Coaching in the Field of Child Welfare - Approaches
Background | Approaches | Models | In Organization | Framework and Foundation
This section provides an overview of coaching approaches and explores the Solutions-Focused Practice and Reflective Practice approach to coaching.
Solution-focused practice and reflective practice are two approaches coaches should consider prior to working with learners. Both approaches provide a comprehensive framework to implement a coaching process, and each approach has tremendous potential to positively impact the adult learner.
Note that approaches differ from models: approaches provide a holistic or overall philosophy for coaching; while models provide structure for coaching sessions. To learn more about coaching models, please visit our section dedicated to this area here.
Key Terms:
Approach is the overall philosophy or style of setting about a task.
Model comprises examples or standards for how to structure the overall coaching process (a model is not a set of instructions).
Skill/skillset is needed to accomplish a specified task or perform a given function well.
Strategy is a plan, method, or series of steps for achieving a goal.
Technique encompasses procedures or methods (interviewing styles) coaches may employ to achieve coaching goals.
The solution-focused approach to coaching intends to facilitate purposeful, positive change by emphasizing resources and personal resilience (Grant, 2011). This approach is
- based on solution building vs. problem solving;
- non-confrontational and non-judgmental;
- focused on the learner’s desired future rather than on past problems or current conflicts;
- led by the learner — the learner identifies and increases the frequency of current useful behaviors;
- focused on looking for exceptions to the problems identified (when the problem could have happened but did not); and
- built on the belief that small increments of change lead to large increments of change.
Grant (2011) suggests the solution-focused approach can be translated to the coaching field using the following three themes:
- Goal-orientation is an orientation toward constructing solutions through the articulating and use of approach goals and active self-regulation.
- Resource activation focuses on acknowledging, identifying, and activating a wide range of personal and contextual resources and personal strengths.
- Problem disengagement is an explicit disengagement from problems, which is vital for full engagement in the pursuit of goals and central to the solution-focused endeavor.
POWERS is a handy mnemonic tool for coaches to remember the steps of the solution-focused approach (Visser & Bodien, 2003).
P - Problems are acknowledged but not analyzed.
O - Outcomes desired are specified.
W - Where are you now on the scale?
E - Exceptions to the problem are keys to solutions.
R - Relationships are enhanced and made productive.
S - Small steps forward lead to larger change.
Reflection is a strategy that should be used by every coach. However, it should also be considered as an overall approach — something that drives coaching.
Dewey (1933) called for teachers to take reflective action that entails “active, persistent, and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in light of the grounds that support it and the further consequences to which it leads” (p. 9). Dewey identified three attributes of reflective individuals: open-mindedness, responsibility, and wholeheartedness. Thomas Farrell (2008) describes open-mindedness as a desire to listen to more than one side of an issue and to give attention to alternative views. Responsibility involves careful consideration of the consequences to which an action leads. Wholeheartedness implies that teachers can overcome fears and uncertainties to critically evaluate their practice in order to make meaningful change (p. 1).
Telling stories is a significant way for individuals to give meaning to and express their understanding of their experience.
~ Mishler, 1986, p. 75
Reflective practice is based on the belief that learners can improve by consciously and systematically reflecting on their work performance (Farrell, 2008). Richards (1990) suggests self-inquiry and critical thinking can “help learners move from a level where they may be guided largely by impulse, intuition, or routine, to a level where their actions are guided by reflection and crucial thinking” (p. 5).
As an overall approach to coaching, reflective practice enables the learner to drive their own learning process. Coaching child welfare learners focuses on improving advanced critical decision-making skills, which requires introspection, reflection, and personal meaning applied to distinct settings.