Coaching approaches in personal academic tutoring With a focus on - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Tutoring Matters Webinar Series

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With a focus on remote tutoring and helping students feel in control and connected

Coaching approaches in personal academic tutoring

Welcome! Today’s seminar starts at 2pm BST. Please MUTE your microphone. You can introduce yourself and ask questions in the Zoom chat window.

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Webinar Presenters

Clair Zawada

Host

Birmingham City University

Dr Melanie Pope Presenter University of Derby Julie de Witt Presenter University of Derby

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Aims

.

To consider why we are using a coaching approaches as part of a Personal academic tutoring strategy and as part of a remote strategy To explore how you might use coaching approaches as part

• f your personal

academic tutoring meetings To discuss some common questions and address some concerns

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Why a coaching approach?

We consider that a Personal Academic Tutor enables the student to:

• Make links across and between elements
• f the whole programme of study
• To set personal goals and identify ways of

working towards achieving them

• To see the bigger picture of their

programme of study – personally and professionally

• Feel that they belong in the university

environment Coaching can be one way that students can be supported to making their own decisions and setting their own actions to help them to achieve these.

• Is developmental
• Builds professional

skills, develops autonomy and increases internal locus

• f control, reflective

skills etc..

• Change is attained by

focusing on goals and

• utcomes, not by telling
• STOPS spoon feeding !
• It is the art of having a

better, more productive conversation

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Why a coaching approach is possibly especially relevant now ?

We think…

• A sense of agency right now !

But the challenges?

• We might be assuming everyone has the technology, Wi-Fi

capacity, space, privacy, time and time during the day, headspace to do this effectively online – it is different.

• But, where it works it can be better?

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When you hear the word ‘coach’ or ‘coaching’ what do you think ?

What do they do? What are they for? In what contexts are you aware of coaching? How can this be applied to students in personal tutoring ?

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What is a coaching conversation ?

“Coaching is the art and science of facilitating an individual’s self-directed discovery and change. It's a collaborative activity designed to help a person think through a situation with greater depth and clarity than they could do on their own, and come up with actionable goals to which they are willing to commit” Hicks and McCracken (2013, p85)

Hicks, R (2014) Coaching as a Leadership Style. The art and science of Coaching Conversations for healthcare Professionals. Routledge

It is simply a series of well timed questions which aim to move the

• ther person towards a solution which they will own

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What is specific about solutions focused coaching approach?

Acknowledges the issue/matter at hand

• But the shift is then to how the person (the student in this case) will

know the issue has been solved

• What could they do?
• What are they already doing
• Demonstrating they are capable of change
• They are the expert, they know their own lives best, their

resources So, this is future focused It’s about finding the exception, away from issues/problems and towards solutions Incremental, creating continuums Our job is then to listen and question, so these skills and qualities emerge

Grant (2017) talks about the role of workplace coaching and creating a culture of quality workplace conservations. He terms this ‘third’ generation coaching

Grant, A (2017) The third ‘generation’ of workplace coaching: creating a culture of quality conversations. Coaching; An International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice. Vol 10, No 1, pp37-53.

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Building rapport

• Essential for effective conversations, the evidence shows this is key in a coaching

conversation too.

• How do we do that online ? Is it different ? Or is it the times too?
• It is good practice to have a ‘check-in’ but don’t let it then become a ‘therapy

session’.

• But, understanding how someone is feeling does build a sense of connection
• Listening to concerns, encouraging conversation towards solutions focused
• utcomes?

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What else – the online set up

• This is part of ‘contracting’ and does help rapport, because we are essentially

being ‘invited’ into someone's home

• Video on or video off ? An audio conversation is absolutely OK
• Do they know how to use ‘blurring’ backgrounds?
• What else? What time is OK ?
• Dress code ? For you ?
• Anything else about your home environment I might need to consider?
• If they are uncomfortable from word go- then it won’t work….

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How well do you listen?

Level 0 – oh they are talking alright but blarr blarr, did you leave the iron on? What time is your next meeting/?

Level 1 – you are listening to the voice in your head ,you know the answer !!! Hurrah! You are going to butt in now… here goes - not listening that well really but giving it a go.

1

Level 2 – the voice is still there, but you are able to supress it. You are properly listening most of the time. You are not doing much of the talking

2

Level 3 – you are listening

well, and also noticing. Intuition is kicking in too. Maybe the words are saying

• ne thing, but the actions and

the silences another….You are doing very little talking, and when you are you are using all the cues to bring

• bservations together.

3

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How would you rate this listening ?

She’s not very good is she…. It will get better!

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About listening well, some questions ?

• How do you demonstrate you are listening ?
• Why is this important
• What is that urge to intervene? What does that do to a conversation?
• How is this different online ? How is this similar ?
• What are the challenges of an online conversation in terms of listening

well – for us and a tutee ?

• How do we maintain concentration and focus in a conversation online?

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Asking open questions

Ideas the other person generates are more likely to be meaningful to them; and therefore more likely to be carried

• ut/actioned

Open questions will open conservation. Closed questions will slam it shut ! ‘But’ and ‘however’ or ‘why’ will do the same and close a conversation down. Way to open a question:

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Giving advice

• Giving advice CRUSHES a coaching conversation
• A ‘yard stick’ is the person ‘coaching’ should do most of the listening
• At least 80% of the time the tutee should be doing the talking
• I am willing to wager it is often the other way around !

Why do we like to give advice?

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A note about Rescuing

Rescuing does not work. Being the hero does not work. And in the long run it actually is worse than that. It serves to keep the other person dependent, down, in ‘victim’ position, not developing those autonomous, thinking graduate level skills. Keeping them ‘knocking

• n your door’.

When your solution does not work you are no longer the hero, you are then cast in the role of the ‘villain’ and then you end up feeling like the ‘victim’ in some circumstances. Learning not to rescue is liberating for both parties In the long run it frees up your time for really good academic conversations A good starting point to read more is in chapter 12

• f Cox, E., Bachkirova., Clutterbuck, D. (2013)

Complete Handbook of Coaching. Sage. London.

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Can I tell a student what to do if they are stuck? I’m confused !

• Coaching is primarily non-directive; this is about letting the
• ther person develop their own solutions, recognising they are

your thinking equal

• However, you do have more experience and knowledge – this

is why you are working in education after all

• So, this is about recognising WHEN and HOW to offer advice,

not that you cannot offer advice or suggest solutions.

• Watch that ‘rescuing’ is not your default though
• One way to think about this to recognise which ‘hat’ you are

wearing and that this ‘hat’ can change depending on the nature of the conversation. You should also ensure the other person (the student in this case), knows which hat you are wearing, so you will involve the student in that change.

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Which hat ?

Teaching

Mentoring Coaching Skills, knowledge and experience are shared/passed on

A non-directive conversation, thinking equals

Specific teaching goals are the focus

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Which hat ?

• Signal the change of ‘hat’ and keep

this collaborative, suggestions include:

• And better still, develop your
• wn ‘patter’ whilst

remembering to invite the tutee into more directive conversation,

• And allow a route into a more

non-directive conversation as soon as possible.

• Back to your coaching hat.

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In essence

About staying in an ‘adult’ transaction state – trying to avoid rescuing, fixing or mending Listening well Asking well timed questions; these will be mostly open questions. Mind-set is vital, you need to listen without judgment, assuming the

• ther person is

capable of developing their own solutions. Not counselling, so you need to be mindful

• f those

boundaries and when to refer.

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Is this getting better…. Towards a goal

But once you have a specific goal , then what? There are tools to help frame a conversation if you wish

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A Coaching model

We’ll look at this as a starting point Sir John Whitmore’s GROW model * A caution about using models - They are useful, no doubt about that, especially as you hone your coaching skills. BUT please don’t use these slavishly Focus on your listening skills, being comfortable with silence and develop rapport.

* Whitmore, J (2017) Coaching for Performance: The Principles and Practice of Coaching and Leadership. Nicholas Brealey Publishing. 5th Ed

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GROW

GOAL: what do they want to achieve? Must be a positive goal REALITY: what is the current situation OPTIONS: explore these, but let the student do the talking WILL/WAY FORWARD: What will the student commit to doing now? How will they review progress?

The T in GROW: This is TOPIC and sometimes this is useful to explore first

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Goal Reality Options Way forward

What would you like to achieve? What is the situation at the moment what could you do about this so you move towards this goal? Can you think of 3 more

• ptions?

What might your first step be? When are you going to do that ? What would success look like for you? What is helping you move towards this goal? Who could you talk to ? What has helped you this something similar in the past? What support might you need? How might you go about securing/finding that support? What is motivating you ? What is hindering you? If this weren't a problem, what then? Which of these options might work best for you? What will keep you going ? On a scale of 1-10, how likely are you to carry out your action(s) ?

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Important: other things that make a difference in coaching conversations

• Again….Resisting the temptation to ‘rescue’ or be the subject
• expert. This is about them, not you. This is perhaps the hardest

aspect to master in a coaching approach !

• Time to think – meaning it is OK to have silences and not to

jump in with the ‘answer’ – your answer is probably not the best answer for this other person anyway (Kline N,1999)

• Unconditional positive regard – to KNOW this person is capable
• f developing their own solution (Kline N,1999; Rogers C, 1980)
• This takes time; this is usually a gradual, incremental

realisation, and that the quality of the listening relationship is as important as the questions one asks . This means your ability to build rapport is important (de Haan, 2013)

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What is the difference between coaching and counselling, and how will I know ?

It is a common worry…. The student in front of you starts to crying/is upset. You feel

• ut of your depth/ you want to help. You feel they need help you cannot give right

now, maybe financial support or mental health support or relationship advice or…. It’s uncomfortable and it does not feel like a coaching opportunity.

Acquiescent Flourishing Distressed and dysfunctional Distressed but functional High performance High well-being Low well-being Low performance

Grant, A (2017) The third ‘generation’ of workplace coaching: creating a culture of quality conversations. Coaching; An International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice. Vol 10, No 1, pp37-53.

Engagement and well- being matrix

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It is not a straightforward PAT coaching opportunity. This is not the right time to be asking about their career aspirations. Your gut is right. What to do? Remembering that we have a responsibility ‘to do no harm’ (work within our scope) and to encourage students to seek support from most appropriate agencies.

In these instances when you decide to ‘stop’ and coaching is not the way forward, then direct to most appropriate support service. Change hat

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Will my use of a coaching approach help ?

Not sure….

If tutees life is affected by the issues coaching is not appropriate If this is long term issues or recurring patterns

stop

If this is about emotional support –

stop

If the tutee is struggling to recognise issues or problems as issues

stop

If you are being affected by the issues

Stop

You should seek supervision/de-brief too

There is an

• pportunity to

explore solutions to current issues Yes, continue with a coaching approach, being aware of these boundaries

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Summing up

Goals should be solutions focused Let the other person do most of the talking – button it (if you like talking as much as I do then this is tricky!) Look for signs the other person is thinking Ask open questions as much as possible Try not to use WHY or BUT in your questions You can give advise but always caveat it and seek permission … ‘I have an option to share with you which may help your thinking, would you like me to share that with you? – or something like that. 80-20 rule: 80% listening/asking questions and 20% giving answers is a good basic rule Reflection is important as part of your development

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Revisit the aims

There was a lot to get through !! Have we met the aims?

• What will you will take from this session

and apply into your own practice?

• One thing you would like to know more

about

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And more?

• This is a taster of coaching approaches, we believe this is a pedagogy

to underpin personal tutoring AND learning

• Let UKAT organisers know if you’d like something more specific

around an aspect of coaching to support learning/PT in HE

• Contact us too – we’d love to hear from you
• And we are going to be evaluating some coaching approaches training,

researching the impact of that to support personal academic tutoring; if you are interested then please do get in touch with Julie and Melanie

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Thank you

• Julie de Witt
• J.t.de-witt@derby.ac.uk
• Twitter @juliede_witt1
• Dr Melanie Pope
• m.pope@derby.ac.uk
• Twitter @drmelaniepope

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Some idea for further reading

Solutions focused coaching:

O’Connell, B., Palmer, S., and Williams, H. (2012) Solutions Focused Coaching in Practice. Routledge. London.

More about listening:

Iliffe-Wood, M (2014) Coaching presence, Building consciousness and awareness in coaching interventions. Kogan page. London Kline, N (2015) More time to think, the power of independent thinking. Cassell Illustrated. London

Coaching:

Van Nieuwerburgh C (2017) An Introduction to coaching skills: a practical guide. Sage. 2nd ed

Inspiring my thinking and values in coaching:

Brown, B (2015) Rising strong. Vermillion. London. (any of her books or resources actually…)

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See you again soon at our next event: https://www.ukat.uk/webinars