Leading through Coaching and Mentoring to Inspire Teaching Excellence

We build on our praxis and a previous article, Leading with Coaching Competencies to Inspire Teaching Excellence, as a launching point to examine our practice-in-action and the lessons learned. Within our praxis, we are committed to Leading through Coaching and Mentoring to Inspire Teaching Excellence by challenging business as usual. We aim to reflect on our thinking to develop new ways of being that inform our knowledge-in-action.  Our processes are client friendly, thought-provoking, and easy to apply. We help faculty to develop their skills and improve their performance to reach their full potential. Want to know how? Join us as we bring our topic to life, engaging our audience in a dynamic presentation and curious conversation designed around a metacognitive approach, which facilitates each participant’s self-discovery about our topic—Leading through Coaching and Mentoring to Inspire Teaching Excellence.

Goals-in-Action:

• Leading with Coaching and Mentoring competencies, we engage each participant in a process of self-discovery identifying personal and professional goals, gaining a deeper self-awareness, asking thought provoking questions, planning for action, and holding one’s self accountable.
• Applying Osterwalder's Business Model Canvas, we identify the macro-dimensions of operationalizing an internal coaching and mentoring program including a discussion of key partners, activities, resources, value propositions, customer relationships, channels, customer segments, cost structure, and revenue streams.
• As we view coaching and mentoring through various lens, we examine evidence of the behavioral changes and impact on the organization we have observed.

American Public University System developed a comprehensive coaching and mentoring initiative, which includes the following components:

• The APUS Certified Professional Coach and Mentor program consist of a series of three courses that are five-weeks in duration.  The courses are designed and developed to provide the knowledge, skills, abilities and experience necessary to effectively coach/mentor faculty members. All of the courses align with the Board Certified Coach and International Coach Federation’s coaching competencies and ethical guidelines to ensure the program is ready for internal and external delivery, recognition, and certification/accreditation (Batchelor, Gray, & Heath, 2016).
• The Forum Engagement Assessment process consists of a reporting framework prepared by the CTL’s Instructional Specialist team and provided to each school.  The framework serves as a tool that focuses efforts on the courses and faculty where coaching and mentoring can have the greatest impact on teaching excellence and increasing student and faculty engagement"(Batchelor, Gray, & Heath, 2016). 
• The Core Learning Group Mentoring Community of Practice project consists of facilitated group and team sessions employing a hybrid delivery system, which is both asynchronous and synchronous. The goal of the facilitated group and team sessions is to align the efforts of the faculty associated with student success, increasing retention and persistence, addressing key performance indicators, and challenging faculty to develop new knowledge, skills and abilities. Various focus lenses are applied: Community of Practice within the group process, meta-cognitive processes, self-regulated learning strategies, curriculum training through Meta-Cognition, and the mentor-mentee process (Batchelor, Gray, & Heath, 2016).

The Certified Professional Coach and Mentor program emphasizes five core coaching and mentoring competencies as critical to the process of leading through coaching and mentoring. Applying these core competencies helps our faculty be more efficient and effective, increases faculty and student engagement, and inspires teaching excellence.  Batchelor, Gray, and Heath (2016) share:

1. Set goals. Every session begins with a goal set by the person being coached (the “client”). The coach facilitates goal discovery by the client. The goal-setting process requires a coach to ask the right questions to clarify, align, and focus the client’s attention on an appropriate goal to achieve the desired results.
2. Focus on awareness. A coach asks thought-provoking questions that encourage the client to engage to reflect on his/her current situation, thoughts, values, and beliefs to gain a deep sense of self-awareness. A focus on self-awareness allows the client to draw conclusions that are more accurate and assists the client to make better-informed decisions.
3. Conduct curious conversations by asking empowering questions. A coach engages the client with intentionally thought-provoking questions that help the client to zero-in on issues, situations, and challenges, reasons for change, desired results, actions, and more. A coach helps the client generate solutions and strategies while analyzing options, empowering them to have a greater understanding of themselves and the current situation.
4. Plan for action. Building on the client solutions, strategies, and options, a coach helps them plan for action to achieve their desired results through identifying and planning for the ”who, what, where, why, when and how.” The coach also assists in identifying potential obstacles toward achieving the goal, and potential responses to these anticipated challenges.
5. Hold accountable. Ultimately, holding the client accountable is what sets coaching apart from other helping roles and professions (i.e. counseling, therapy). A coach holds the client accountable for what the client commits to doing and on the timeline the client has identified as appropriate. Being held accountable is central to the client’s success.

We applied Osterwalder's (2010) Business Model Canvas to facilitate the identification of the macro-dimensions involved in operationalizing an internal coaching and mentoring program.  The dimensions discussed include key partners, activities, resources, value propositions, customer relationships, channels, customer segments, cost structure, and revenue streams.

Osterwalder’s Business Model Canvas was then utilized to facilitate a micro-dimensional view of the Core Learning Group Mentoring Community of Practice project as it relates to departmental internal team coaching and mentoring for the purpose of shifting instructional practice to a new metacognitive paradigm that supports retention, persistence, satisfaction while alleviating isolation. The new paradigm focuses on the growth and development of an independent adult learner who can think critically and work globally.         

We viewed coaching and mentoring through various lens to include: Community of Practice within the group process, meta-cognitive processes, self-regulated learning strategies for both instructor/student, curriculum training through Meta-Cognition, and the mentor-mentee process as it impacts collaborative teams.

Lastly, we provide evidence of the observed behavioral changes and organizational impact achieved at both the macro and micro-dimensions since implementing the coaching and mentoring initiative.

Emphasizing leading with coaching and mentoring competencies is just one of the recent efforts by American Public University System to foster an academic environment focused on promoting student and faculty engagement, enhancing student learning, reinforcing existing retention efforts, and embodying teaching excellence. Using a coaching and mentoring framework, and through an ongoing series of “curious conversations,” American Public University System faculty are empowered to become an active and integral part of the university’s most significant initiatives. At the same time, the coaching and mentoring approach will synthesize various stakeholders to create a collaborative and inclusive approach that supports teaching and learning at American Public University System.

References

Batchelor, G., Gray, E., & Heath, N. (May 2016). Leading with coaching competencies to inspire teaching excellence. Retrieved from http://wallyboston.com/leading-with-coaching-competencies-to-inspire-teaching-excellence/

Osterwalder, A. & Pignuer, Y. (2010). Business model generation: A handbook for visionaries, game changers, and challengers (1st ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons.

Presentation Format:

25-Minute

We will present our audience with a high-level dynamic presentation and engage the audience in a curious conversation, metacognitive approach, and facilitated self-discovery in relation to our topic—Leading through Coaching and Mentoring to Inspire Teaching Excellence.

• Coaching and mentoring competencies
• Three dimensions of coaching and mentoring
• Coaching and mentoring business model
• Coaching through various lens

45-Minute

We will present our audience with a dynamic detailed presentation and engage the audience in experiential and discovery learning activities combined with a curious conversation, meta-cognitive approach, and facilitated self-discovery in relation to our topic—Leading through Coaching and Mentoring to Inspire Teaching Excellence.

• Coaching and mentoring competencies
• Three dimensions of coaching and mentoring
• Coaching and mentoring business model
• Coaching through various lens

Link to materials: http://ctlondemand.com/leading-through-coaching-and-mentoring/