How to become an even better coach - Identifying the slither of difference

Judith Barton

In my last blog I discussed the ‘slither of difference’. For those who may not have read this blog; the ‘slither of difference’ is the little, often tiny elements that make the difference between good and great performance. The difficulty with this can be identifying what is the tiny element that will make the difference.

I mentioned how Sir David Brailsford, CBE, Team Principal at Team Sky, had concentrated on the tiny improvements of every element of the cyclists performance. This is a philosophy for Sir David, known as the “aggregation of marginal gains”, if we improve every element of what we do then this percentage gain will make a real difference to performance.

Unbeknown to me I follow a similar approach to improving my coaching practice, this I term the ‘slither of difference’.

Lionel Birnie interviewed David Brailsford (pre-knighthood) in May 2011 in his office at the Velodrome in Manchester, England. This cycling weekly piece noted how Brailsford reads coaching manuals and management books, he searches out the ‘how to’ from football managers, and speakers on performance. A book called Moneyball written by Michael Lewis, focused on the work of Billy Beane at Oakland Athletics basket ball team who drew his attention to the stats and measuring the right things rather than the stuff always measured.

I would liken this to asking clients to complete training or coaching evaluation forms. How much of the data gathered can be turned into information to help me improve? What Beane did at the Oakland Athletics club was to challenge the process of what was being measured and how it was used to improve ready for the next game.

Standing back, reflecting, understanding the data and challenging the whole coaching process is key to making real improvements in our practice. What is important here is ones definition of the whole process. For me the whole process (macro) means everything around the coaching session as well as the process or approach used within the session itself (micro). If we consider the whole coaching process to be the macro view this would include the organisational context, venue, contracting, relationships and so on.

Everything that goes into a coaching session should be included as part of the supervision. Edna Murdoch and Jackie Arnold describe how they see this Full Spectrum Model; “Full Spectrum Supervision; who you are, is how you supervise”.

To do this you need to work deeply and have trust with your supervisor. They note the quality of the relationship with your supervisor is key, and the supervisor must want the supervisee to become an even better coach. For me this relationship is about support and challenge, with a supervisor who really has my best interest at heart.

To improve your own coaching you need to truly understand your own performance. I do this by examining four key factors that impact on my performance; 1 health, 2 energy, 3 work and 4 home, against a zero baseline which equates to normal performance. Also shown is the number of coaching sessions per month. Each element has a plus and minus scale of 1 to 3. Then over the timeline, in this case 12 months, I track any changes from the zero baseline.

Health = Any episodes, e.g. influence, something that affects my performance;
Energy = Plus or minus my zero baseline;
Work   = Plus is work more challenging, stretching, feelings of success;
Home = Plus would be success, great experience within the family. Minus would be
when difficulties occur such as illness or bereavement.

I plot this throughout the year, and the illustration also shows the number of coaching sessions per month. Exact dates and times can be identified in the coaching log.

I then write up my learning in the format below:

 If you are struggling to see the images clearly click here

Selfie, supervision and success: reflecting on my coaching selfie

Judith Barton, Director of Coaching and Mentoring

I attended the Coaching at Work Annual Conference “Onwards and Upwards”. Hearing Liz Hall, Editor of Coaching at Work reflect on the last ten years (of the publication) the challenges, the achievements, the thrill of making it work has made me reflect on my year.

2015 is a big year for BSC and there is always tremendous energy in the practice, which I think is key to generating ideas and progression. When I reflect back on the last 12 months, I do this by “seeing and feeling”; then the highlights and lowlights very quickly come back to me. I wonder who else does this in such a visual way – or is it me?

When I say seeing and feeling, I am referring to the visual imagery and emotional triggers. So I have begun to think about how this could be used for supporting evidence based reviews such as: performance development review, evaluation of team performance, performance of a class over their school year and essential for us coaches; coaching supervision.

To share my thinking on this I will return to my title, “selfie, supervision and success”. Taking a selfie is now the done thing, and the use of selfie sticks is the new annoyance, finding itself banned by museums and Disney, personally I am not a fan.

Only once have I taken a selfie, that was to capture a ‘really can’t believe it’ moment. I had lost all my hair as a result of chemotherapy and I couldn’t believe the head on my shoulders was mine. It was a moment when seeing was believing, particularly when I would wake up and try to flick my long hair off my shoulders to be surprised it had gone.

My Grandmother would refer to taking a photograph as “having your likeness taken” and this was a difficult likeness to comprehend the selfie was a realisation of my current reality.

So I suppose the advantage of taking a selfie or photograph is it clearly captures the likeness, no matter how we may say “I don’t look like that”, I have come to realise that recognising how we truly look or truly are is that from this position we can see the true potential.

A) Continual Professional Development (CPD)
As coaches and mentors we must develop further our knowledge, understanding and skills. Effective CPD needs to have not just learning but application, how do we apply or implement the learning. As a new coach or mentor there is a lot to learn, everything from managing a session, environment, questioning, silence, suspending judgement and so on. As we become more experienced we need to become more critical of our own practice. Unpicking each element of a session and exploring what makes the difference. The more experienced we become the smaller but possibly deeper the difference is likely to be. It is the minutiae, the tiny difference I refer to as the “slither of difference”, which will ensure growth making us all more effective coaches.

Sir David Brailsford, CBE British Cycling Coach, refers to a similar philosophy of improvement as the “aggregation of marginal gains” the 1 percent margin in everything we do. If we add up these gains our slither of difference I think of the potential, the impact for our clients. According to a blog by James Clear no detail is too small when it comes to improvement; “They searched for 1 percent improvements in tiny areas that were overlooked by almost everyone else: discovering the pillow that offered the best sleep and taking it with them to hotels, testing for the most effective type of massage gel, and teaching riders the best way to wash their hands to avoid infection. They searched for one percent improvements everywhere”.

B) Identifying the “slither of difference”
Identification of the “slither of difference” can be tough, especially immediately after a coaching/mentoring session. You may have another session – you may be travelling or you may simply be too tired to review the session effectively.

I recommend scheduling a review some 36/48 hours later, this for me is the optimum time, personally rather in the morning rather than afternoon or evening. Energy is more likely to be restored and the step away brings clarity. However a word of warning, your review is dependent on your recall, so with your clients permission it is a good idea to voice record the session. Listening to this will provide greater insight into what worked for the client and areas less effective and help document the session and identify the slither of difference.

C) Capturing the selfie moment
Whether you choose to voice record or not I would suggest have a go at capturing the image. What I mean by this is capturing the moment, the image that recognises your slither of difference either as a strength or an area for development. For example the time it took to ‘unlock’ the client in a session by an image of the clock in the coaching room; an image of stillness to remind you of doing nothing and the power of silence in a session.

You may find it useful to write up the ‘unlock’ question and photograph it. With phones and tablets this is extremely easy and makes my next suggestion even easier.

D) Preparing for supervision
Supervision is essential. To fully benefit from supervision I believe we need to invest in it, make time for it and take our reflections to the session. Remember you only get out what you put in, and this is especially true for supervision. Through the images we have generated we have the when and possibly the how we did something through reflection and supervision we can understand the why we did it, and the so what or what next. Through supervision we can receive support and challenge to work on our “slither of difference”.

E) Performance Timeline – Reflecting on previous 12 months
Using selfies or images we can build a timeline, say 12 months and reflect back to understand our growth. If we wish to understand more we can identify the data points of where our practice developed or didn’t and where support may be needed.

If this sounds interesting try overlaying your coaching sessions data with the rest of your life. Take your timeline and add to it:
A) Health
B) Energy – you may remember great highs and lows, a time when you may have operated slightly below par – a selfie/image may be particularly useful here.
C) Work
D) Home – family, personal events, life happenings
F) The whole person coach

Then stand back and see if this visual representation of your whole self provides evidence as to your performance over your timeline. An example of this will be presented in my next blog.

Working out your whole person timeline will provide immense data when identifying the slither of difference. I believe we are only as good as our whole self, so our coaching performance is more than likely to be affected by what is happening in our world or whole self. Whilst we all practice suppressing daily distractions, life events such as illness (ourselves or our children), bereavement, work challenges etc can cause interference  and often a reduction in energy which is likely to have a knock on effect with a reduction in mental agility. The Full Spectrum Model, Edna Murdoch, focuses on the whole person.

So consider snapping your selfie for supervision and reflect on the whole you to inform and develop your practice – to be the most effective coach you can be.

Judith Barton, BA, MSc, Chartered FCIPD, FISQC, MInstLM, EMCC Member,
Director of Coaching and Mentoring
British School of Coaching

Judith is leading the ILM Certificate/Diploma in Coaching Supervision starting 8th December 2015.

Coaching Blog: Language that passes all understanding?

Martin Hill, Programme Director

A recent trip to deliver a presentation at the launch of the British School of Coaching’s UAE Network proved to be an interesting source of learning on several levels, but perhaps the most interesting reflection that it prompted was the use of language in coaching.

What started this thought process of was my arrival at the airport – the choice of  “terminal” is hardly a confidence - building descriptive to use; and why when I am arriving have I got to go to departures? Despite there being a myriad of languages and cultures represented amongst the airport customers, it was surprising to observe how quickly everyone adapted and conformed - and also the various “coping strategies” that were being used. People watching led me to observe the following styles:

·         The Organiser- everything planned to the last iota - focused, determined, sometimes to the point of being oblivious to anyone else’s needs. Usually armed with a checklist or itinerary that is frequently consulted. Sometimes thrown by unexpected changes or events (unless a true organiser, in which case even if these unexpected events were anticipated and planned for).

·         The Follower- usually, but not exclusively, seen in association with The Organiser above. Interesting to reflect on whether they are a willing or “press ganged” follower. Works best when there is a clear and well communicated joint strategy between organiser and follower - often not there with family groups (main disparity often being between husband and wife).

·         The Worrier- determined to see everything from the “worst case” scenario. Worrying about possible “what if’s” from a negative perspective means that they have little chance to engage and enjoy in the “here and now”- for example, are given a flight upgrade, but are still worrying about whether will land safely etc, etc. 

·         The Optimist- calm, adaptive and flexible approach. Usually they have a general plan in mind, but are not fazed by unexpected changes, simply accepting them and quickly adapting to the new parameters.

All of the above made me reflect on how similar the airport scenario described above was with a coaching session. Both have a common goal (or destination) and the clients undertaking that journey often display some of the same behaviour types as those outlined above. That made me think about what gets in the way, and realise that sometimes what causes the issue is the language – assumptions are made by both coach and client as to the meaning of a particular word or phrase, but this is often not checked out. This is further exacerbated when we bring in the tour operator (or manager/supervisor) and discover that they have a different understanding of the same word.

Does this strike you as an artificial scenario? Well, it is probably not that uncommon.  Just think back on a coaching intervention involving a 3- way contracting scenario (coach, client and sponsor). If you can, think of a successful and an unsuccessful coaching session – what was the difference?  I would venture an informed guess that the unsuccessful session featured a difference in understanding of goal/destination and/or some other misunderstanding caused by communication. Sometimes this may have been between coach and client – often it is clear between coach and client, but differs from what the sponsor thought that they had agreed with coach and/or client. For example, in a recent group supervision session I simply put one word as the topic for discussion –“Endings”. A simple word, that everyone understands? It was interesting to note that this one word generated 6-8 different meanings from the coaches present- what made some of the difference was the perspective for each person’s definition; the client-context which they were relating it to and also the experience of each.

What can you do as a coach to ensure that the destination is safely reached and a successful and enjoyable journey for all? Even the most simple of language can have different meanings for the people involved – always check out understanding – not just of the client in the room, but also for the sponsor and anyone else potentially impacted by that particular coaching relationship. The greater clarity that there is in describing the goal/destination; the greater the chance of success.  Remember what Oscar Wilde said about assumption: “When you assume, you make an ass out of u and me”. 

Martin Hill LL.B (Hons), FInstLM, FISQC, MAC, EMCC Member, Coach &Coach Supervisor

Faculty Member

Programme Director for ILM Level 7 Executive Coaching & Mentoring Courses

 

Reflective Practice

Martin Hill

Reflective Practice – a phrase that you may have encountered numerous times as you conduct your own coaching practice, but what does it actually mean?

Take a moment to recollect the most successful coaching interventions that you have conducted - what did the client do to make the success occur. I would suggest that what the client did was reflect on the challenges and interventions in the coaching session and then implement that learning, having adapted it to suit their own style and goals.

Julie Hay in “Reflective Practice & Supervision For Coaches” (2008) Open University Press- Coaching In Practice series  states “Supervision is the process of helping you to step back from your work so that you can take a meta-perspective or broader view of your practice….Reflective Practice refers to the same concept as supervision but without the benefit of a supervisor or colleague”

I use reflective practice as a tool to make my own supervision more effective. Indeed Hay makes the point “Prior analysis of your own practice saves supervision time and enables supervisors to operate at a higher level when they support and challenge you.”

Reflective practice needs planning on your part in order to be effective and efficient. One of the key tools that I use is ensuring that I capture my own learning and reflections from a session as soon as possible after the session whilst still fresh in my mind. In this age of technology there are a myriad of options – using a smartphone voice recorder or dictaphone; making a selfie-video – personally I prefer using a notepad. I initially simply record as much as I can recall from the session in a “stream of consciousness” flow- not taking time to reflect or review what I have captured at that stage. I then leave it for 20-30 minutes or overnight and then reflect on that as I write up my own coaching journal notes. Try to focus on what you did; what you felt or what you thought rather than capturing the content of the session. Watch out for making broad statements which simply set out the outcome – drill down to examine and reflect on what happened ; what you did - how the client and how you reacted; feelings etc. What could you have done differently? What can you adapt or improve? What made that particular tool/interaction unsuccessful?  This provides a rich seam of learning to mine to continuously improve your own practice.

When you initially start off, the reality is that you will be reflecting on what you have done in the PAST- the last session and previous sessions. Hay states “The point of reflection is how to enhance capability so time spent reflecting on how to behave in FUTURE situations allows you to identify more options and to plan for increased flexibility, with specific clients, and more generally.”

Give it a try – you’ve nothing to lose and everything to gain!!

Martin Hill LL.B (Hons), FInstLM, FISQC, MAC, EMCC Member, Coach &Coach Supervisor

Faculty Member

Programme Director for ILM 7 Coaching & Mentoring Courses

Known Unknowns

Martin Hill, Senior Tutor BSC

Ramadan provides an excellent opportunity for self-reflection- and an opportunity to reflect on your coaching practice and yourself as a coach.

One of the common themes from candidates that I have encountered, when delivering the British School of Coaching’s Level 7 coaching and mentoring course, has been angst about encountering topic or issues in sessions that they would not know the answer to, which results in the candidates being desperate to be experts in every possible field that may arise. One of the key features of being a coach is the fact that you do not need to be a subject matter expert- indeed that ignorance on your part is frequently the enabler that leads the client to the new knowledge or understanding. This is because your questions to help your understanding make the client reflect when they are explaining matters to you. It is often the simple, curious, questions used by the coach to clarify matters that makes the client realise something they had failed to notice or misunderstood the significance of.

The challenge for you to reflect upon for your coaching practice is how comfortable you are with dealing with ambiguity. Remember Donald Rumsfeld’s comment?

“There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know.” Unpicking that and applying that to me own coaching and supervision practice:

·         Known knowns- I reflect on my own skills and knowledge – not just from coaching and supervision, but also the holistic knowledge and experience that I bring- work and life experience etc. Remember that coaching is not something that occurs in a vacuum.

·         Known unknowns- I research the client industry/client prior to first session to establish some background knowledge- also great tool for rapport building. Sometimes the pre-session meeting reveals areas that I need to research and/or refresh. 

·         Unknown unknowns- I use my coaching journals to reflect on my development as a coach and reflect on how my emotional development in dealing with unknowns- initially it was a source of anxiety, now my reflection is that this is the source of excitement. I am also comfortable with being honest and open with a client and saying when I do not know something and then exploring countermeasures to address that. 

Martin Hill LL.B (Hons), FInstLM, FISQC, MAC, EMCC Member, Coach &Coach Supervisor

Faculty Member

Programme Director for ILM 7 Coaching & Mentoring Courses