From a founding member of the coaching movement comes a detailed guide to mastering one of a coach's toughest skills: thoughtfully reflecting clients' words and expressions back to them so they see themselves and their world through new eyes. “Coaches rely far too much on asking open-ended questions,” says Marcia Reynolds. But questions only seek answers—inquiry provides insight. When, instead of just questions, clients hear their thoughts, opinions, and beliefs spoken by someone else, it prompts them to critically consider how their thinking affects their goals. Reynolds cites the latest brain science to show why reflective inquiry works and provides techniques, tips, and structures for creating breakthrough conversations. This book will free coaches from the cult of asking the magical question by offering five essential practices of reflective inquiry: focus on the person, not the problem; summarize what is heard and expressed; identify underlying beliefs and assumptions; unwrap the desired outcome; and articulate insights and commitments. Using these practices, combined with a respectful and caring presence, helps create a space where clients feel safe, seen, and valued for who they are. Coaches become change agents who actively recharge the human spirit. And clients naturally dive deeper and develop personalized solutions that may surprise even the coach.

The missing how-to manual for being an effective team leader The Art of Coaching Teams is the manual you never received when you signed on to lead a team. Being a great teacher is one thing, but leading a team, or team development, is an entirely different dynamic. Your successes are public, but so are your failures—and there's no specific rubric or curriculum to give you direction. Team development is an art form, and this book is your how-to guide to doing it effectively. You'll learn the administrative tasks that keep your team on track, and you'll gain access to a wealth of downloadable tools that simplify the "getting organized" process. Just as importantly, you'll explore what it means to be the kind of leader that can bring people together to accomplish difficult tasks. You'll find practical suggestions, tools, and clear instructions for the logistics of team development as well as for building trust, developing healthy communication, and managing conflict. Inside these pages you'll find concrete guidance on: Designing agendas, making decisions, establishing effective protocols, and more Boosting your resilience, understanding and managing your emotions, and meeting your goals Cultivating your team's emotional intelligence and dealing with cynicism Utilizing practical tools to create a customized framework for developing highly effective teams There is no universal formula for building a great team, because every team is different. Different skills, abilities, personalities, and goals make a one-size-fits-all approach ineffective at best. Instead, The Art of Coaching Teams provides a practical framework to help you develop your group as a whole, and keep the team moving toward their common goals.

Your Guide to Creating Equitable Schools If we hope to interrupt educational inequities and create schools in which every child thrives, we must open our hearts to purposeful conversation and hone our skills to make those conversations effective. With characteristic honesty and wisdom, Elena Aguilar inspires us to commit to transforming our classrooms, lays bare the hidden obstacles to equity, and helps us see how to overcome these obstacles, one conversation at a time. Coaching for Equity is packed with the resources necessary to implement Transformational Coaching in any organization. In addition to an updated coaching framework and corresponding rubrics, a comprehensive set of coaching tools puts success in every coach’s hands. Extensive personal narratives demonstrate what coaching for equity looks like and help us see how we can make every conversation count towards building a more just and equitable world. Coaching for Equity covers critical topics in the larger conversation about racial equity, and helps readers develop the knowledge, dispositions and skills to be able to: Talk productively about race, Build trust to support vulnerability, Unpack mental models and change someone’s mind, Observe classrooms and collect data to support equitable outcomes, Inspire others and deepen commitment, Evaluate and celebrate growth. Perfect for teachers, teacher leaders, coaches and administrators, Coaching for Equity offers extensive strategies for talking about race, power, and systems of oppression. In framing the rationale for transformational conversations, Coaching for Equity gives us the context we need to enter into this work. In laying out the strategies, tools and models for critical conversations, it gives us the way forward. Comprehensive, concrete, and deeply human, Coaching for Equity is the guide for those who choose to accept responsibility for interrupting inequities in schools. It is for all educators who know there is a better way.

Hands-on resources for new and seasoned school coaches This practical resource offers the foundational skills and tools needed by new coaching educators, as well as presenting an overview of the knowledge and theory base behind the practice. Established coaches will find numerous ways to deepen and refine their coaching practice. Principals and others who incorporate coaching strategies into their work will also find a wealth of resources. Aguilar offers a model for transformational coaching which could be implemented as professional development in schools or districts anywhere. Although she addresses the needs of adult learners, her model maintains a student-centered focus, with a specific lens on addressing equity issues in schools. Offers a practical resource for school coaches, principals, district leaders, and other administrators Presents a transformational coaching model which addresses systems change Pays explicit attention to surfacing and interrupting inequities in schools The Art of Coaching: Effective Strategies for School Transformation offers a compendium of school coaching ideas, the book's explicit, user-friendly structure enhances the ability to access the information.

Teachers are better together! Nationally and internationally, educators are excited about Les Foltos’ techniques for effective peer coaching. The model for Peer Coaching outlined in his 2011 TED talk has been implemented in 40 countries and counting with powerful results. Now you have it in this concise guide to effective coaching! Train teachers to help each other refine their classroom strategies and tailor them to 21st Century needs. Foltos’ insights include How peer coaching that makes a difference involves much more than just one teacher offering another advice. How a coaching relationship is first built on trust, and then on the willingness to take risks. Why peer coaching should focus on adapting teaching methods to the technological future of education. For schools to effect the changes the future demands, teachers must learn how to collaborate effectively. With this book, Les Foltos shows the way. "Not only does Peer Coaching explain how to effectively support and leverage peer coaches, it specifically addresses how these coaches can be a critical element in supporting 21st century education and the ‘4 C’s’. It′s a great contribution to the 21st century PD literature." —Ken Kay, CEO of EdLeader21

This practical evidence-based guide to running Reflective Practice professional development programmes provides a dynamic and engaging resource for a wide range of coaches. Reflective Practice is a proven learning and development approach that involves consciously and deliberately thinking about experiences to develop insights and apply these within coaching practice. McCormick argues that it is vital that coaches regularly reflect on their work to develop and grow professionally, and this book provides a definitive and rich source of material on how and what to reflect on. Topics include how to reflect as an individual coach; working in pairs and small groups; applying reflective practice in a training context; and how to run advanced group sessions for coaches. The book features a wide range of practical workbook exercises to challenge the reader’s current practice and extend their capability, as well as an evidence-based guide to enhancing skills in recently developed areas such as Unified Protocol Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Internet Supplemented Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, and Using Schema Therapy with Mindfulness Techniques. Written by a highly experienced executive coach, this book is full of practical and effective ways to become more capable and proficient. It is essential reading for any career, life or executive coach who wishes to enhance their coaching capability through reflective practice, as well as for coaching training organisations, senior executive coaches offering sessions for other coaches, and academic institutions offering coaching qualifications.

The Heart of Coaching Supervision takes us on a journey that starts with understanding who we are, and why we do what we do the way we do it, so that we can help those we work with understand themselves and their practice. The journey includes our background and personal and professional influences and considers the need for self-resourcing to resource others. It examines our being alongside our doing, to ensure that we can provide the best possible service to all those we work with. The book’s highly experienced contributors provide a unique perspective on supervision’s benefits. The chapters cover themes that support self-discovery and resourcing including the three Ps of supervision and coaching, diversity and inclusion, resourcing, working with intense emotions and the self as instrument. Nancy Kline’s Thinking Environment© is explored in a supervision context alongside creative forms of reflective and expressive writing and resourcing through a peer supervision chain. The Heart of Coaching Supervision also includes ten engaging, international case studies, considering the role of supervision in depth. A key contribution to the field, the book is essential reading for all coaches and mentors, coaching supervisors and psychologists, managers in a coaching role and anyone in a helping profession or leadership position wanting to better understand the wide benefits of supervision.