I’d been hearing about it all week. Coaching. Who can deny it’s a key component to leadership? When I was a high school assistant principal back in 2007 – 2008, there was a married couple, Rob and Sheila, who had been co-directors of the original Manhattan Lab School. I’m sure they were paid a king’s ransom to come in and “coach” Marc, the principal. He made a name for himself in the first four years of that school’s existence, and I was happy to be hired as his assistant.
In that role, I met with Sheila once every couple of weeks. To be honest, I don’t remember much about our visits, except that they happened in the overly-ornate library, where we sat in heavy wooden chairs that felt like they’d been there for decades, surrounded by gorgeous WPA murals from the 1930’s. The other details that I remember about that library are that it had virtually no books in it and that it served as a “rubber room” site for teachers who had been suspended from their classrooms. They sat reading newspapers, chatting and napping at the same back table every day. One of them was fond of watching videos of classical music concerts on a portable video cart.
I do recall that I enjoyed Sheila as a person; she was kind of a tough-but-sweet, Jewish mother type. Ruth Gordon comes to mind. I don’t know how many of the “best practices” mentioned by my supervisor in several workshops during which I’ve assisted her over these past few days Sheila really used. She had a homespun way of giving advice. I don’t remember a lot of active listening or reflective questions coming from her, which is not to say they didn’t.
I did have the good fortune to work closely with Michele Tissiere of Educators for Social Responsibility during my year and a half as Austin High School’s School Improvement Facilitator. She was an expert coach, and I enjoyed teasing her about her fluency in cognitive coaching. For example, I’d interrupt her when she would tell me she “had a wondering.” “No you don’t, Michele,” I’d say, “you wonder about something.”
Then she would screw up her face and give me a little punch on the arm, call me “goofy” and tell me I reminded her of her little brother before returning to the topic at hand. We developed an excellent working relationship and accomplished a great deal, and I’ll always be grateful to Michele for all I learned from her.
Since then, however, I haven’t received much coaching, although I work with many excellent ones. I should say I hadn’t received any until yesterday, during lunch, when I happened to sit next to Melonie Hammons, a colleague who is now moving into becoming a Professional Service Provider helping troubled schools. We sat having lunch at the Westin Hotel, and we began discussing my aspirations. I confessed to not being inspired by the prospect of becoming a school principal. When she asked me what it was that did inspire me, I answered that it was writing. After asking me what sort of writing I did, she asked another question.
“What short story are you writing now?” she asked. I think she knew what my answer would be.
“Well, I’m not writing one now,” I replied.
“When do you plan on starting?” she asked. “What will it take to get you started?”
I thought it was a brilliant question, and maybe the best example of a “coaching” question I’d heard at the conference so far.
Before turning our attention to our meals, Melonie asked me one final question, knowing, I think, in her coach’s wisdom, that it would resonate with me, as it does now.
“Do you think maybe now is as good a time as any to get started?”
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