Headteacher Changes School Culture: Unveiling the Impact of Coaching in Schools Training

See how Headteacher Dawn changed her school’s culture using the Coachinginschools System.

Dawn had a lot of experience of coaching before she approached us. She knew it could be a great tool to drive her school forward, but was struggling to make it work effectively. She still felt under pressure to have all the answers, and like she was working harder and harder and harder, yet not having the impact she wanted.

Fast-forward to now, and having learnt and implemented the Coachinginschools system, she’s completely changed her school culture and is now having the impact she was striving for. What’s more, she’s feeling less anxious and overwhelmed, and has more time to think and do her important strategic work.

‘Golden Nuggets’ include:

“It’s a cultural shift in your organisation. And actually if you are the person who’s leading that organisation, you need to have that cultural shift yourself.”

“We had a real culture of being really kind and supportive and helping people. But actually, it was almost that I didn’t understand that being helpful and kind wasn’t actually helpful and kind…”

“What I’m finding is less people come to me to ask me to solve things, because they know – and this is really hard for a Headteacher – they know I’m probably not the best person to solve it – which is really annoying if you think you’re a demi god!”

“It just becomes about the culture that actually people don’t rescue each other. People don’t just fix things for each other. People have total faith and confidence in your ability to fix this. And actually the culture kind of starts to grow.”

“The actual very subtle changes in the way you do things has a massive impact on the culture and the way everybody does things.”

“And we find that we have much more coaching conversations or professional discussions where the outcome is a really creative solution that we probably wouldn’t have thought of before.”

“There’s that kind of really empowered feeling across the school of people taking things forward because they’re interested, and they’re excited, and they want to do it. And it’s in your coaching conversation. But you notice that in your culture, and the way your staff speak, when they talk a lot about what they have been doing and what they thought was a good idea. There’s a much more, ‘I am part of this process.'”

“It’s when you start to see the creative solutions that people come up with that you would never have thought about…that’s when you start to realise you’re actually on your coaching journey.”

“I’m still the Headteacher – and I have ultimate responsibility – but that’s not the same as having the best answers.”

“There’s not one person in charge here…Everybody understands that quality improvement is not the Headteacher’s job.”

“Also, the coaching culture across the school will continue to grow.”

“We’ve seen really powerful results from children going through a coaching cycle, and being really surprised at how much they can do!”

“Coaching is a strategic way to develop a more empowered culture.”

“You realise that if you have the coaching at the heart of everything you do, everything else becomes easier, because it’s a way of doing things that rests on the absolute utter belief that people have the best answers already. And you don’t need to have all the best answers. And that’s why it’s really powerful. That’s not your job anymore… And that’s so liberating… That’s not what you have to do. You have to create the space for other people to find that out for themselves. And that’s so empowering.”

“If everybody in your organisation has that belief that they will have the best answers, it transforms the culture and ethos of your school to one that’s almost a hive of buzzing excitement. And that’s the big change that coaching makes. It’s that change in people’s belief in their own capacity. And that’s huge to be able to change that in a school. That culture of, I have total faith in you. I believe you have really good answers.”

“Once staff have been through that process – and realise they can do it – and the expectation is that they will do it, and that you have faith and confidence in them, people start to do it on their own. And that’s what’s really powerful.”

Dawn drops hundreds of ‘value bombs’ in this video! As you watch, and immerse yourself in her story, be inspired, and imagine how you’ll feel when you have this kind of transformation in your school.

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