Recognizing Resistance during Instructional Coaching

As the new year gets underway, your district or school may be launching a new initiative – or you may be launching a new idea with a teacher (something coaches do on the regular!). If you are urging or supporting an implementation, expect resistance. Resistance to change is to be expected – it doesn’t mean you’re not doing your job well. In fact, it’s a lack of resistance that more probably indicates that something is awry. The saying at the gym, “No pain, no gain,” could be modified to, “No resistance, no change.” If there’s no resistance, we can be pretty sure that there’s not going to be growth. If an idea is big enough to cause growth, some resistance will be involved. Feelings of resistance do exist whenever a substantive initiative or idea is introduced.
 
Folks have a need for control and security. Change invites unpredictability and vulnerability. It’s our human inclination, then, to resist change. Resistance is a reaction to an emotion process, not a direct response to the idea being presented. Resistance is an Indirect expression of concern. Don’t take it personally 
 
School cultures that avoid confrontation at all costs are like stagnant pools, with nothing going in or out. One important (and often unacknowledged) job of a coach is to surface resistance. Sometimes, it’s obviously and outrightly expressed as complaint or anger. Hopefully, it’s more rationally expressed as appropriate and real concern. If you’re not hearing this, listen for these ways that resistance might be more subtly expressed:

·       Asking for more and more detail (about the initiative being implemented)

·       Giving more and more detail (about the uniqueness of their situation)

·       Saying the timing of the initiative is off (they are too busy right now)

·       Pedestal sitting (“those people” caused it or need it; “they” need to understand)

·       Silence (which rarely means consent and is evidence of absence of energy but not authentic absence of objection)*

All of these responses hide feelings of discomfort. There is fear of the unknown, a sense of loss of control or a loss of power. There may be vulnerability, a chance that they’ll be hurt some way in the process. They may worry about being judged.
 
For learning and change to occur, feelings of resistance need to be voiced and acknowledged before new ideas can be integrated. Expressed concerns lose their power. Help the teacher express their concerns directly - in words. If a teacher provides lots and lots of details about the unique situation in her class that might impact the implementation, say, “Good point.” If the teacher is silent, be specific. Say, “You must have some concerns about this idea. What have you been thinking?” Encouraging teachers to express their apprehensions gives you a chance to address them together, diffusing the resistance.
 
When you recognize resistance about an idea or initiative, don’t take it personally. Don’t take it as a sign that the initiative is off-course. It might, instead, be a sign that there’s a real opportunity for growth.
 
(Come back for next week’s post, where I’ll dive deeper into addressing resistance.)
 
*In creating this list (and post), I’ve drawn heavily from chapter 10 of Peter Block’s, Flawless Consulting.
 
This week, you might want to take a look at:

Giving students freedom to move as they learn:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/what-kenny-taught-me/
 
 
Questions worth considering about coaching ethics:
 
https://newbycoachlive.wordpress.com/2018/08/06/why-think-about-ethics-in-coaching/
 
 
When reading response becomes a task:
 
https://pernillesripp.com/2017/07/22/on-reading-tasks/
 
 
Getting started with culturally responsive teaching:
 
https://www.edutopia.org/article/getting-started-culturally-responsive-teaching
 
 
The importance of non-academic, social-emotional learning:
 
https://fs24.formsite.com/edweek/images/Spotlight-Social-Emotional-Learning-Sponsored.pdf
 
That’s it for this week. Happy Coaching!
 
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