0. Coaching Conversations in Meetings with Students
Gail Fairfield & Kelli Keener
Indiana University
Coaching Conversations in Meetings with Students

1. Sample Coaching Conversation Practice Asking Coaching Questions
Today’s Agenda
What is Coaching – in academia – and why is it Valuable?
What Motivates students to learn valuable attitudes & skills?
What’s at the Heart of Coaching with college students?
Sample Coaching Conversation
What shapes a Coaching Conversation?
Practice Asking Coaching Questions
Case Study – Indiana University-Kokomo
Q&A and Resources
INDIANA UNIVERSITY

2. What is COACHING in an Academic Setting?
An opportunity for students to deepen their learning, take responsibility for their actions, improve their effectiveness and consciously create their outcomes in life.
LifeBound Academic Training and Certification
Copyright 2016
Copyright 2011

3. Q: What’s the Value of Coaching, right now
Q: What’s the Value of Coaching, right now? A: Employers Want these skills and Coaching can help students develop them
Fortune 500: 1970
Fortune 500: NOW
Forbes: NOW 1
Writing
Teamwork 2
Computational Skills
Problem Solving 3
Reading
Interpersonal Skills
Decision Making 4
Oral Communication 5
Listening Skills
Plan, Organize, & Prioritize Work 6
Personal Career Development
Obtain & Process Information 7
Creative Thinking
Analyze Quantitative Data 8
Leadership
Technical Knowledge Related to Job 9
Goal Setting/Motivation
Proficiency with Computer Software 10
Ability to Create/Edit Written Reports 11
Organizational Effectiveness
Ability to Sell and Influence Others 12 13
Reading Skills
INDIANA UNIVERSITY

4. Q: What’s the Value of Coaching, right now
Q: What’s the Value of Coaching, right now? A: Coaching can help students develop some skills they need in order to succeed in the WORKPLACE and in LIFE
Ongoing Curiosity
Self-Awareness and Self-Advocacy
The skills for making Strategic Plans for oneself
The capacity to Follow-through & be Accountable
Resilience – the willingness to expend the effort and stick with a problem
The habit of approaching challenges with a Growth Mindset
The interpersonal skills for Working with Others
INDIANA UNIVERSITY

5. What MOTIVATES STUDENTS to LEARN
or to DEVELOP desirable attitudes and skills?
EMOTIONAL STATES are the MOTIVATORS
(more than logic)

6. What’s at the Heart of a Coaching Conversation with a College Student?
An Assumption that the
STUDENTS are the EXPERTS in their lives
An Assumption of Basic WELLNESS
Questions that lead to a Balance of
Insight & Action
Curiosity!
Copyright 2016
INDIANA UNIVERSITY

7. What characterizes a Coaching Conversation?
Can be short
May be incorporated into regular meetings with students
Often allows the rest of the meeting to be more meaningful and useful
USEFUL in many situations!
NOT a default for every situation!
INDIANA UNIVERSITY

8. Sample Coaching Conversation
Copyright 2016
Copyright 2011 8

9. What are the Coaching Tools?
Genuine Attentiveness & Caring Listening Observing Acknowledging Championing Challenging (Confronting Courageously) Asking Powerful Questions Leveraging Three Dimensions of a Student’s Intelligence
Copyright 2016 9

10. So, what shapes a Coaching Conversation?
Powerful Questions
organized around
Three Dimensions of Intelligence 10

11. What are Powerful Questions?
Open-ended
Invite self-reflection
Identify underlying values and priorities
Weigh costs and benefits
Reveal or clarify choices
Identify level of importance (scale of 1-10)
Challenge assumptions, limiting beliefs, or lack of congruence
Encourage shifts in perspective
Past or future timeframe
Others’ points of view
Expanded context or narrowed focus
Incite action
Promote accountability & follow through
Copyright 2011
Copyright 2016

12. www.lifebound.com www.caroljcarter.com
What are the Dimensions of Intelligence used in Coaching Conversations?
Analytical Thinking
Creative Thinking
Practical Thinking
Copyright 2016 12

13. X The ARC of a Coaching Conversation
Stimulating CREATIVE Thinking
WHAT CAN YOU IMAGINE?
WHAT WOULD IT BE LIKE TO HAVE WHAT YOU WANT?
WHAT WAS IT LIKE WHEN YOU (someone else) HAD THIS?
Elicit Emotion-Driven Motivation here! X
Stimulating ANALYTICAL Thinking
WHAT DO YOU WANT?
HOW IMPORTANT IS THIS FOR YOU? OTHERS?
WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT WHAT YOU WANT?
TEMPTATION
Stimulating PRACTICAL Thinking
WHEN AND HOW WILL YOU TAKE ACTION?
HOW WILL YOU HANDLE CHALLEGES?
HOW & WHEN WILL YOU CHECK-IN?
HOW WILL YOU CELEBRATE?

14. Coach the PERSON, not the problem
Remember . . .
Coach the PERSON,
not the problem
INDIANA UNIVERSITY

15. Powerful Questions for triggering ANALYTICAL INTELLIGENCE
What do you want?
How important is this – for you? For others?
What do you already know about what you want?
What do you want to explore? What’s on your mind?
What would you like to address, change, or enhance in your life?
What does _______ mean to you?
What do you already know about this?
On a scale of 1-10, how important is this?
What might be the cost associated with having this? What good thing might you lose?
What might be the benefit of having this? What might you gain?
What’s the impact of doing/having this?
What’s the impact of not doing/having this?
Tell me about a time when you’ve (or someone else) has had this . . .
INDIANA UNIVERSITY

16. Generate Powerful Questions to stimulate ANALYTICAL INTELLIGENCE
A very bright student struggles with team projects. She doesn’t want to interrupt or hear herself talk as she sees others do.
She worries her ideas don’t add significant value to the team, so she often says nothing. When she does try to speak, she freezes up.
She says, “I want to be able to speak up in teams and share my ideas.”
What could you ask her to find out more about the situation?

17. What needs to be there. . . for someone to think CREATIVELY?
How would it FEEL to stretch in this way?
Describe your ideal VISION of what it could be?
What would you SAY differently to yourself if you had this?

18. Powerful Questions to trigger Creative Intelligence
WHAT CAN YOU IMAGINE?
WHAT WOULD IT BE LIKE TO HAVE WHAT YOU WANT?
WHAT’S YOUR IDEAL OUTCOME?
If you could wave a magic wand ?
What might be the result immediately? In 1 (or 5 or 20) years?
What if you relax the constraints?
If you could, just for a minute, put the restrictions aside, what would you want?
How would it LOOK/FEEL if you had this?
What would it be like if you could ORCHESTRATE this?
What might you be saying to yourself? To others?
What’s the best result that could occur?
How would this maximize your life?
If money were no object, and the world was your dream, what would you do?
INDIANA UNIVERSITY

19. Generate Powerful Questions to stimulate CREATIVE INTELLIGENCE
A student is struggling to balance social life and “having fun in college” with staying on track academically.
She has a long-term goal of going to graduate school and becoming a psychologist.
She says, “It’s really important for me to find a way to have fun and still succeed academically.”
What could you ask her to find out what she dreams or imagines?

20. Sample Powerful Questions for Practical Intelligence
WHEN AND HOW WILL YOU TAKE ACTION?
HOW WILL YOU HANDLE THE CHALLENGES?
HOW WILL YOU CHECK-IN?
HOW WILL YOU CELEBRATE?
What’s the first small step you could take to make this happen?
What would you (someone else) do first?
What’s the sequence of steps? The overall timeline?
What kind of support can you find?
What resources do you need? Where can you get them?
What are the challenges or roadblocks that might arise?
How will you meet those challenges and stay on track?
How would (someone else) handle these challenges?
How and when will you check in (With me? With someone?) along the way?
How will you celebrate when you achieve this?

21. Why Am I Talking Remember . . . Ask a question and . . .
INDIANA UNIVERSITY

22. Generate Powerful Questions to stimulate PRACTICAL INTELLIGENCE
A student wants to major in Music – he loves to sing – but is worried that he won’t be able to find a job with that major. He thinks maybe he should switch to Management because it’s more practical.
He says, “I want to find a career where I can combine music and business . . .”
How could you ask him to help him make a plan and follow-through on it?

23. IU Kokomo: Cultivating a Coaching Culture
Case Study
IU Kokomo: Cultivating a Coaching Culture
INDIANA UNIVERSITY

24. Indiana University - Kokomo
Opportunities for Culture Shift
Small campus size
Student demographics
100% commuter
75% full time, 72% traditional age
Most balancing school & _____
Centralized advising
Campus emphasis on student success
INDIANA UNIVERSITY

25. Training & Practice Staff Self-Reflection

26. Training & Practice Coaching Workshops
INDIANA UNIVERSITY

27. Coaching Highlights
March 2017
INDIANA UNIVERSITY

28. Training and Practice Welcoming New Students
INDIANA UNIVERSITY

29. Intake Survey
INDIANA UNIVERSITY

30. Training and Practice Reinforcing Powerful Questions

31. Observations of Coaching
Advisors are listening to students:
“What do we need to do to help you get you there? We can do this together.”
“Can you tell me what you find ‘boring’ about the sciences?”
“I want to know more. Where were you at when you made that choice?”
INDIANA UNIVERSITY

32. Observations of Coaching
Students are asking more questions:
“Am I going to be here for another four years? That’s a lot of classes.”
“Can I just join a club to do photography or do I need to take a class?”
“Can I major in criminal justice and minor in psychology?”
INDIANA UNIVERSITY

33. Observations of Coaching
S: “I think I’ll go with the lit course. I like reading.” A: “You like to read. So tell me again, why criminal justice and not English?” S: “I don’t know. It’s more of a hobby.” A: “Your degree is what you make of it, no matter the major you’re in.”
INDIANA UNIVERSITY

34. New Directions at IU Kokomo
INDIANA UNIVERSITY

35. Interested in Training? Interested in Certification? Contact LifeBound
Toll free:
Visit Carol’s educational
& our website at
Copyright 2017
Copyright 2011

36. Wrap-up and Q&A Gail Fairfield gfairfie@iu.edu Kelli Keener
INDIANA UNIVERSITY