Making the Shift from Teacher to Coach

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay 

 Every year, I see great teachers moving from the classroom into leadership roles as administrators or coaches. This is always exciting to see, and I’m rooting for their success.  So, I thought I would share the top 5 things I wish I had known when I shifted from classroom teacher to coaching and leadership positions.

1. The skills are different!  There seems to be an assumption that if you are a good teacher, you will make a good coach; however, the skills needed to guide and influence adults are considerably different from the ones needed to engage students. Some overlap, for sure, but still, there are differences. Some skills of coaching (like presenting a staff development session) may come easily, and you can draw from your teaching toolbox. However, other skills, such as knowing how to effectively (and positively) work with a someone who is resistant to an idea or knowing how to effectively handle a challenging team dynamic can be extremely difficult if you haven’t had any type of leadership training or communication training...which many coaches have not.

2. Get great at “figuring it out”   Coaching is a bridge role.  You are constantly living in the “in between” of teaching and leading.  Many times, a coach’s role is not clearly defined and she has to basically determine what her daily/weekly schedule will entail without much guidance. If you are someone who needs to know if you are doing it “right”, this is a tough transition to make.  Sometimes, you’ve just got to write your own script instead of waiting for someone to tell you what to do. After all, you are a coach. Part of your job is to see the need and find ways to fill it.  An administrator or teacher may not always know what they need you to do….they need you to figure that out.

3. Take on learning like it’s your job...because it is. Training for coaches is limited at best. You will have to seek out your own tribe. Read everything you can get your hands on in the areas where you struggle.  If you are paralyzed by the thought having a difficult or uncomfortable conversation with someone, read Crucial Conversations and get some tools. If it is building trust with people, read Speed of Trust or any of the other countless books that are on the market. It is likely that your reading will shift from content to leadership, communication, and self-help type books.  That’s okay. In fact, it’s necessary.

4. Fill your own bucket.   This has probably been one of the most life-changing lessons I learned. There will always be someone who hates what you are doing. It’s hard to know that someone doesn’t think you are doing a good job. On the other hand, there will usually also be times when someone LOVES what you are doing. If you depend on these hills and valleys of praise and criticism to gauge your worth, though,  YOU ARE DOOMED.  The best advice I ever got was to leave both the praise and the criticism at the door.  Look at it, admire it, cry about it, whatever...then leave it.  Don’t come back to it. Don’t stew over it ...or bask in the glory of it.  Don’t keep it in a cage to pet later.  Don’t feed it. Don’t get hypnotized by it. Acknowledge it, learn from it, and move on.  I’ll be honest, the hardest part of this to learn to do was to let the praise part go. We all love to hear that we are doing something well. It took a long time for me to learn that other people’s words are sweet, but my own words to myself are nourishing. If I can keep myself nourished, then I’m not hungry. That makes it awfully hard to swallow the sweet OR sour words of others.

5. Tame your thoughts if you want to have real impact.  It is so easy to fall into a trap of “they just don’t want to…” or “that’s just a resistant teacher…” when you run up against a difficult situation.  Too easy in fact. Those thoughts are cop-outs.  They are easy.  They let me, the coach, off the hook. If I really want to have an impact, I have to tame those thoughts. One way that I have found is that when I encounter a teacher (or administrator) who seems resistant to what I am saying or promoting, I can ask myself “What does this show me they don’t understand?”  Just by asking myself this one question, it immediately takes the focus off of their character and puts it into something I can pinpoint and take action on. Then, it is up to me to put my teaching skills in action to help them understand it.

 In the end, all shifts take some time, but with the right tools and realistic expectations, the transition can be much smoother. Hopefully, these tips will give those of you who are changing roles some ideas for building skills. 

I’d love to know other tips or advice you would add to this list!