5. Professionalism

5

Professionalism

How coaches act professionally is an important component of their effectiveness. Do you take your role seriously and respect your obligations? Do you strive to improve your skills? How do you handle difficult situations?

The competencies in this category explore professionalism: standards of behavior, strategies for continued growth and development, and approaches to ethical issues. This chapter offers tips and strategies to help you continue to improve as a professional coach.

1. Professional Accountability Meets the standards expected of a coach

CORE COMPETENCY

Effective coaches demonstrate professionalism, advance program quality, and practice CQI both for themselves and, if applicable, for their organization. • Establishes mutually defined goals and roles • Provides needed supports and follows up promptly tion to identify inputs, outputs, and outcomes improve practices decision-making • Supports development and implementation of a CQI action plan • Helps to develop feedback loops to track progress

EXPECTATION

Demonstrates professionalism

Advances program quality

Contributes to system or

EXAMPLES

• Is punctual, discrete, and courteous • Presents self professionally • Develops supportive and trusting relationships with coaching recipients • Maintains good records of the support provided and contributes to data collec• Uses self-assessment and self-reflection to identify areas of professional growth • Actively participates in supervision, peer learning communities, and other ways to • Creates a mutual learning partnership with the program leader or staff team • Is familiar with and shares evidence-based and promising practices • Uses appreciative inquiry (Chapter 3, Core Competency 3) and reflective practices (Chapter 7, Core Competency 2) to promote critical thinking and • Encourages involvement of staff and stakeholders in decision-making • Builds program capacity for data-informed practice and program assessment organizational CQI

• Shares successes, challenges, and trends with others in the organization or peer network to strengthen coaching approaches and quality improvement

2. Professional Development and Self-Reflection Models self-reflection and continuous improvement of skills

CORE COMPETENCY

As you support the professional development of the people you work with, you must also tend to your own professional development. Coaching requires sophisticated knowledge, skills, and dispositions. Being a lifelong learner and bringing openness to your coaching relationships will enhance your effectiveness. To be prepared to be a good coach and get the support you need, you can: • Develop an ongoing practice of self-reflection • Create and implement an annual individual professional development plan • Consider how your dispositions can improve your coaching practice

Develop an ongoing practice of self-reflection Self-reflection helps to build your social and emotional competence. It can equip you to understand what you are feeling so you can select effective responses to the words and actions of the people you work with. Self-reflection can help you to put yourself in other people’s shoes, seeing program challenges and obstacles from their perspective.

Mindfulness strategies can help you to be fully present with the program leader or staff team (see Chapter 3, Core Competency 2, Active Listening). Taking quiet time can be challenging with a busy and demanding schedule. But if you don’t, the “static” of a hectic life can interfere with your ability to be fully aware in your interactions, leading to automatic reactions that may not be helpful to you or those you coach (Jablon, 2016). Try allowing 15 minutes between staff appointments or 30 minutes between one program leader and the next so that you can jot down notes from the first meeting and review your plan for the second. Take a few minutes just to sit Finding a quiet space can be a challenge quietly, clear your mind, and breathe. in an OST environment. Don’t be shy about Think a bit about the person or group asking program staff to recommend a quiet place. This simple question can also yield interesting insight into program dynamics. you are about to encounter, your intentions and goals for this meeting, and what you need to remember about this relationship. A coaching log or journal can help you gain clarity, at the end of a busy day, about accomplishments and next steps. You can also use your journal to capture ideas from a conference, community of practice meeting, or other learning session. Your log or journal can help you keep track of next steps and identify information or skills to work on (Bloom, 2015).

Professional reading is a great way to grow in your practice. The references at the end of each chapter of this guide can be an entrance point into the growing array of books and articles about CQI and coaching. Websites, blogs, podcasts, and videos are other good professional development tools. Besides reading to support your individual growth, you may want to share short, high-interest articles or book chapters in staff or community of practice meetings.

Video recording is a great learning tool with growing reach thanks to the video capabilities of smartphones. Just as you can use video with your learning partners to, for example, show part of an activity observation or a leader-staff interaction, you can also use video to give you an objective view of your own work as a coach. You can ask a peer or your supervisor to record a meeting with a program leader or have a staff member record a staff meeting—or just set up your

46

phone to record on its own, if need be. Recording such videos of your own work is a way of modeling reflective practice to the program leader or staff team. If you compare recordings over time, you can see the progress you are making.

Create and implement an annual individual professional development plan An individual professional development plan details how you plan to build skills toward your professional goals. Every coach has specific professional development needs, with skills that need to be strengthened. Your goals may include career advancement or an advanced degree to expand your skills.

Creating and implementing an individual professional development plan has four steps (adapted from Bloom, 2015). You can also use this approach with program leaders or members of your staff team.

Step 1. Start with self-reflection

• What have you brought to this job from previous education and experience? • What aspect of your job gives you the greatest personal satisfaction? • What keeps you from being as effective as you would like? • What new skills or knowledge would help you be more effective this year? • What do you see yourself doing in the next three to five years? What skills or knowledge will you need to advance your career in that direction? • What are your learning styles and preferences, and how can you take them into account when creating your plan?

Step 2. Collect data

• Review any performance evaluations from the past year. • Fill out the Coaching Core Competency Self-Assessment in Chapter 9.

Identify areas of strength and think about how you can build on those strengths. Identify areas for growth. • Consider which coaching dispositions (see below) are areas of strength and which are areas for growth. • If you have been keeping coaching logs, read through them. They can reveal where your practice has improved over time and where you still want to improve.

Step 3. Set goals and action steps

• Create a complete list of strengths Engaging with different kinds of OST programs is a professional development and areas for growth based on opportunity. Each program you work with the core competencies. has different needs, requiring different • Brainstorm a list of possible goals parts of your coaching toolkit. and action steps.

• For action steps, research available professional development opportunities, including national events. In addition, consider such strategies as peer mentoring, shadowing, and video recording. • Identify priorities through reflection, on your own and with your supervisor or team, on essential areas for growth for the programs or individuals with whom you work. Consider also your own long-term career plan. • Finalize your plan by identifying available professional development opportunities that fit your learning style. Match your plan to your schedule and financial resources for professional development.

Step 4. Implement the plan and evaluate progress

• Participate in the professional development opportunities in your plan. • Work with your supervisor or a peer learning community to think about how to transfer what you have learned to your daily approach to coaching. (See

Chapter 4, Core Competency 4, Transfer of Learning.) • Track the ways in which you use new concepts in your regular coaching practice. • Include progress on your professional development plan in quarterly meetings with your supervisor, if applicable. The dispositions of a coach Dispositions are a habitual way of acting toward others or thinking about things. For example, a person who asks deep questions and ponders important issues could be described as having a reflective disposition (Bloom, 2015). The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education further defines dispositions as “professional attitudes, values, and beliefs demonstrated through both verbal and non-verbal behaviors as educators interact with students, families, colleagues, and communities” (Young, 2011).

The National AfterSchool Association Core Knowledge and Competencies for Afterschool and Youth Development Professionals (2011) includes a list of dispositions for OST worker, including, for example, “delights in and is curious about children and youth and how they grow and develop” and “shows warmth, caring, and respect for each child and youth as an individual” (p. 9).

Similarly, coaching requires certain beliefs and dispositions that set the tone for interactions with learning partners (Buysse & Wesley, 2005). Dispositions are harder to teach than skills or knowledge; changing dispositions can take time because they are part of a person’s enduring patterns of behavior (Bloom, 2015).

The Framework for the North Carolina Technical Assistance Practitioner Competencies (North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services,

Division of Child Development and Early Education, 2013) lists the coaching dispositions summarized in the table below. Each disposition is followed by adjectives describing what that disposition looks like in practice.

CARING

Empathic Compassionate Understanding Respectful Passionate Culturally competent

COMMUNICATIVE

Present Responsive Attentive Collaborative Vocal

CREATIVE

Flexible Inventive Resourceful Resilient

CRITICAL THINKER

Reflective Enterprising Open-minded Effective Modest

PROFESSIONAL

Ethical and principled Responsible Reliable Discreet Objective

FOR REFLECTION What other dispositions would you add to the list?

Use your dispositions to improve your practice Your dispositions may not be easy to change, but you can change how you work with them, choosing to emphasize your assets while developing areas in which you want to improve.

Follow the strengths-based approach you use with program leaders or your staff team. Identify dispositions that are strengths for you. Thinking of each program leader or staff member you work with, identify ways to intentionally use these strengths to improve your interactions. Having a hard time recognizing dispositions that are strengths? The next time You might even put a reminder about you’re working with a program leader or these dispositions into your calendar staff team, pay attention to when you feel for the next site visit or meeting. your energy levels rising. You probably feel that lift because you’re doing someInclude dispositions that you want to thing you’re wired to do. improve in your professional development plan. For example, if you want to improve cultural competence, you might take a workshop or find a good book or articles to read. If you want to be more present and responsive, you may focus on mindfulness practice. If you want to be more collaborative, you may choose to work on appreciative inquiry. In any case, set a concrete, time-limited action plan and decide how you will evaluate your progress.

3. Professional Ethics Maintains trustworthiness and integrity

CORE COMPETENCY

Like any profession, coaching poses its own unique ethical challenges. A good coach not only behaves ethically but also models ethical practices for program leaders or the staff team.

Ethical concerns The three categories of ethical concerns for coaches are coaching issues, relationship issues, and process issues (Buysse & Wesley, 2005). Under each category, we have listed a few actions you can take. Many of these issues apply to the work of external coaches, though some also are concerns for program leaders serving as internal coaches.

Coaching issues • Make referrals when necessary. The task of a coach is so The good news is that a lot of broad that you are likely to be resources are available for coaches asked to respond to program in the OST field. The bad news is issues for which you lack adequate preparation. You may be that you have to sift through all those resources! Start before problems arise. Find a few favorite publications, able to facilitate dialogue and websites, blogs, and professional reflection to surface knowledge associations, and keep them handy. the program leader or staff team The references sections of this guide already have. If more expertise is include some ideas. needed, seek out another person or resource to recommend. • Clarify values. Identify your own personal and professional values that influence the work, and help the program leader or staff team identify theirs.

Cultural values and professional philosophies can and do differ. When you discern a conflict in values between you and your learning partners, it is up to you to surface those differences and work through them. Relationship issues • Facilitate informed consent. Make sure program leaders have complete information about the coaching stages and process, what participation means, and the nature of the relationship. • Observe confidentiality. Share your confidentiality policy with the program.

That policy may come from your organization or may be your own; you may be able to align with the policy of the program you are working with. Include details about how you will maintain confidentiality and define cases in which

you will share information that would otherwise be confidential. An obvious example is your obligation to report child abuse or neglect. If you are under supervision, tell the program leader you may be sharing information about the program with your supervisor. Staff and families may also need to know what you are doing in the program and what information you will and will not share. • Set professional boundaries. You must be able to distinguish your feelings or needs from those of the program leader or staff team. See Code of

Ethics below. • Be aware of power dynamics. External coaches have power based on their expertise and, often, on the fact that the program leader’s boss hired them to help. Internal coaches wear both supervisor and coach hats. The balance of power usually is with the coach. Be aware of this power distribution, and support the right of learning partners to accept or reject suggestions. Process issues • Be informed of requirements, standards, and policies. Never suggest that a program leader or staff team adopt an approach that conflicts with organizational or legal requirements. • Use evidence-based communication and coaching strategies. You are less likely to cross ethical boundaries when you follow good practices like the ones in Chapters 2 and 3. Code of ethics An important part of any profession is its code of ethics. Your organization or program may have a code of ethics. If you are an external coach, ask about the code of ethics of the organization that engaged you.

FOR REFLECTION What do you see as the essential components of a coaching code of ethics?

If you or your organization needs to develop a code of ethics, you may want to explore codes developed by related organizations.

• The National AfterSchool Association’s code of ethics (n.d.) sets the standard of behavior for afterschool professionals. Standards are organized by ethical responsibilities to children and youth, to families, to colleagues, and to community and society. • The International Coaching Federation, the world’s largest organization of professionally trained coaches, has a code of ethics (2015) that includes professional conduct like setting clear and culturally sensitive professional boundaries and having a clear agreement about how information will be shared with the learning partner’s organization. • The National Association of Social Workers has a code of ethics (2017) whose broad value statements provide a philosophical foundation for ethical practice. For example, it says that social workers “have a primary goal of helping people in need and addressing social problems” and urges them to

“recognize the central importance of human relationships.”

FOR REFLECTION Imagine it’s a year from now, and you’re reading the coaching log or journal you’re keeping now. What kinds of things would you like to read about? Why?

Which of your dispositions are well suited for coaching? Which are challenges for you?

What are some of the key elements of your coaching code of ethics? How do these values align with or differ from those of the programs you work with?

Professionalism References

Buysse, V. and Wesley, P. W. (2005). Consultation in Early Childhood Settings. International Coaching Federation (June 2015). Code of Ethics. https://coachfederation.org/code-of-ethics/ National AfterSchool Association. (n.d.) Code of ethics for afterschool professionals. https://naaweb.org/images/NAA-Code-of-Ethics-for-AferSchool-Professionals.pdf National AfterSchool Association (2011). Core Knowledge and Competencies for Afterschool and Youth Development Professionals https://indd.adobe.com/ view/52148024-4c17-42d4-9aef-dfef320cf6cf National Association of Social Workers (2017). Revised Code of Ethics. https://www.socialworkers. org/About/Ethics/Code-of-Ethics/Code-of-Ethics-English North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Child Development and Early Education (2013). Framework for the North Carolina Technical Assistance Practitioner Competencies. http://ncchildcare.dhhs.state.nc.us/PDF_forms/TACompetenciesApril232013.pdf