Building relationships with teachers
is fundamental to coaching. It's also really hard sometimes!
On this episode, I share five
strategies instructional coaches can use to build relationships with teachers.
They are practical and help frame your work while allowing you to get to know
your teachers.
I encourage you to take ideas from
this podcast and apply them to your coaching work. It’s especially helpful to
start at the beginning of the year. A little bit of effort and work now
will set the tone for your coaching work for the rest of the year and make
everything so much easier.
Listed below are some of my favorite
ways to build a relationship with staff on campus. If you want to learn all my
tips and suggestions, be sure to listen to the entire episode.
1. Focus on the Trust Equation
All relationships require trust.
Donald Miller explains the trust equation as empathy plus credibility equals
trust.
To gain trust and build a
relationship you must be empathetic and credible. One of the ways I showed
empathy as a coach was listening without judgment. I built credibility with the
staff by being real and realistic.
2. Schedule One-to-One Conversations
To build a relationship, you need to
get to know the person and they need to get to know you. When I was a campus
coach, I would have one on one conversations with the teachers and ask how I
could support them.
These conversations gave me context
about the teachers and if I needed to clarify my role to them. Once these
initial conversations happen, I created a rotation schedule to regularly check
in with the teachers. This let them know I cared and built rapport.
3. Share Stories and Build Personal
Connections
When we share stories with teachers,
we get to know who they are and they get to know who we are. We also get to
learn about what has shaped each of us personally and professionally.
The first step you can take is to use
the details from the stories that you've shared to build bridges with the
teachers. This isn’t going to be the foundation for your coaching work, but
sometimes it's a way to get them to talk to you.
4. Start with a Positive
When first visiting a classroom, an
instructional coach should begin by noticing something positive. In some
classes, it’s easier to find the good than in others, but there is always
something in every room that you can praise.
Doing this will make sure that that
you are framing your work in a way that shows that you're not there to focus on
what's wrong but to grow what's already great. Try to start with something
positive but don't lie or make it up.
5. Give Them a Quick Win
You build your credibility if
you can be the person who gives a teacher a quick win. If you can change
something in the classroom for the better or solve a small problem, you will
improve the relationship.
When we show teachers that we're
there to support them and help them figure out better ways of doing things, it
builds trust. Giving them a quick win also shows that we are useful and valuable.
Building Relationships with Teachers
If we approach teachers with the
understanding that they are trying their best, then our support can come from a
place of goodness and sincerity. I find that once I stray from that belief, my
coaching support gets more strained and it's harder for me to build the
relationship in any context.
We want to approach coaching with
that mindset. If the teacher is doing their best, then we should be there to
support them and help them grow.
Ready to listen? You can listen below
with the media player, or search for Buzzing with MS. B: The Coaching Podcast
anywhere you listen to podcasts!
Check me out at buzzingwithmsb.com and on Instagram @buzzingwithmsb.
Podcast produced by Fernie Ceniceros of Crowd & Town Creative