Monday, March 11, 2019

Coaching Systems Development; Formula for Success


In my position as a statewide coaching coordinator, I’ve traveled the Driftless region of southwest Wisconsin, the peninsula of Door County and each of the five principal urban centers.  In speaking with coaches across the state, there are unique successes and barriers depending on the individual cultures and contexts of the buildings and districts they serve.  Some smaller districts shared a coach between all buildings, a larger district wondered how to provide coaches with individualized learning plans and another wondered how to connect with other coaches given their somewhat isolated location.  One theme that continued to surface, however was that leadership was key to the equation of successful systems of coaching.  A culture of coaching and growth mindset often hinged on the leadership and their understanding, support and development of systems to sustain coaching as an innovation.  Based on stories of success and barriers, as well as research from the National Implementation Research Network, Wisconsin has developed a worksheet to help guide the process of developing systems to support coaching.

In broad strokes, implementation science as described by NIRN is the study of systems and supporting the execution of research-based best practices.  This three-part blog will examine coaching from three different lenses of implementation science.  The first part will situate coaching within the implementation science formula.  The second considers the drivers of coaching as an innovation and the final post will dive into concrete considerations for each of the four implementation stages.   Coaching is one critical component of implementing an innovation.  In essence, it drives the work.  With so much research pointing toward coaching as a key component to the success of a program, it is no wonder that districts and schools are hiring coaches in droves.  Giving someone the title of coach; however, does not translate into a magical unicorn, but often a this is all a coach will get in terms of direction and guidance.  In fact, my recent interactions with coaches has revealed that many of them don’t even have a job description.  In these scenarios coaches are hungry for professional development, a chance to network, and a wish that they were observed based on coaching skills instead of teaching.  We must remember that coaching is also an innovation; and just like any innovation, it must be mindfully and intentionally operationalized.  


 

This diagram visually highlights the fact that effective innovations, which are effectively implemented within a context ( In the case of coaching, the enabling context may be considered the learning culture.  Is there a culture of growth mindset that will be open to partnering with a coach to improve student outcomes?) that enables and supports the effective innovations, leads to socially significant outcomes.  In many current systems, we are using coaching to support other effective innovations. One example would be the installation of literacy coaches who are hired by schools and districts to support best literacy practices.  This is a sound practice, but we must first look at coaching as an innovation in and of itself and not a driver.  Subsequently, in seeing coaching as an innovation, we may then work to build a system to support it--only then will coaching yield the socially significant outcomes that it promises.  

This concept is easier for me to understand when we examine the mathematical equation using numbers. In this example let’s use coaching as the effective innovation and assign it a 10, given that it is research-based. If we don’t spend any effort planning how coaching will be implemented, our effective implementation will be a 0.  It doesn’t matter how great the effective innovation is, it will not result in a socially significant outcome (10 x 0 = 0)  Furthermore, continuing with the example, if you take coaching and implementation has been well-planned--we’ll assign a 10--but there is no leadership to support a culture of growth, the enabling context will be a 0.  Again, the results will not get to the promise of the research (10 x 10 x 0 = 0). 

Once the team has a baseline understanding of the formula, especially the importance of effective implementation, they can turn their sites towards building the implementation infrastructure--known as drivers.  Check out the 2nd post to get more details.  

Adapted content and graphic credits to National Implementation Research Network (NIRN).  


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