In
sports, an invitational is an event that is open only to those who have been invited.
These invitationals are limiting. An invitational mindset for coaching,
however, is an approach that draws teachers in and draws their thoughts out. Rather
than limiting participation, an invitational mindset for coaching expands it.
Coaching should be experienced as invitational. Teachers have a special invitation to jointly explore pedagogy with a coaching colleague. Coaches attract participation in many ways: You may have created a menu of coaching options. Your school may have the expectation that coaching is an “everyone in” activity; one would have to intentionally opt out rather than opting in. In addition to these more overt invitations, an attitude of expectation, of genuine helpfulness, and a bowl of chocolate can go a long way toward drawing teachers in!
People who are Inviting have an abundance attitude. Life is an infinite pie – there are big pieces for everyone! As a coach, you don’t see success as limited to a few – you want it for all, and it shows. Inviting coaches see and share opportunities. Instead of seeing limitations, they see potential. To become more inviting, expand your awareness of opportunities for yourself and others.
Teachers are attracted to coaching when they hear good things from others and when they see the instructional coach figuratively linking arms with others to solve problems and accomplish tasks. They are attracted when an opportunity is personalized – when you base your invitation on a specific need or interest. An inviting person is someone you can go to for support or information.
Drawing Thoughts Out
Once we have invited teachers in, we want to invite them to share their thinking. Teachers will share if we have created safety, value, and freedom.* Teachers feel safe to share their ideas when our attitude and their experience with us confirm that our responses will demonstrate civility and their ideas will be respected. They feel valued when we listen carefully and when we seriously consider the perspectives teachers share. This encourages participation. Teachers feel freedom when you don’t expect them to share your perspective; when they can make a choice other than the suggestion you offer.
An invitational approach avoids coercion. We seek deep understanding of a situation and then offer ideas, but we recognize that the teacher knows what is best for herself and her students.
I welcome a teacher into a conversation when I ask, “What do you think?” Our exchanges are exploratory, our ideas are tentative as we wrestle together with the complex and challenging issues of instruction. Invitational coaches aren’t so pumped up about their own ideas that they overlook a teacher’s concerns. Being over-focused on our own ideas might cause a teacher’s concerns to be overlooked, leading to ineffective instructional decisions.
Coaching is not an opportunity to get our own way. Success is not measured by whether a teacher adopts your views. Rather, decisions are made based on a shared understanding of the context. We recognize that every perspective is partial, and that by seeking multiple perspectives we gain more complete understanding. Silence, reflection, and sincere questioning go both ways in an invitational coaching conversation. Both the coach and teacher may choose to change as a result of sharing perspectives.
Having an invitational mindset for coaching means Inviting teachers in and drawing their ideas out. Ideas emerge and change occurs as a result of an invitational interaction.
*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invitational_rhetoric
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