BSC Coaching Network Event: October 2014

In October we launched a new series of Coaching Network events.  In these short, informal sessions we lead a seminar on an important area of coaching, followed by a chance to mix with like-minded professional coaches and share learning.

This event was led by Martin Hill, senior tutor on the ILM Level 7 Certificate in Executive Coaching and Mentoring.  Martin discussed internal coaching, strategy, confidentiality and ethics.  It was attended by delegates who traveled from as far as the UAE and France (not to mention 400 yards down the road!)

Martin’s seminar was followed by lively discussion and delegates stayed in the venue for several hours afterwards to chat over lunch.

The next Coaching Network event will run on the 17th of January – it will be facilitated by Angela Hill, who will lead a session on the role of the coach to challenge.

Book a place now here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/bsc-coaching-network-spring-2015-tickets-13985959381

Visit the BSC Website for more information.

ILM Level 2 Award in Mentoring, Dubai 2014

A few pictures from our 3rd ILM Level 2 Mentoring course, run at Dubai English Speaking School, UAE

www.britishschoolofcoaching.com

The Sound of Silence

 

Sanam Yakub

 ...

Did you hear that? 

It was the sound of silence.

Sir Conan Doyle had it right when his character Sherlock Holmes criticized Watson for only ‘looking’ and not ‘observing’. We all ascend the same stairs everyday at home, but do we observe how many steps there are? 

Similarly, it can be easy to ‘listen’ to what your client is saying, but do you always ‘hear’ what they say?

Listening to what the client is saying and hearing what they actually mean is a skill that all coaches should develop.  A coach must not only focus on the clients spoken response but also pay attention to non-verbal clues, which can be imperative in guiding further questioning.

Techniques such as pausing after questioning, are essential in allowing the client time to think about their response - silence is where the thinking and change is taking place.  

In addition, listening for key information and phrases can give clues to the clients thinking. Furthermore, paraphrasing, reflecting and summarizing what the client has said can help to develop the thinking of the client and ensuring that the coach has heard the clients response correctly.

Once effective listening has been mastered, open-ended questions can be powerful for extraction of information.  

Listening is more than just sitting back and taking in the words of the client. 

It is about picking up the clues in the unsaid words, facial expression and body language. So next time you are listening to your client, ‘observe’ and ‘hear’ the silence – it should speak volumes. 

Sanam is CPD Leader at Dubai English Speaking School.  Having completed the ILM Level 3 Award in Coaching with flying colours, she will now be embarking on this May's ILM Level 7 Certificate in Executive Coaching and Mentoring!

www.britishschoolofcoaching.com

www.dessdubai.com 

British Embassy Presentation for Dubai English Speaking School

Last week we were very proud to present Certificates to teachers from Dubai English Speaking School for completing the ILM Level 3 Award in Coaching. Very well done to everyone!

12 more teachers have just begun the qualification, as the school continue to develop a culture of coaching throughout the whole organisation.

Developing a School Leadership Coaching Team

Charlotte Randall

Through private invitation, the Dubai English Speaking School (DESS) was asked to present at the 'What Works' Leadership event on April 16^th 2013 at the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) in Dubai.  The Headteacher, Mr David Hammond, along with myself, jointly delivered a presentation that focused on the success of introducing the ILM Level 3 Award in Coaching accreditation into the professional development programme of our senior and middle leaders.

The Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) is a regulatory authority of the Government of Dubai and is responsible for the growth, direction and quality of private education and learning in Dubai.  'What Works' was established by the KHDA, as an invitation only event, to provide a forum for collaborative learning within Dubai’s private education sector. Their vision, to bring schools together to share best practice and develop professional relationships based on underlying values that put the pupils at the heart of learning.

By taking the approach of training all members of the leadership team (teaching and non-teaching) on a rolling programme due to complete in 2014, we have started to build capacity and capability across the organisation for increasing performance at all levels. This is being achieved through individual coaching sessions, performance management conversations and the integration of the coaching dialogue into the core of the organisation.

Areas that have been developed as a result of enhancing the schools professional development opportunities with an accredited leadership coaching team are:

Leadership and Management:

• Team collegiality, motivation, challenge
• Behavioural changes at leadership level to get the best from the team
• Raising the profile of leadership roles through addressing staff performance

Career/Role Development:

• Linked to the above leadership and management points but also….
• Career progression within the organisation (long term and short term goals linked to teaching and learning)
• Understand my role within the organisation

Teaching and Learning:

• Develop teaching and learning strategies
• Developing in key areas such as formative and summative assessment

Time Management:

• Using the Time Management Matrix to support colleagues through pressure points in the term
• How to deal with stress and panic

Project Management:

• Building a rationale and action plan towards implementing a project

Change Management:

• Supporting colleagues to adapt to change within the working environment
• Transition out of the organisation and succession planning

Raising the profile of a department:

• Developing skills and practical actions to raise the profile of the department/subject area

It was a privilege to have been invited to the 'What Works' event and be able to share the good practice, commitment and hard work of my colleagues at DESS to ensure that as an organisation we are always moving forward.

During the presentation, visual harvesting or graphic recording was used to collect the content of the talk in real-time, the result of which can be seen in the photo below.

Charlotte Randall

Read more about the coaching programme the British School of Coaching are implementing at Dubai English Speaking School here



 

Coaching in Education

Bsc clients Dubai English Speaking School will be presenting the impact of Coaching on the school, children and parents at Sheikh Zayed University 16th April 2013

Find out more about our work in coaching here

The Top Four Challenges Workplace Coaches Meet

by Charlotte Randall, CPD Leader 
 Dubai English Speaking School

Who owns the challenge?

It is important when embarking upon workplace coaching to fully explore and understand who owns the challenge when uncovering a particular challenge that is presented in the session.  If the challenge is linked to organisational change that is policy driven, then the coach’s job is to ensure that the client is fully aware that they will not be able to change the outcome of this – it is going to, or is already happening.  The role of the coach is to help the client to explore their own behaviours relating to how they might approach this change process for the benefit of the stakeholders and their professional progression. Connected to this is the coach’s skill in being able to explore patterns of thinking and organisational political awareness in the client, that acknowledges the management pressure from stakeholders to bring about change as a result of business drivers or raising standards at base level.

Workplace matching of client and coach

To prevent matching becoming a barrier to success in work place coaching, time has to be spent to ensure the profile of your coaches is linked closely to the client pen portrait.  It is important to consider the role, personality, backgrounds, relationships and scope of ability within the coaching team; whilst considering the same for the client. The challenge the client is bringing to the session also has to be considered; how this may be linked to organisational culture and potentially, how the conversation may progress to touch the boundaries of the roles and responsibility of the coach or people that they may manage. This is also imperative to remember when avoiding the trap of colluding with the client or moving from empathising to sympathising with them.

Suspending judgement from prior knowledge

The literature states that in order to become an effective coach, a core competency that a coach needs to master is the ability to suspend judgement; something that can be challenging when workplace coaching because of prior knowledge of the client or the organisational culture. When coaching someone in a similar role, or with similar challenges, human nature is such that the coach may become more directive and tell the client of their experiences and how they might solve their issues through your (the coaches) solutions. Questioning may slip into containing hidden instructions such as, could you……what about trying ……… and the coach may start to manipulate the conversation (and relationship) because they have a preconceived idea of the best way to solve this challenge for the client. A workplace coach therefore, must remain professional at all times and refrain from reflecting on their own past experiences and control their urge to offer personal advice.

Operational logistics

Planning for this is crucial from the outset with evaluation, feedback and reflective processes built in at different stages throughout the journey.

An operational agreement should outline:

• What coaching is within your organisational context?

• The coaching model utilised within the organisation

• Contracting (organisational and personal)

• Entry and exit from the programme

• Quality assurance linked to supervision and on-going monitoring and evaluation paperwork

• Key performance indicators linked to return of investment

• Deployment and matching of the client and coach

• Reporting system for conflict

• Health and safety linked to the coaching environment

As the coaching goes live, it is important to pre-empt issues that may arise with releasing both coach and client from their everyday role. It is important to review this regularly to ensure that the coaches have the time built in to move from professional role into coaching role prior to the session commencing. 

Charlotte Randall

CPD Leader

Dubai English Speaking School 

Charlotte is currently leading and promoting the coaching culture at Dubai English Speaking School, supported by the British School of Coaching.  To find out more about DESS click here, or to read about  our coaching courses currently running, take a look at our programme schedule.