Can we codify great coaching so coaches like you can learn specific techniques? We think so and we’re doing it for our upcoming book, written with the brilliant Dr Haili Hughes, Coaching for Adaptive Expertise.
Today’s tip: anticipate and plan to overcome barriers to implementation using the premortem method.
Pitfall: the optimism bias
It’s natural to assume our coachee will be motivated to implement their action step, especially as they’re often at peak commitment levels during coaching. But when reality sinks in - marking, meetings, lesson planning etc. -, predictable barriers to implementation get in the way.
Avoid assuming behaviour change is a natural consequence of coaching and plan to overcome predictable barriers using the premortem technique (Klein, 2007).
What is a premortem? You’ve probably heard of a postmortem where a team reflects on what went wrong after a project has failed in an attempt to learn from mistakes. A premortem flips that around. You imagine that failure has already happened before your coachee has even attempted to implement the step. This gets ahead of failure by anticipating likely barriers and planning to overcome them before they’ve even occurred.
Watch how coach Sarah uses the premortem technique on coachee Adam. Notice how she maximises the power of the premortem technique by asking Adam to imagine it’s Wednesday morning and he didn’t script the metacognitive modelling for the action step. By setting up the premortem in this way, Adam can insert himself into the future failure and think more concretely about what might have got him there. If Sarah had just asked “what might go wrong?”, it would have been easier for Adam to fall prey to the optimism bias and not volunteer any likely barriers.
Also notice how coach Sarah gets Adam to write the action in his diary then and there. Another way they would fall prey to the optimism bias is if they both assumed Adam would remember to plan the metacognitive modelling at the new time he proposed!
Why might premortems be important?
It’s way too easy for coach and coachee to assume it’s plain sailing after the coaching conversation. But the coaching conversation isn’t where most of the learning happens; it just kickstarts the process. Just as we recognise the importance of students doing their homework and having enriching experiences outside of lessons, so too should we recognise that (even weekly) coaching is a relatively infrequent input when compared to the amount of time a teacher spends teaching. It’s therefore crucial that the coach also support the teacher to make implementation happen.
When should and shouldn’t you do a premortem?
A premortem is almost always going to be a good idea. We risk it becoming tokenistic though if we simply end conversations with “what could go wrong?”. So, make sure you -
Explain to your coachee why premortems are important for overcoming the optimism bias, supporting successful implementation of the action step and ultimately, supporting student learning.
Support your coachee by modelling plausible suggestions of barriers and ways to overcome them that you, or other coachees you have worked with, have experienced.
Celebrate when your coachee’s careful planning has enabled them to overcome barriers to implementation and had a positive effect on students - this is hard to achieve after all.
Huge thanks to the energetic and enigmatic coach and here, coachee, Adam Kohlbeck!
And as always, if you would like to talk more about coaching in this way, get in touch! sarahcottinghatt@outlook.com
References
Klein, G. (2007) 'Performing a project premortem', Harvard Business Review, 85(9), pp. 18–19