1. Coaching Conversations in Academic Advising
Gail Fairfield
Office of Completion & Student Success
Indiana University
Coaching Conversations in Academic Advising

2. Today’s Agenda
What’s the Value of a Coaching Conversation– in academia
What’s at the Heart of Coaching with college students?
Sample Coaching Conversation
What’s the arc of a Coaching Conversation?
Sample Powerful Questions for the arc
Q&A
INDIANA UNIVERSITY

3. 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
Academic Coaching vs. Life Coaching
We are helping them create THEIR outcomes but we have some investment in the agenda  student success. Life Coaching is based SOLELY on the client’s agenda.
Copyright 2011
Copyright 2016

4. Q: Why is Coaching so valuable right now
Q: Why is Coaching so valuable 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

5. Why is coaching so valuable right now?
A student story . . .
In January, a student who was planning to graduate in May, came to see her advisor, who had recently participated in professional development related to coaching conversations. The student explained that she had always hated her field of study, Biology, but did not want to slow herself down, so she continued to take Biology classes. In her earlier advising sessions, she had only discussed plans for completing her declared major and her Spanish minor. She divulged that, if she had thought it through in her first two years, she might have chosen to major in Political Science instead. Although, in her final semester, it was too late to reverse the clock, by responding to coaching questions in her advising session, she found a way to apply the analytical and research skills learned in Biology to a job in policy research for a political party, one with a largely Spanish-speaking constituency. However, her college experience might have been more satisfying if she had encountered some coaching conversations much earlier!
INDIANA UNIVERSITY

6. Q: Why is Coaching so valuable right now
Q: Why is Coaching so valuable right now? A: Coaching can help students develop some skills they need in order to succeed in the WORKPLACE and in LIFE
They need to Develop and Maintain:
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

7. 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!
INDIANA UNIVERSITY

8. What characterizes Coaching Conversations?
May be short
May be incorporated into regular meetings with students
May allow the meetings to be more meaningful and useful
Are NOT a default for every situation!
INDIANA UNIVERSITY

9. SAMPLE COACHING CONVERSATION
INDIANA UNIVERSITY

10. Sample Coaching Conversation
How long did this Coaching Conversation take? What did you notice? How could you follow this within a 30-minute advising session? What else might YOU have asked?
INDIANA UNIVERSITY

11. What are some Coaching Tools?
Genuine Attentiveness & Caring Listening Observing Acknowledging Asking Powerful Questions Leveraging Three Dimensions of a Student’s Intelligence
INDIANA UNIVERSITY 10

12. Powerful Questions
Are open-ended Trigger self-reflection Reveal choices Elicit a different idea of what’s possible Weigh costs and benefits of a choice or action Establish the level of importance (scale of 1-10) Encourage shifts in perspective Unpack assumptions or limiting beliefs Incite action Promote accountability & follow through
Copyright 2011
INDIANA UNIVERSITY

13. The Dimensions of Intelligence used in Coaching Conversations
Analytical Thinking
Creative Thinking
Practical Thinking
Dr. Robert Sternberg, psychologist who explored/developed the concept of Successful Intelligence. During his time at Yale he researched the notion of intelligence. As he traveled around he realized we consider the gifted/talented students as very intelligent because they have strong analytical skills, but when he gave them creative thinking exercises they didn’t all fare well. However, when he tested some of the remedial students, many had creative thinking skills that were off the charts. As he explored the skills needed to successfully navigate the world, he theorized that we all need to be able to think in more than one way specifically, in education, we tend to emphasize the analytical and practical over the creative. WHAT CAN YOU DO WITH A BRICK?
Concept of the Coaching arc: 12

14. X The ARC of a Coaching Conversation
Powerful Questions + Successful Intelligence =
The ARC of a Coaching Conversation
Elicit CREATIVE Thinking
WHAT CAN YOU IMAGINE?
WHAT WOULD IT BE LIKE TO HAVE WHAT YOU WANT?
IN AN IDEAL WORLD . . .? X
Elicit PRACTICAL Thinking
WHEN AND HOW WILL YOU TAKE ACTION?
HOW WILL YOU HANDLE CHALLEGES?
HOW/WHEN WILL YOU CHECK IN?
HOW WILL YOU CELEBRATE?
Elicit ANALYTICAL Thinking
WHAT DOES _______ MEAN TO YOU?
WHAT’S IMPORTANT ABOUT ________?
WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT WHAT YOU WANT?
CREDIT for concept of the ARC: LifeBound
COACHING ARC
Think Analytically: gather and analyze information about the current challenge, situation, decision – what’s at the core of the issue -
Think Creatively: shift perspective, brainstorm choices, envision outcomes and possibilities and challenge their assumptions
Think Practically: action plan, next step, possible roadblocks and solutions, accountability, mindset needed to move forward
TENDENCY is to go from Analytical to Practical and skip Creative – but the practical solution will be more effective and relevant – and result in more buy-in and accountability – if creative first! CHALLENGE FOR COACH: Resist supplying answers (going across the bottom of the coaching arc) – watch for the change in the student’s body language
TEMPTATION
INDIANA UNIVERSITY

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

16. Powerful Questions for triggering ANALYTICAL Intelligence
What does _____ mean to you?
What’s important about _____?
What do you already know about what you want?
What do you already know about this?
On a scale of 1-10, how important is this?
What’s important about 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? Of not doing/having it?
Tell me about a time when you’ve successfully . . .
INDIANA UNIVERSITY

17. Powerful Questions to trigger Creative Intelligence
WHAT DO YOU IMAGINE?
WHAT WOULD IT BE LIKE TO HAVE WHAT YOU WANT?
IN AN IDEAL WORLD . . .?
If you could wave a magic wand ?
What might be the result immediately? In 1 (or 5 or 20) years?
If you could, just for a minute, put the restrictions aside, what would you want?
How would it LOOK if you had this?1
How would it FEEL if you had this?
What would it be like if you could HARMONIZE _____ and _____?
What might you be saying to yourself? To others?
What’s the best result that could occur?
If money were no object, and the world was your dream, what would you do?
What needs to be there for someone to be creative?
Neutrality
Safe Space
Playfulness
Open-mindedness
“Relax the Constraints”
“If money were no object and the world were your dream ”
Sense of brainstorming
Sense of “enough time”
Introvert – time to think
Extravert – brainstorm, think out loud
Hitch-hiker stretch
INDIANA UNIVERSITY

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

19. Sample Powerful Questions for Practical Intelligence
WHEN AND HOW WILL YOU TAKE ACTION?
HOW WILL YOU HANDLE THE CHALLENGES?
WHEN AND HOW WILL YOU CHECK IN?
HOW WILL YOU CELEBRATE?
What’s the first small step you could take to make this happen?
What kind of support can you find?
What resources do you need? Where can you get them?
How will you maintain the mindset of ______?
How will you remember to _______?
What are the challenges or roadblocks that might arise?
How will you meet those challenges and stay on track?
How and when – and with whom – will you check in along the way?
How will you celebrate?
INDIANA UNIVERSITY

20. When coaching through the full arc, what comes before and after it?
Elicit CREATIVE Thinking
Elicit ANALYTICAL Thinking
Elicit PRACTICAL Thinking
Transition to a Coaching Conversation
May I Make a Suggestion?
Offer a Resource?
SAMPLE COACHING
Gain Rapport
INDIANA UNIVERSITY

21. IU Kokomo: Training and Practice Reinforce Powerful Questions

22. IU Kokomo: Preparing to Coach New Students
INDIANA UNIVERSITY

23. IU Kokomo: Student Feedback
Advisor helped me make a choice I was comfortable with: Definitely yes (97.7%)
Advisor helped me with a plan to follow through with my choices: Definitely yes (96%)
Advisor was eager to learn how I meet challenges and solve problems: Definitely yes (91%)
I feel more confident in my own ability to solve future problems: Definitely yes (87.4%)
INDIANA UNIVERSITY

24. IU Kokomo: Student Feedback
“My advisor made me feel very comfortable and more confident with my test scores when meeting. She made me feel like I'm ready to go to college.”
“I had a great experience that really calmed my nerves about my first year here at IUK.”
“I had fun talking with my advisor and she really helped me understand what I needed to do.”
INDIANA UNIVERSITY

25. Summary: Coaching Conversations
Assume:
Basic Wellness
That the Student is the Expert in his/her/their life
That you want the student to have Insight and take action
Coaching Conversations can be short and part of regular meetings with students
Coaching Conversations are based on Powerful Questions that trigger three kinds of intelligence
A Coaching Conversation follows an arc from Analytical to Creative to Practical
Remember the TOP of the arc
Remember to W.A.I.T.
INDIANA UNIVERSITY

26. Gail Fairfield gfairfie@iu.edu
Contact with questions
or for information about
Training or Certification:
Gail Fairfield
INDIANA UNIVERSITY