The Deliberate Coaching Model
Deliberate Coaching
The Deliberate Coaching Model is compared to "Mount Achievement," since coaching is much like climbing a mountain. Mountain climbing requires precise planning, reinforcement, and valuing the mission. In order to be successful in your mountain-climbing journey, you must realize that your journey begins well before you reach the base of the mountain and this is true of coaching as well. You have to insure that the environment where your coaching will take place is well prepared for the integration of a coaching model and all systems are aligned so you can get optimal results. Before you hit the ground running with coaching, be observant and understand that coaching and training are different concepts. Training focuses on skill deficits, and these deficits are things that can be targeted with professional developments or continued education; your role more important role as a coach is to help "facilitate the transfer of skills trained into the workplace environment (Gavoni & Weatherly, 95)."
Deliberate Coaching Defined
Deliberate Coaching is a model of behavioral coaching, which means it's based on research surrounding principles of behavior. This model is intended to be implemented by people within a workplace who are looking to increase performance and results of people and systems within that workplace.
"Deliberate Coaching requires focused observation, tracking of performance change, and feedback to shape socially valid, high-impact behavior (Gavoni & Weatherly, 96)."
"Good leaders are like good coaches. They know how to bring out the best in people on their team" - John Maxwell
Principles of DC.pdfPrinciples of Deliberate Coaching
- Precise
- Purposeful
- Systematic
The 8 Ws of Deliberate Coaching
As a coach, it's imperative that you move away from always telling, and begin questioning.
"Questioning allows the teacher to reflect on the link between their behavior and outcomes; moreover, it creates many more opportunities for the coach to gather information that can be used to guide coaching interactions (Gavoni & Weatherly, 99)."
When you coach by telling, you are going to form prompt-dependent coachees. Instead of being able to respond to environmental cues and information around them, they may become dependent on you as a coach.
The 8 Ws of Deliberate Coaching helps coachees look for positive changes in their environment and encourages them "to self-identify:
their own behavior (good and bad)
the results of their behavior
why the behavior is occurring
what to do instead
why the behavior is important (particularly in terms of the impact on consequences that matter to them personally) (Gavoni & Weatherly, 101)."
Application: Consider using the 8 Ws of Deliberate Coaching to guide a coaching session with another staff member and reflect on the differences you see in using this model as opposed to what you have done in the past.
Precise Coaching
"Pinpointing is the process of describing precisely what outcome is desired and precisely what behavior should occur to achieve the outcome (Gavoni & Weatherly, 113)." Precision is the backbone of pinpointing.
In education, the overarching goal is to reach a high level of student achievement and in order to reach this goal it takes precise and purposeful planning for short- and long-term goals.
Precision can be increased by SMART Pinpoints and Task Analysis.
Application: Assess a current "pinpoint" in your coaching process with another staff member to see if it meets the criteria for being a SMART Pinpoint.
Purposeful Coaching
Time is limited, especially in a school environment. It's important to know how to find the best course of action and target the right problems. Don't overload yourself with problems to fix, we know there are so many; so, prioritize and focus on a few at a time.
"...workplace performance has historically lacked an assessment of why behavior occurs (Austin, Carr, & Agnew, 1999). Without this knowledge, you're coaching blind, relying on a time-wasting trial-and-error approach (Gavoni & Weatherly, 125-126)." Try using a Performance Diagnostic Checklist (PDC) which assesses antecedents and information, equipment and processes, knowledge and skills, and consequences to help identify areas of need in a classroom to improve conditions for fostering instructional/behavioral strategies to make progress towards a performance goal.
Application: Use the PDC to evaluate a current coaching strategy you have in place with another staff member. Make necessary changes based on the information you gain from the PDC.
Systematic Coaching
"We need to track progress to see it (Gavoni & Weatherly, 138)."
It's important to be able to show the impacts of the work you are doing. Your work will be of greater value to administration and other stakeholders if there is data to show that the benefits outweigh the cost and effort. Having hard and fast data and means of communicating this data will help you avoid the "coaching telephone game" where information on the work you are doing does not ever reach the individuals making decisions based on it.
Ways you can protect against the coaching telephone game, as outlined by Gavoni & Weatherly:
Train for Impact: target the most critical data in an objective manner.
Tracking the Behavior Leads to Result Alignment: identify the most important behaviors to coach and train those who are well-suited for making the behavior changes you are hoping to see.
Demonstrate Value with Measurement: use an appropriate and effective measurement system.
Application: Find a way to provide data on one coaching strategy you are using this year. When you have a sufficient amount of data - share it directly with a stakeholder!
Taking that First Step
"People don't reach goals, no matter how small, when they fail to consistently engage in the behaviors that will lead them there. If you value something, you must first learn to recognize the behaviors that will lead you toward your goals, as well as recognize the behaviors that will lead you away from them (Gavoni & Weatherly, 145)."
Start by assessing your current strengths and the areas where you need to improve. For assistance in this area, use the Coaching Self-Assessment and Checklist.
Then, make sure your coaching approach is socially valid and leads to compliance even after you leave. You may ask, how do you know if your coaching methods are socially valid? The easiest way to find out is just to ask those you coach. You may also consider providing your coachee(s) this Social Significance Evaluation tool for evaluating the social validity of your coaching pinpoints and coaching strategies (based on The Social Validity Manual: A Guide to Subjective Evaluation of Behavior Interventions by Stacy L. Carter in 2010)