If you missed it, here’s the interview with Nick Bolton and myself, Robert Stephenson, on life as a youth coach and how it differs from traditional coaching. And it ends with a great special offer to train with us, The Smart School, as a youth coach starting in September:
http://vzaar.com/videos/
Let me know your thoughts and please share any questions you might have.
I was just reading The Structure of Magic, well flicking through the pages, when a sentence caught my eye;
“Remember that each individual that comes to see you has their own life experiences”
And this reminded me that each child has their own life experiences, they maybe in a class full of children their own age, their own gender, but they are full of their very own experiences, memories, wants and desires.
When running the Dream Tree Coaching workshops, I am constantly reminded of this, as each of the young people pick their own dream, goals and future visions. Even when working with a year six class, who have been together for years, they all have their own ideas for their futures.
As a Youth Coach, it is important to remember this, to treat each child as an individual and not get caught up in the generalisation game. Which is easy to do, especially if your working with a whole school, or multiple year groups of the same age.
So what’s the solution here? Well one thing you can do is listen deeply to the child you are communicating with. Really hear what they have to say. Ask questions to fully understand them. Even in large groups take the time on each individual. Let the group know that you want to hear all their voices and will take the time to do so.
You still have to be engaging, and dynamic, and facilitate the process. A balancing act yes, but one worth the hard work.
Yesterday, after getting caught in the rain of the British Summer, I was sat in the head teachers office talking about the coaching project currently underway in school. We we exploring how some of the teachers had really taken on board the coaching, and were embracing new ways of working.
We were also discussing the teachers that were less….excited about change, which reminds me to read “Who moved my cheese” again.
During this discussion we created a metaphor, I’m sure it’s been used before, in face I know that David Shephard – The Performance Partnership, talks about the ship’s crew and the captain on one of his cd’s.
Anyway, there we were talking away when we began describing the school as a ship, with the head teacher as the captain, the teachers as the crew and the young people as the passengers. The ship has a clear destination, Education Island, and while on the cruise the young people have fun, learn, meet new people, develop as young people, create futures and watch the wonderful world go by, taking part in the adventure from time to time.
Now the crew have the important role of helping to manage this journey, however on this ship the captain, like all captains, oversees the crew, checking in with what they are doing and how they are doing it. Like all good captains, they stick to the rules…most of the time, and follow process, in order to get the ship safely to its destination.
The crew on this great ship, have all signed up because they love going to Education Island, and enjoy the journey with the passengers, however every now and again a member of the crew, decides that the journey is no longer right for them, and thats ok, because from time to time the ship docks for supplies and water, and at this docking point you can simply get off the ship. In an emergency a life boat can be used, or even the emergency helicopter!
So the crew disembark and embark on the great ship school, with the captain at the helm, giving orders, checking the compass, running safety drills and checking the equipment. It’s up to the captain to make sure that everyone knows their role on the ship, and it’s up to the crew to manage their role and the tasks that come with it. Knowing when to ask for help and support, but also knowing how to make it fun and engaging, not forgetting the learning.
As with all journeys there is learning involved.
And this captain, this new captain, is making some changes, upgrading policies, checking equipment and procedure, running spot checks just to check we all understand the new route to Education Island, giving us the choice to stay onboard, or disembark at the next port, refraining from going back to the old days and making anyone walk the plank…
So if you are the captain of the ship, how do you manage your crew? How do you treat the passengers and those waiting for them on the island? What could you do differently to enable smooth sailing? And how do you manage those rough waters? Because sometimes at sea there are storms.
And lastly, how has this metaphor enabled you to think differently about your role, be that of head teacher, teacher, student, parent, educator, creative or …?
So there you are standing at the school gate about to walk in to coach a young person, teacher or class and you’re focused and ready to go. You ring the buzzer, they let you in and you’re at reception.
Now a lot of coaches, want to get straight to the client and begin the session, however a great coach knows that the coaching begins the moment you walk onto the school grounds. In fact it might even begin before that, because as a coach you are also a role model, and as you travel to school you may well be passed by the very young people you will be coaching.
Once your there, at reception, you want to get rapport with the office staff. When I worked as a theatre practitioner, we were always told to make friends with the office staff and the care takers, also the dinner ladies. Back then it was about having an easy life, now as a youth coach it’s about coaching the whole school.
The way the office staff treat you will give you a good indication to the rest of the schools environment, both emotionally and morale wise.
As you make your way around the school, you want to be checking in with your surroundings, talking to staff to get a feel for their morale. Saying hi to the young people you pass in the corridor to see how they respond, recognising that as a stranger they may not respond to you at all, as part of their stranger awareness training.
And once you’ve finished your session, it’s important to check in with the office staff before you go, letting them know how you got on, when you’ll be back and if there is anything they need form you, remembering to always have your CRB with you, as well as your driving licence or passport.
I wonder what else you could think of doing that will enable you to have a great coaching relationship with the whole school? Leave a comment and let me know.
