Written by Natalie Irons, Associate Director, Instructional Coaching Programs and Nancy Lee Sayre, Program Manager, UCLA Center X Writing Project and Coaching Partnerships
At a recent Coaching Partnerships staff retreat, we borrowed an exercise from our colleagues at the UCLA Writing Project and were struck by the intersections of writing and the world of coaching. We used Clint Smith’s poem Something You Should Know as a “mentor text” and starting point and spent ten minutes writing in response to Smith’s title line with our own childhood remembrances. Then we shared our writing.
Each poem in imitation style of Smith’s poem captured details and nuances of each team member’s lived experiences; we were humbled and moved to see beyond the surface of our everyday work roles. Coaching, like this writing exercise, invites a person to search below, into the heart of values, feelings, beliefs, and identity that are waiting to be heard, seen, and understood. While a writer’s medium is typically pen and paper or computer, a coach’s tools are voice and conversation. The common ground is language; our words, whether written or voiced, have the potential to carry a story— one that can shape both meaning and action.
Cognitive Coaches believe that coaching mediates thinking to shift one’s perceptions of the world, which in turn promotes changes in behavior. Perhaps the act of writing also creates a shift in perception, bringing a greater awareness to the author. The words on the page or the words spoken by a coachee in a coaching conversation send messages to the receiver that can align us toward a greater purpose.
Whether coaching adults or working with students in a classroom, the potential impact is profound—a colleague connecting and sharing their practice; a teacher knowing their student on a deeper level; a supervisor taking time with their staff to understand their frustrations. All are opportunities to discover a little more about the people around us.