for the next level of growth and promotional opportunities. It can bridge the gap that might exist when employees who are successful in one position move onto the next level and find difficulty performing there. Coaching should always be considered prior to termination of an employee who has fallen into a substandard area of performance but has demonstrated many good traits. Some guidance in working through the issue can help people discover how to be their best.
In these challenging days of finding and keeping good employees, schools and educational organizations can find business suffering because of turnover and/or weak links in the staff. Coaching holds strong opportunities to minimize these negative impacts and boost the overall morale of the organization.