Four Great Coaching Conversations for School Leaders
School leaders play a critical role in building the capability of their team. They have opportunities to coach others all the time – in one-to-one meetings, corridor conversations, lesson observations and so on. The challenge is in knowing how best to coach different people in different contexts. A newly qualified teacher may need reassurance after a difficult lesson, whereas a long-serving teacher may need help to reimagine how they could differentiate learning for their students.
Four Coaching Conversations for School Leaders offers some practical strategies for the four most common scenarios. This article distils key messages from our new book, The Four Greatest Coaching Conversations, and provides school leaders with a new approach to coaching their team more effectively.
Related content
Theoretical Underpinnings of our Approach
The theory behind three of the frameworks that underpin our approach: the twelve shifts, transformational coaching, and vertical development.
Read more
Empowering School Leaders – BTS Spark Theory of Change
How school systems can shift from command and control to empowering leaders and teachers with the autonomy to serve their students locally.
Read more
The Twelve Shifts — Unlocking Capability in Education Leaders
A small number of attitudinal shifts sit behind the moments when leaders change most. This paper explores the data and how to create them.
Read moreFour Great Coaching Conversations for School Leaders
Practical coaching strategies for the four scenarios school leaders meet most often, distilled from our book on coaching conversations.
Read more
The BTS Spark Mindset Map
Thirty leadership mindsets drawn from decades of research and 150,000 coaching conversations, and the four domains they sit across.
Read more
It's Not About You (and That's a Good Thing)
A former principal on why planning every talk around your audience's agenda, rather than your own, is what makes a message truly land.
Read more
The Power of Coaching: Leading for Change
How one-to-one leadership coaching creates lasting change in school leaders' practice where conventional development programmes fall short.
Read more
Finding the Right Coach for You as a School Principal
How principals can choose a leadership coach, from accreditation and coaching hours to approach, rapport and why sector background matters less.
Read more
Coaching: Challenging Some Common Misconceptions
Six reasons school leaders give for avoiding coaching, from cost to time, and why each one deserves a second look.
Read more
Coaching: challenging some common misconceptions
Time, cost, “coaching is for the struggling”: we take on the common reasons principals hold back from coaching.
Read more
Finding the right coach for you as a school principal
What to look for when choosing a leadership coach: qualifications, experience, coaching approach and rapport.
Read more
Coaching or Mentoring for School Leaders? What’s the difference?
How leadership coaching differs from mentoring, and why a skilled coach can accelerate your growth as a school leader.
Read more
How can coaching support school principals?
The seven challenges school leaders most often bring to coaching, and how a skilled coach helps principals find clarity and confidence.
Read more