Instructional Coaching as Horizontal Leadership

Instructional coaches are school leaders who work side-by-side with teachers to improve student learning. Coaching is horizontal leadership that emphasizes collaboration and shared decision-making. It is not a vertical, top-down structure that depends on title and power to create change. Coaches link arms with teachers; they don’t lead from above. Echoing good teaching, they are a guide by the side, not a sage on the stage.
 
Sometimes, as a coach, we are out in front, beckoning; but we are never above, demanding. Instructional coaching is a role that depends on reciprocity and trust rather than hierarchy. It is not a top-down structure. But what does this mean on the real?
 
Empowerment
Horizontal leadership means creating a relationship of empowerment. Teachers feel encouraged to contribute their unique expertise and have an active voice. When teachers feel personally attached to work in this way, they come up with new, innovative solutions. When teachers feel empowered, they are willing to take a risk and give these new ideas a try.
 
Collaboration
Instead of hierarchy, we have networks, relationships, collaborations, and communities. Although coaches may have gotten the position because of their knowledge and experience, to be successful, we shift from know-it-all to learn-it- all. Coaching is a mutual learning venture.
 
Reciprocity
In effective teacher-coach relationships, ideas flow easily both ways. Rather than jumping in to share our ideas first, though, in order to overcome biases about vertical leadership, as coaches, we may need to hold our ideas and talk later, so that teachers are encouraged to lead out with their own thoughts. Reciprocity requires humility on the part of the coach, seeing the merit in others’ ideas.
 
Trust
Trust is built through two-way vulnerability. It’s refreshing to take off the know-it-all mask, and it builds trust. Trust is built when you work in ways that empower teachers and encourage collaboration and reciprocity. Authentic relationships are built when teachers’ ideas are valued.
 
Being a horizontal leader in a top-down organization requires a mind shift. Schools and districts usually have a defined vertical structure, so leading horizontally is not the norm. Teachers (and you!) may have an unnamed, unexamined bias toward leading from above that takes effort to untangle. This is especially complicated if you are feeling constrained in your coaching role because of vertically-structured leadership expectations.
 
If traditional vertical leadership seems to govern you and the teachers in ways that constrain. check in with yourself. Are you imagining boundaries where there is permeability? Are you (or teachers) feeling monitored where there is no surveillance? I’ve often had teachers tell me they could not do a certain thing or had to do a certain thing; when I checked in with the principal, I found that was not the case. Sometimes we build walls where they don’t exist. Horizontal leadership is about bridges, not walls. It’s about reaching across, not down. School organizations are healthier when built on empowerment, collaboration, reciprocity, and trust.
 
This week, you might want to take a look at:

3 Ways to More “Aha” Moments in Coaching:
 
http://www.growthcoaching.com.au/articles-new/3-ways-to-more-aha-moments-in-coaching
 
 
Helping writers consider perspective:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/beyond-personal-narrative-a-change-in-perspective/
 
 
Redos and retakes:
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=192M61YJJKY
 
 
A podcast episode on norms that can lead to teacher burnout:
 
https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/school-norms/
 
 
This video about grouping to increase eye contact and learning:
 
https://www.edutopia.org/video/what-social-brain
 
That’s it for this week. Happy Coaching!
 
Want more coaching tips? Check out my book, Differentiated Mentoring & Coaching in Education: From Preservice Teacher to Expert Practitioner, available from Teachers College Press!  I’m so excited to share it with you! You can use the code: OCT2024 for 20% off. Click  here  and I’ll email you the free Book Group Study Guide that includes questions, prompts, and activities you can use as you share the book with colleagues.  I hope you’ll love this book as much as I loved making it for you!