What makes a good instructional coach?

I hate to say it, but the responses to this question are so varied it’s hard to say what really makes a difference. Yet, when coaches or principals ask us what they should look for, we often share a few insights around skills.

Here is the short version of our list.

Excellent Communication Skills

When it comes to communication, we don’t mean it as a general category. Having excellent communication skills should focus on what strategies and models of communication the instructional coach candidate knows and uses in certain context. Let’s take a look at a few categories of communication we focus on when it comes to building skills sets with our partners.

The Art of a Focused Conversation
An instructional coach needs to understand how to lead conversations that acknowledge the emotional capacity as well as their rational capacity of individuals and groups. Doing this correctly address the agency of participants. What is more, it moves conversation towards action.
Consider conversation models like CLEARN Language and ORID
Conflict Management and Negotiation
While conflict isn’t exactly how we like to frame part of the responsibilities of an instructional coach, it is the reality. Conflict management and negotiation strategies are a central skill of any middle manager position. Middle management is essentially the job of a coach.
For coaches, consider situations where they have to communicate with some that holds a divergence in pedagogical belief, advocating for students and teachers to the admin team, and having to carry the water for a program you do not align with but have been asked you to carry the weight of.
A coaching should know a few models for conflict management and negotiation if they are going to be as successful as they desire. Consider the work of Dan Shapiro for negotiating and Cy Wakeman for trust building.
Individual and Group Communcation Strategies
A good coach knows a few process facilitation models to run conversation with individuals and team. This could be knowing a few process tool from Liberating Structures or meeting facilitation tools from Technology of Participation.
A skilled instructional coach has pursued professional development focusing on facilitation tools that help them be a facilitative leader, not a boss.
Emotional Intelligence In Context
Emotional intelligence isn’t some wishy-washy feelings thing. It is the ability to skillful apply styles of leadership in the correct context based off of the needs of the needs of the individuals involved.
For example, there are times when people need a commander-in-chief. Yet, if one applies this style of leadership in the wrong context, they undermine their credibility and effectiveness.
A good instructional coach knows when, where, and how to apply the different style of emotionally intelligent leadership as a middle manager. This will help them be a facilitative leader that can get others to join them in their efforts to find solutions that modern educational systems face.
Feedback Models
Not all feedback models are equal. For example, a CBI feedback model would not be the best option when it comes to giving feedback in small or large groups where it isn’t clear who is responsible for what.
An instructional coach must know how to give multipole styles of feedback. This involves knowing when one should give feedback or advice. Knowledge workers - meaning teachers - with years of experience have differing levels of expertise. A coach must know how to approach this type of teacher differently than a teacher is new to the profession.

Resilience

A solid sense of self and ability to hold healthy boundaries to stay solution focused is one of our top skills. It’s a mindset that is essential for a coaching position. Eternal optimist is a simple way of putting it.

Instructional coaches will feel lonely, isolated, and like they are fighting a losing battle at times. It is simply part of the job. Daily there is going to be resistance, struggle, and challenges to values they hold dear.

To navigate this successfully, a coach needs to see any step backwards not as a failure but a lesson on how to operate differently, how to modify for success, and when to be determined and push ahead.

Data Driven

The ability to use data to inform their coaching strategies is a skill asked of teachers. Instructional coaches should use these data driven mindsets for their own practice and program success. It should be clearly stated how a coach would measure their effectiveness on a weekly and monthly basis.

A good instructional coach knows that confirmation bias can be pervasive and thus they would actively pursue systems that minimize that capacity of their own bias to undermine their effectiveness. Furthermore, they should be able to analyze data to identify areas in which biases might be limiting teacher and student success.

Being able to see how the science of teaching and the science of learning coexist can bridge the gap between theory and practice.

Strong Pedagogical Knowledge

Having a deep understanding of instructional strategies and how children learn is an entry level skills. We think more about the strategies that transcend content areas and knowing how to communicate them to a wider audience.

Coaches need to show they are pedagogy experts, not content experts. Vocabulary instruction doesn’t change based on the content area to a great degree.

Solid Background in Andragogy (adult learning)

Adults have specific needs as learners that are different from children, and this must be acknowledged in order to provide impactful professional development. We are not talking about strategies for a learning experience. t is about the design of the learning experience.

A good instructional coach would know - or be eager to learn - what the differences are between andragogy and pedagogy. They would understand that adults need a different allocation of time in the learning cycle as well as a different method of experiential learning depending on the content and their experience level.

Consider supporting a new instructional coaching by helping them upskill in the application of andragogy as well as adult experiential learning.

So, what do you do next?

Of course, this list isn’t exhaustive, but it is a good start when thinking about who to invite to the role.

To know how to make the best selection, a district needs to know exactly how they will structure the role. If the role is new, then focus on how the role will involve ambiguity and the best choice will be someone that excels in that type of environment.

For what to do next, this means detailing exactly how the program will look and what the responsibilities will be. Then you will have a good idea of what type of people will best fit the role.

Characteristics or Skills?