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What Is the Purpose of Instructional Coaching with Erinn Cottman, ep. 238

Two teachers sitting at a desk with a laptop and paperwork in front of them. These words are on the image "What Is the Purpose of Instructional Coaching? with Erinn Cottman".

This episode is sponsored by IRIS Connect


What is the purpose of instructional coaching?

It’s one of the most common questions I hear, and it often comes up when you search for information about instructional coaching online. Clearly, this is a topic people want to learn more about, especially now when support staff really have to justify their existence!

In this episode, Education Consultant Erinn Cottman joins me to discuss the purpose of instructional coaching and why it matters. We talk about what coaching is (and isn’t), practical strategies for building a sustainable coaching culture, and some of the biggest barriers coaches face on campus. She also explains what coaches need to do at the beginning of the year to set themselves up for success and how coaches can advocate for their role.

Erinn offers actionable tips and insights throughout our conversation. Here are some of the highlights! Listen to the full episode to get all the details!

What Is the Purpose of Instructional Coaching?

When asked this question, Erinn says that the purpose of instructional coaching is: “Teacher support and development that directly impacts the academic success of students.” She explains that coaching is the key to helping teachers grow from good to great. Instructional coaching provides the differentiated support and ongoing learning educators need to strengthen their practice. This kind of targeted support is crucial, especially since many teachers cite a lack of support as the reason for leaving their jobs.

Roadblocks That Prevent Coaches from Fulfilling Their Purpose

If you’ve been coaching for a while, you know that it’s not for the faint of heart! There’s a lot that can get in your way and prevent you from reaching your goals. When asked about challenges coaches face, Erinn identifies three major obstacles:

System Issues: This includes expecting coaches to support too many teachers, a lack of a clear schedule and planning time, and inadequate systems for managing instructional coaching responsibilities.

Competing Priorities: Inconsistent directives from school leaders and a lack of alignment in the school’s coaching approach can leave coaches feeling pulled in different directions and leave teachers unsure of expectations.

Insufficient Training: Great teachers don’t automatically become great coaches! Without targeted training in adult learning strategies and leadership skills, even the most skilled educators can feel unprepared and overwhelmed in a coaching role.

Setting Yourself Up for Coaching Success at the Beginning of the Year

What can you do at the start of the year to set yourself up for success? Erinn offers practical steps coaches can take at the beginning of the year.

Get Clear on Your Coaching Vision and Framework: Understand your school’s goals and how coaching fits into the big picture.

Build Relationships: Spend the first month connecting with teachers, clarifying your role, and establishing a consistent presence.

Establish Systems: Create strong systems from the beginning, make expectations clear, and help teachers understand the coaching process.

Know Yourself as a Leader: Develop your soft skills, identify your strengths and gaps, reflect on how you want to be perceived, and show up with intention.

Erinn emphasizes starting small, being clear about your role, and focusing on building relationships during the first few weeks (and months) of school.

How Coaches Can Advocate for Their Role and Fulfill Their Purpose

I asked Erinn how coaches can advocate for their role and stay grounded in their purpose. Here’s what she recommends:

  • Clearly define your goals
  • Establish strong boundaries
  • Document wins
  • Attend professional development and conferences
  • Reflect on your practice daily

What Does a Culture of Coaching Look Like and How Do We Get There?

Throughout the conversation, Erinn emphasizes the importance of a culture of coaching in schools. She reminds us that it won’t happen overnight. As with any strategic plan, it takes time, consistency, and effort.

To begin building a culture of coaching, Erinn highlights two key components. First, schools need a clear vision and framework. This is a strategic plan that starts small and builds gradually over time.

Second, there must be a leadership mindset that fully supports coaching. Everyone on the leadership team should be on board, believe in coaching, and feel comfortable working with a coach. As she puts it, “Mindset is where I would say schools need to start with the culture of coaching.”

What Is the Purpose of Instructional Coaching?

I really enjoyed my conversation with Erinn. One thing that stood out was how clearly she broke down what it takes to develop a genuine culture of coaching, where every teacher knows, “At this school, we coach.”

For Erinn, it all starts with a clear vision, a solid plan, and the right mindset. Once those three are firmly in place, schools can begin layering in the structures and practices that support a strong, sustainable coaching system that embraces coaching for everyone, not just struggling teachers.

This episode is loaded with tips and strategies that will help you understand the true purpose of instructional coaching. Listen now using the player below or wherever you get your podcasts!

Topics and Questions Discussed in Episode 238 – What is the Purpose of Instructional Coaching? with Erinn Cottman

  • What is the purpose of instructional coaching
  • Creating a clear vision and setting goals
  • How coaching supports ongoing, on-the-job learning that keeps teachers inspired and effective
  • Common challenges coaches face and how to overcome them
  • Building a sustainable coaching culture: What it means, why it matters, and how to get there
  • Steps to take at the beginning of the year to set yourself up for success
  • Advocating for your coaching role and how to communicate your impact
  • How to develop buy-in among school leaders and teachers for coaching success
  • Tips for relationship-building, setting boundaries, and tracking your wins

This episode is sponsored by IRIS Connect. IRIS Connect helps you streamline teacher development with the world’s most advanced PD facilitation system.

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Podcast produced by Fernie Ceniceros

What Is the Purpose of Instructional Coaching with Erinn Cottman, ep. 238, Instructional Coaching with Ms. B Podcast

Chrissy Beltran  00:01

Instructional coaches, support everyone, the new teacher, the veteran teacher, and everything in between, sometimes figuring out the best way to support each person and finding the time to do it is nearly impossible. That’s why I’m excited to share about Iris connect with this tool. You can record lessons safely and securely, summarize them with incredible AI technology, and find the exact moment you need to discuss with a teacher to support their growth instead of spending hours in a handful of classrooms, you can use Iris connect to guide teachers through the basics with a personalized PD Plan, and then meet with them when they’re ready for the next challenge. One feature I love is adaptive pathways. Pathways guide teachers through a step by step learning journey that includes expert models, classroom video, reflection, prompts and applied practice all in one place. You can use ready made templates or create your own learning journey, great for onboarding teachers who are new to your school, or for a refresher course, you choose the focus for the learning and pathways documents the progress everything is in one integrated space, so you juggle less paperwork and teachers do too. Iris connect pathways are an amazing way to support all of your teachers, so you can focus your one on one coaching time where it’s really needed. Head to Iris connect.com for a free trial, plus, when you mention this ad, you’ll get 10% off your first user license. Get started with Iris connect to make a bigger impact more efficiently.

Chrissy Beltran  01:22

Hey, Coach, how do you start the year as an instructional coach? How do you set yourself up for success in the first month of school? To a new coach, these questions are huge, and even to an experienced coach, the New Year can bring butterflies and back to school nightmares. I know I’ve had plenty well. If you’re feeling like this, I’ve got you I have the course that’s going to change your life. Instructional coaching startup helps you start the year with a roadmap that tells you exactly what to do each day for the exponentially important first 20 days of school, the things you do the first month of school will make or break your coaching year. So let’s do the right things together. Head to buzzing with Miss B com slash startup to join the wait list for my instructional coaching startup course. The course opens soon, but if you join the wait list, you’ll receive a coupon code for 15% off when the course actually opens up. I can’t wait to help you start strong and coach better this year. Buzzing with Miss b.com/startup, and I’ll see you in the course.

Chrissy Beltran  02:14

Welcome to instructional coaching with Miss B where we believe that every teacher deserves a coach, and every coach does too. I’m Chrissy Beltran, an elementary teacher who became a coach, and I had to create my own coaching program that worked. Now I teach coaches how to design their coaching programs, build a school wide action plan and use differentiated strategies to support teachers. Plus, I’ve got a special spot in my heart for literacy coaches. Now let’s dig into the episode.

Chrissy Beltran  02:42

Hey coach and welcome to episode 238, of instructional coaching with Miss B Today, my guest and I, Erinn kottman, are going to speak about what is the purpose of instructional coaching. I’ve gotten this question a lot, and it’s something that comes up a lot whenever you search for instructional coaching information online, so I know that there’s a lot of people who are interested in this, and I feel like at this time in history where support staff have to really justify their existence, having a good handle on the purpose of instructional coaching can help you frame the work that you do and justify why your position exists. So I think that we want to really focus on the research that we know about coaching and use that to support the work that we do. So my guest, Erinn, is going to join me in just a second before we get started. I want to remind you about my instructional coaching startup course. You can join the wait list for a handy dandy coupon that will be mailed to you in a couple of weeks when the course opens, if you go to buzzing with Miss B .com/startup, you can join that wait list, and you can also get my jumpstart, mini course that goes straight to your inbox. It will help you build your three by three vision and set yourself up for success for a really great school year that is founded on your beliefs and goals for instructional coaching, and that’s at buzzing with Miss B.com/jump start. Definitely grab that free resource. I think you’re going to love it. And now let’s welcome Erinn to the podcast. Welcome Erinn and thank you for being here. Thank you so much. I’m super excited to be here. Awesome as a quick way to introduce yourself. We would love to hear about a few things. The first are, who do you help and how do you spend most of your time and energy at work? Yeah.

Erinn Cottman  04:24

So I help instructional leaders. So that might be a principal, an assistant principal, that might be an instructional coach, a teacher, leader, right, depending on the structure at your school. And I spend my time in schools helping build instructional coaching frameworks and programming,

Chrissy Beltran  04:39

awesome. And then my second question, or I guess third, is, what is the hobby you love? Because I’m on a mission to share hobbies with people, teacher, people and education. People tend to like invest so much in their jobs. But we need hobbies. We need interest outside of work.

Erinn Cottman  04:53

I’ll do you one better. I’ll give you a current hobby. And what I’m trying to get into, okay, a little, um. So I am a movie buff, like, I love going to the movies. I love the Act of, like, going to the movies, getting the popcorn, doing the thing. Love that. That is a hobby of mine. It’s like a special self care treat of, I’m going on movie date. I don’t care what the movie is, but I just want to go, Yeah, I am trying, you know, I guess it’s like, wobbles, like the little you can knit them, they have like little like creatures or something. Yeah,

Chrissy Beltran  05:27

yes, yes, yes, yes, it could be any Charlie up there. Yeah, I

Erinn Cottman  05:34

got a lion one for Christmas. I asked my son, is that we went for Christmas? I’m like, I want one of these. I really think I I have it. I’m having a hard time, but I’m gonna get it, and I think it’ll be a new hobby of mine. How fun. I love

Chrissy Beltran  05:47

that I’ve tried to knit before and I can’t. My brain doesn’t hold on to it. It’s like I did, like, have a whole nap of a blanket, and I cannot tell you how I did it. I don’t know,

Erinn Cottman  05:56

see, and Arnie’s thinking, maybe I need to stop trying to make the little animals and just go the blanket route, because something’s not something I don’t know, I’ll report back,

Chrissy Beltran  06:07

yeah, yeah. Maybe, maybe, like, with a crochet like, if you do a whole lot of it, maybe it’ll stick better, you know, because, like, the animals don’t like, it’s different you’re not doing. I watch over

Erinn Cottman  06:15

and over. I watched the like, starter video, and was like, You guys said this was for beginners, right? Not? I’m not. I’m not sure about that. I

Chrissy Beltran  06:27

can totally understand that. I love it, yeah, and I love

Erinn Cottman  06:31

that because you’re right. Like school leaders, especially, we just everything is about those that we serve, and we often do not make any adjustments until we’re burnt out. We’re burnt out. So I love that you’re really, you know, pushing into like, hey, especially if you’re splitting. I’m a mom also, so it’s like, when you’re talking about having, like, well, I have a sliver of a ton a month, probably, you know, to for it. So I think that’s a really great thing that you’re lifting up.

Chrissy Beltran  06:57

Well, thank you. I appreciate it. I’m glad you like it. So today we are talking about the purpose of instructional coaching. And we’re talking about this because this is a question that I get. This is a Google search that comes up all the time. This is something that people want to know from different perspectives. School leaders need to know, coaches need to understand. And people who are questioning the validity of the position, especially in the time of funding cuts and things like that, you know, they they really need to understand what the point is of what we’re trying to do here. So what, how do you define that? What is the purpose of instructional

Erinn Cottman  07:30

coaching? Yeah, for me, instructional coaching, the purpose is literally teacher support and development that directly impacts the academic success of students. I think, you know, I totally agree. I think, you know, unfortunately, there’s a lot of gray about what instructional coaching is. I think it’s done so much in isolation. And what we try and do with schools, with my companies, get everyone to understand, every leader should, should understand the importance and be able to coach, and that truly, you should have a culture of coaching in your building. It’s not something that one or two people hold the success of and that, that coaching piece, the support piece, is really how you take a teacher from good to great. You know, in all of the professions, I feel like people are constantly adding, like, you know, certifications and certain things to their toolkit. And for some reason, we’ve gotten into this idea as educators that you know, if you’ve been doing this five years, you’re golden, and we just know that not to be true. And so instructional coaching allows for teachers to get that differentiated support that they need to ultimately be a better teacher. Yeah, I think that’s a

Chrissy Beltran  08:36

really good point. It is ongoing learning, and this the instructional coaching is job embedded ongoing learning, which we know is the kind that is the most impactful.

Erinn Cottman  08:44

And when teachers are citing leaving, one of the number one reasons is because they feel a lack of support. Yeah, right. So I think sometimes the push is not about, is there a need for instructional coaching? To me, that’s not a debate. It’s making sure you have the right trained people in that seat?

Chrissy Beltran  09:03

Yes, and so that’s that brings me kind of to my next question. Many times coaches don’t reach this right? We don’t get to that purpose, that that you’re talking about. So what are some of the things that are getting in the way of coaches actually getting there?

Erinn Cottman  09:16

So one of the biggest things is systems. So you can’t tell a coach, hey, I want you to coach 22 people. That’s just not going to be effective. There’s nobody who can do that, right? This is not a basketball team, right? So there’s that. And if we do, we’re not giving them the systems that they need, right? We’re not saying, hey, let’s do a coaching cycle. Let’s do let’s group these groups of folks together, because they have the same trending issue, right? Like we’re not giving them the systems that they need down to even how we schedule our days, right? We we want to have coaches build capacity, but there’s no, like, planning time. Like, it’s like, literally down to the systems. Piece is a really hard thing that I encounter a lot of coaches struggling with. Like, Hey, Erinn, here’s my load. But I don’t even know where to start, because there’s this factor of scheduling. There. This spec, right? There’s all these different things. Yeah, I think the other thing is competing priorities. So, you know, and this is why the entire leadership team needs to be bought in on coaching, because you cannot have coaches or who those who are responsible for coaching having one directive, but then the teachers are hearing from a principal another directive. It can and so often, if it’s done, if coaching is being done in a silo, that they start to but but up against each other, I think another one is just like ongoing training for coaches. We’re telling teachers, we’re telling coaches, hey, you’re gonna be a coach. What does that mean? What does that look like? What frameworks Am I using? What strategies? What tools should I be using? Like we have to make sure that we equip coaches with the with the skill of teaching adult learners. Often we become a coach because we were a great teacher, and that’s a lot different teaching a seven year old versus a 32 year old. It’s very different, right? Yes, and those P and the people skills that you need to be a coach, like we just often kind of throw coaches out there because they’re good teachers, and we don’t provide them with the leadership skills that they need in order to be able to be successful. Um, so there’s a lot, there’s a lot of barriers. I would say those are probably the most common ones. Yeah,

Chrissy Beltran  11:22

I one thing I hear a lot from coaches. Actually talked to a coach the other day and she said, you know, my principal sent out an email the other day that said, No more PLC meetings for the rest of the school year. She was I was not told this, that we were not going to be meeting with groups of teachers anymore, but suddenly I saw this email saying no more. She’s like, how do I how am I going to put that genie back in the bottle like the principal just gave them all their all this time, you know, off and then, and, you know, some like, so I’m also, I’m in Texas, and, you know, we have a union who had fought for teachers planning time. I am 100% of support of teachers having the time they need, and of unions, because somebody has to step up the plate whenever we’re getting, you know, the short end of the stick, then that can be used to say, I don’t have to meet with you. This is my planning time, you know, like, so there’s right, there’s real challenge there in like, finding the appropriate times to meet with teachers, finding other options that can work for them around their schedule. Because we know how difficult it is when you’re in a classroom with kids all day. I mean, you have this very short chunk of time to do to be ready for the rest of that day.

Erinn Cottman  12:30

Yeah? But I also think it’s like how we view coaching, right? And this is why I push for my clients, is a culture of coaching, right? Because coaching is not just, I meet with you doing your planning, right? There’s a system to your coaching. It is the PLCs. It is the one on one coaching meetings. It is the observations. It is, you know, teach facts and data. Means, all of that falls into your system of a culture of coaching. And so I think when we also like widen our view, it gives a coach more flexibility. And I always say to school leaders and coaches, any interaction you have a teacher is a moment, is an opportunity for coaching. Yeah, it’s just choose to use it right? So I can literally be doing my morning rounds, and there’s a moment where there might be a coaching moment right in that five minutes or two minute interaction, and it’s like, how are you? It’s like a mindset. It’s a way of thinking. And if you see yourself as an instructional leader first. I think that helps you to see every moment as an opportunity to coach and those so then, that way, if your systems do fall off, you’re they’re still the bones of the fact of like no at this school, we believe in feedback and coaching and development, and that is in the DNA of our building? Yeah, I

Chrissy Beltran  13:42

think setting that culture is so important and the end that my that mindset shift, yes, of looking at every opportunity, I can leverage this into something, I have an opportunity here. I can leverage it forward. I’m actually I wrote a book about coaching strategy toolbox, about how you’ve got all these different tools that you might not consider as coaching opportunities or coaching moves, but they are, if we use them in the right way, and we can leverage them into future work with teachers in a really thoughtful and purposeful and take advantage of those opportunities and don’t let them slip by. And I think that’s part of the culture of coaching. It has to be in our mindset as well. And you know, like you said, administrators, everybody has to know. We learn stuff here and we try things out. It’s a creation. Yes, yep, yeah, that’s so good. So at a coach at a school, like, if you’re at one campus, how can what kind of steps does a coach need to take for themselves at the beginning of the school year to ensure that they’re prepared to meet this purpose? What do they need to do, like, day one. What needs to start happening?

Erinn Cottman  14:43

Yeah. So fun fact on my website, Erinncott.com we have a free 90 day coach onboarding plan. So go get that for free. But I think the first thing is you have to know, like, What is the vision for coaching, right? Because it can look different, different. Places, right? There’s fundamental like, rules of like, Hey, this is what you know solid coaching looks like, but your school environment and context matters, right? So one like, what does, what are the coaching like components right, that you are using, right? It’s the goals of your coaching, programming. How do you know that coaching is working at your school, beyond just obviously, student scores, right? In academics, how do you know that coaches coaching is working? Is there a teacher satisfaction survey connected to that? Is there a retention rate of teachers connected to that? You know, one question we used to always ask at my last school was like we had a teacher satisfaction question. I literally said, I feel like someone is invested in my growth and development. Right? Do Where do, what? How are we measuring success, so that we know whether or not our coaching is and is not working. And also, you should have goals that are also tied directly to your school wide goals, right? So it shouldn’t be completely a hard left turn right. It needs to still be in alignment with that. So that’s really important. I’m starting my first days, my first like month, really building relationships with teachers. I’m being really clear about what my role is and is not. So, yes, I’m hopeful, but I’m not the Copy Maker. Yes, I’m helpful, but I’m not the substitute all the time, right? Like, I’m being very clear about, hey, this is what coaching looks like. And here are all the different ways that I can support you. That may look like I teach alongside you, right? It may look and I model for you. It may look like I come in a real time coach. It may look like I video classrooms. It may look like sometimes I just come in and I’m present, right? So you want to be really, really transparent with like. This is what my coaching looks like. And you want to really get to know what the what your teachers are, teachers, who they are, what they love, what they’re good at, what they want to get better at, right? And so you start to develop goals with that teacher. But I always say them, those first 30 days are critical. That’s when you’re making and breaking relationships with your teachers, both the laptop getting classrooms, just be present for a while, right? Start to pick up what you’re picking up, but you don’t want to day week two, you’re like, in there doing a crazy observation, no, no, right? Like, walk yourself into it, familiarize yourself with the data. They need to see you as a partner and not necessarily like an evaluator. And so that’s really, really key in those first couple weeks of school. I would say the other thing is building the consistency and systems, right? So if you start off right, where PLCs are optional, they’re not really, but you know that starts to be in the vibe, right? You’re not trying to undo that all year long. So you have to, like, you have to teach people, Hey, this is how coaching works here, and here’s the expectation, right? And it may take a little bit of you being like, hey, it’s time for our PLC. I don’t see you right, but you’re gonna have that. Your systems have to be strong. So I’d say in those first couple weeks, you’re on goals clarity, being able to verbalize clearly what the what coaching is and why we’re doing it, and what the what the goal is behind it, and also, and here are the systems and making sure that teachers can voice over that. So I recently was at a conference that I asked the room. I said, if I went into your school, I asked 10 teachers, what is coaching like here? Would people say the same thing? It’s no different than a teacher, a principal, at the top of the year, he sets it, he or she sets their vision right. Ideally, if I ask staff, hey, what’s the vision of your principal this year? What’s the goal, what’s the focus? Ideally, they should be able to tell me that no different with your coaching. What does coaching look like here? They should be able to say just about the same thing of, hey, here’s what support looks like here at our school. That should be the first thing you should really be focusing on. Because then, when you start pushing for the hard stuff, when you start getting kind of into your deeper coaching sessions, if they don’t have the foundation of what we’re even doing and why we’re doing it, it’s going to be really hard to continue to get that buy in.

Chrissy Beltran  18:47

Yeah, and I think that if you’re a new coach starting out and you don’t have a handle on a lot of these things, the time to do that is before the school year starts. Oh, yes, right? Sometimes you get hired later in the year, the special circumstance, but yeah, if you are unsure of what your role is like, I was unsure when I started coaching. If you are unsure of what coaching is going to look like, what kinds of support you’re going to provide, you know, start small. That’s okay. You don’t have to do all the things right away. Don’t even try to do all the things. They’ll be too stressful. Yeah? But choose a few things that you want to start with. Choose a few things that you know coaching is going to look like. Choose a couple of systems to really focus on and get good at that first semester. Choose a couple of goals for yourself as a coach, as well as your school goals, like you said in terms of instruction and academics, you also want your own coaching goals, like what? What is it going to look like? What is the work I’m going to do look like, and

Erinn Cottman  19:41

I would even add, know yourself, right? No, like, take a second to step back and say, Okay, listen, I’m I’m because I think one of the things I pushed coaches to understand is you’re a leader. Like, I don’t, I don’t sometimes, and sometimes it’s just like, the way it’s set up, like or chart wise. A school where a coach can kind of feel like, well, I’m not someone’s manager necessarily. I don’t right. You need to see yourself as a leader. And I think it’s really important that that a coach, before that year starts, is brushing up on their soft skills, their adaptive skills, and really thinking through, like, how do I want to be perceived? What traits do I need to have to be an effective coach? And what am I maybe lacking in that I need to be, like, really just like, cognizant of and thinking of as I’m walking into this school year, because you can have, and I’m sure you’ve probably experienced the most brilliant, smart coach, but the people skills are lackluster, and as a result, they can’t get any results, because nobody wants to talk to them, you know? And so I think that’s another key thing too. Is like really thinking about, how do I want to be perceived as a leader, and how am I showing up in these interactions with teachers?

Chrissy Beltran  20:46

That’s a good point, because I think some coaches feel like, well, I don’t have any power in terms of, like hiring and firing. You know, I don’t do evaluations for my I have, I have none of the carrots and sticks that a like a principal has, but you have sort of an implied, you know, innate power in terms of relationship. And so everything you’re doing to build those relationships, that is, you’re putting money in the bank, yep, and that later you can cash in on that money. And sometimes you don’t have any way of having a teacher try something out, except for, can you please help me out with this? And you have done so much work with that teacher in the past that they’re going to

Erinn Cottman  21:26

go, all right, okay, right? I got Yes, exactly, exactly, because I used to always tell my folks, listen, don’t let me be surprised. I love you. Don’t let me be surprised, right? Like I got your back and I can have your back, but you have to tell me what’s going on, right? Like, if I go to clubs, my principal do not. I don’t want to be surprised. I want to know what’s going on so I can say, hey, well, actually, right? Like, let me and once they start to see me as a partner in this work with them, of, like, no, they’re Erinn’s in my corner, then, yeah, what I’m asking you to try the hard thing or the difficult thing or the thing you don’t want to do, you’re like, Okay, you’re fine. So, so true. So so true.

Chrissy Beltran  22:08

So in terms of advocacy, and coaches advocating for their role, how can they advocate for the role that actually supports the coaching work that they’re trying to do and accomplish with this purpose? Because, like, I know how many responsibilities I had as a coach when I was at a school was, I mean, so many of them were at odds with what I was trying to do with COVID. Yeah. So how can you advocate for that?

Erinn Cottman  22:30

Yeah? I mean, I think one, you know, being really clear what your goals are, because you need to be that needs to be like, you know, good old backwards, napping like that needs to be your anchor. That takes you back to whether or not, right, something is worth your time or not. I think it’s being you’re gonna have to. Coaches have to have really strong boundaries, but it’s also important to be flexible, right? So, like, again, in game, if I my principals asked me to do this thing, and I know it kind of disrupts my day in my coaching meetings I’m going to name Hey, like, okay, but just understand this is the impact I got you this time. But I really want to make sure that these coaching meetings are held sacred, because this is where this this work directly impacts kids. Yeah. So, you know, I think it’s, it’s you, it’s a delicate game, but I think coaches have to have really strong boundaries around, hey, these sort of types of meetings are flexible. These ones are not right, and always directing it and aligning it back to goals and student impact, I think, are really important. I also think, you know, as a coach, you’ve got a you’ve got to document your wins, because sometimes, as a coach, the wins are so they’re like little like, like, teaching kids, they’re just like a little flash in the pan for a second, yes. And so being able to document those and say, and especially if your principals or APs are not, maybe as involved in the coaching process as you would like, being able to go back to your, you know, instructional leadership team meetings and say, Hey, like, I was in Miss Johnson’s room yesterday and her Bell Ringer was phenomenal. It was the painting was right kit. It was a lot like, you have to be able to highlight those small wins for the larger team so that they can see the impact of the work happening, if that makes sense. And so sometimes, like, that’s part of, part of being able to advocate for yourself, and then also get outside coaching, if you can, right? Like, I say all the time. Like, you know, some schools, they definitely do have a PD budget, right? Like, advocate for yourself. Get yourself in spaces, whether it’s conferences, coaching, cohorts, whatever, where you can kind of get around like minded people, so you keep adding to your toolkit. And I think the other thing is, for advocacy is having a power of, sorry, a practice of reflection each day. Because I think it’s hard to advocate for certain things when you don’t take the time to stop and process what you need to advocate for. And I know that, you know, schools can be a mile a minute, right? Like, we start our day, and then we look up, we’re like, oh, it’s four o’clock. Yeah, right. And so. When you have a practice of reflection, it allows you to say each day, what went well today, what did not, and what adjustments need to be made. Because the adjustment sometimes might be, I gotta protect my calendar tomorrow. I gotta protect my calendar. I have to protect my right like. I have to act like so, so. But you’re not going to necessarily know what to advocate if you don’t have a power of, I’m sorry, a practice of reflection in your current leadership practice.

Chrissy Beltran  25:24

Yeah, those are really good tips. Thank you. My last question is about the culture of coaching, and you mentioned that earlier, as we were talking about, I know this is something that you speak about in general, so can you help us kind of imagine what a good culture of coaching looks like, and then how we actually get there? Because the getting there,

Erinn Cottman  25:42

yeah, the hard part, yeah. So I’ll say this one, you don’t get there overnight. It’s just like, to me, like any other strategic plan, right? It’s, it’s a two, three year, you know, five year process, right? That you’ve broken down and planned out. It starts with a really clear vision and framework. What is coaching at our school, right? And I think you said earlier, right? Like starting small, maybe it’s hey this year, we’re just going to normally have a client right now that I’m working with who they’ve got some really great foundational stuff. But I started with Hey guys, like, we’re not even all using the same observation rubric. What are we how are we deciding what’s good and bad? Let’s just start there. Let’s start with deciding the rubric, norming on it as an admin team, so that a one is a one, a two is a two, no matter who’s rating it. And let’s get comfortable with using it and discussing it, right? We wouldn’t start with now, let’s add 16 other pieces yet. No, no, right? So being really clear about what does your team, what does your culture what? Sorry, what does your school already have when you come to a culture coaching, I have a free quiz actually on my site, what do you already have in place that you can build off of? Right? Think strength based coaching, what do you already have in place that’s working well, that you can build off of? So that’s one, like, what is the visual? What are we going to do? And like actually put mapping out the plan for like, for strategy. You also have to really start with the mindset of your leaders. Everyone on your leadership team has to be bought in on coaching. They have to understand that coaching works. They have to be comfortable having a coach, I say all the time. As a principal, you should be very transparent about the fact that you have a coach, because what you don’t want is people to think that coaching is a punishment. Coaching you’re getting coached because you’re bad. You’re not doing the right thing. And if you start and that starts at the top right. So as leaders, if we’re saying, Hey, I’m a good leader, I have a coach, and we’re saying that, hey, every single person in this organization or this school is going to be involved in coaching and development that starts at the top. So it may be again year one is like, Hey, we’re we’re also going to invest in coaching for our leadership team as we ramp up to building this code culture of coaching, right? But the mindsets of leaders have to really be present, because, again, that’s going to be that culture of coaching is going to show up in how you make your schedules. It’s going to show up in how you interact with staff, how you talk to parents and kids, right? Because even kids should be thinking around like, hey, what’s looking for me to be developed, right? What does that mean? Right? So leaders are the first piece. Because the Honestly, I feel like, when I go into schools, that’s kind of the make or break of successful clients for me, is the leadership. Because they may hire me and say, Hey, Erinn, we want you to come in work with our coaches. But it’s very apparent to me quickly if you actually believe in that right now, right? Or if you’re just like, Yeah, I guess it’s a good thing to have, yeah. But if I’m telling you, hey, I need time to meet with coaches, and I’m getting pushback on you, that tells me that you actually don’t have right, the mindset of coaching is really going to be the needle for me. And so mindset is where I would say schools need to start with the culture of coaching, and you should be when you’re interviewing teachers. Hey, at this school, we coach, I have a right like you have to start that from the beginning. So for me, it’s about vision, it’s about plan, and it’s about mindset, first, getting those three things really tight, and then through that plan, you start to layer on the pieces of coaching so that you then build this really robust coaching system in your school.

Chrissy Beltran  29:12

That it’s great. Thank you so much for sharing about that. Everything has been so helpful. Today. I really enjoyed our conversation, and I know that people are going to want to know how they can keep learning from you. So where can they find you?

Erinn Cottman  29:23

Yeah, so I’m on Instagram a lot with at Erinn Cottman e r i n n2, n’s, and then my website is Erinn cottman.com Let’s see what else. Oh, YouTube. We have a YouTube we have a podcast as well. I’m called next level coaching. It’s on YouTube as well as Spotify and Apple podcasts as well. So those are the main ways that you guys can keep up with me. Awesome. Thank you so much. Thank you. This is great.

Chrissy Beltran  29:52

That was some good stuff, right? A lot of good things to think about, especially at this time. If you’re listening in real time right now and you. Are like, okay, it’s summer. School is starting soon. I’m going to be thinking, well, not too soon, hopefully I’m thinking about all of the things that I want to have in place before the school year starts, so that I know I am in the best possible place to share coaching with my teachers. If you can do so much front loading over the summer, even just thinking about it, you don’t have to do a lot of stuff on paper yet. On paper yet, wait till, like, a couple weeks before school starts, but to put on paper, but just do the thinking. Work through all of the challenges that you had about, you know, the things that you want to make adjustments to for the school year. Or, if you’re a new coach, really work on hammering down that role, what it’s going to look like when you provide support, and if you need some guidance on that. Again, I have buzzing with the speed com slash, Jump Start, that will help you set up your vision, your beliefs about it has a component about how you’re going to show up to with your teachers. It’s some really good stuff. It’s like a five day. Course, it goes straight to your inbox, and it’s super short every day, just a little piece of information. So grab that at buzzing with the speed jumpstart.com/jump, start. And then, of course, sign up for the wait list for startup at buddhism.com/startup next week, we are continuing our series about your coaching identity as part of instructional coaching startup, and we’re going to talk a little bit about something that actually Erinn mentioned, what is instruction, what instructional coaching is, and what it is not. And so I’m looking forward to sharing that with you. I’m really wanting you to think about your role this summer, so you’re really ready to start this fall and until next week. Happy coaching. Now that you’ve got so much to think about, head over to buzzing with missbee.com to grab some free downloads. Become a VIBee and check out the podcast show notes. Happy coaching!

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