Innovations in Coach Development

Toby Doyle

Community Cricket National Coach Development Manager, New Zealand Cricket

In this series we feature innovative initiatives in coach learning and development. We will see examples of the work of coach developers who have taken their sport or their own practice into new territory.

Innovation requires putting new ideas and methods into practice by looking at current practice with fresh eyes. New assumptions that underpin new mental models are at the core of innovation.

This post by Toby Doyle shows how a person-centred approach to coach development that is focussed on a strong practical component where developing coaches receive lots of support can provide a rich developmental experience for coaches.

WHAT WAS THE CATALYST FOR CHANGE?
  1. Examination of data

We studied how many coaches who engaged with our previous qualification-centred coach framework, and only 20% of coaches who begun learning were going onto fully complete qualifications (with only a small percentage then requesting their certificate).
This led us to believe that our learning system was currently catering for a small portion of community coaches within our sport.

2. Consultation and research

When re-designing our coach learning framework we involved key regional coach development leads whose experience with working with coaches in their communities helped to inform what the framework would look like, as well as the critical skills/knowledge that coaches needed to know/do at each different coaching level. Coupled with this, we took time to understand learning frameworks from other sports and industries.

THE DEVELOPMENT of a NEW COACH LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT MENTAL MODEL

From our work and research we landed on some key mental models to help us shape our learning framework:

  • Development is continuous rather than episodic.
  • Development is self driven and not dictated.
  • Mastery is the objective. Not qualifications.
  • The emphasis is on just-in-time learning, as opposed to  just-in-case learning.
  • Opportunities & resource are made available to all.
  • Coaches choose from a buffet of options rather than a set menu.
  • 70/20/10 – remember how development occurs (on-the-job learning > social interactions > formal learning)
WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE IN PRACTICE

In the place of assessment during a course/workshop, we’ve put in coaching observations as a mandatory requirement for coaches wanting to receive a qualification. These look like:

  • Learning is centred around the coach and their context.
  • There is a deliberate emphasis on the personal development for the coach, rather than their competence against a set criteria.
  • Data is gathered (what happened) then reflective conversation around this follow.
  • The coach developer threads any learning/focus points from the workshop into conversations.
  • The focus from the conversation is on the ‘what next’ with clear ongoing objectives.
  • Conversations may also lead to a focus on the coach’s development following the observation.

Along with this, within our face-to-face practical sessions coaches are given micro-coaching opportunities and coach developers will conduct reflective conversations with coaches on how they conducted these micro-coaching sessions – GET THE COACHES COACHING!

HOW IS IT GOING 24 MONTHS DOWN THE TRACK? LESSONS LEARNED?
  • This last season we’ve seen over triple the amount of online learning module completions through our online learning portal and over double the amount of attendances to virtual learning sessions (webinars). This points to a ‘buffet’ style learning offering to coaches becoming more normalized.
  • We are still normalising the shift of focus with those who aren’t directly ‘in the work’ but may be managing or responsible for those who are coach developers regionally.
  • Fully integrating people from regional associations into the change process meant we had little resistance to the proposed changes.
  • A lot of coach developers in our network are speaking to the deeper longitudinal impact of coach observation (either formal or informal), this has meant a shift to more of a focus on this type of work and less focus on delivering workshops.
  • Our modular system is progressively expanding and progressing – a positive spin off from having a buffet style approach (you can keep adjusting or adding to what you offer in the buffet pretty easily!) – Click here for a link to our modular system

Coach Developer Profile

Kirsi Hämäläinen, PhD

Kirsi is a principal lecturer at Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences in Finland.
Her short career as a coach, has been followed by a long career as a coach developer and especially coach developers’ developer 😊.
Prior to her current role, Kirsi worked at the Finnish Olympic Committee responsible for Coach Development.
Her doctoral thesis was titled: An athlete and a coach in the world of sports: ethos, ideals, and education in athletes’ narratives. From athletes’ narratives she found five different ethos, which guide thinking and behaviour in sport.
She played volleyball and beach volley for many years. Her multisport childhood has enabled Kirsi to return to dressage, one of the equestrian disciplines. She enjoys the escape from everything that dressage provides.
What Kirsi most enjoys about dressage is the feeling that there is no bar to ongoing improvement, unlike many other physical pursuits. She describes how important the cooperation and bond with the horse is. She says, “there may be challenges but the moments when is all comes together are indescribable”.

HOW DID YOU GET INTO the COACH DEVELOPER ROLE?

Coach development has been a key part of my entire career. As is often the case, serendipity played an important role. I was a student at university and during the summer holidays the phone rang. I was asked to work at a sports institute to teach one short course. Of course, I went because I had just wasted all my money on traveling in Europe!
I stayed at the sport institute (for 15 years!) and was given responsibility for various types of coach education.

MY COACH DEVELOPER PHILOSOHY

Over the years my idea has changed from planning the content and materials into planning the learning. I think we need to give the coaches a learner-centred learning experience.

Also, I used to think it was OK if the coaches felt they had only mastered bits of the course. That it was acceptable if coaches left a course feeling uncertain, knowing that any gaps would be filled through continuous learning. I now feel that it is important for coaches to achieve mastery in sufficient areas to leave the course feeling confident that they can do the job.

It is important for coaches to achieve mastery in sufficient areas to leave the course feeling confident that they can do the job.

BEST PART ABOUT the ROLE

The student coaches and co-workers and the joy of learning together.

SUPPORT for COACHES and COACH DEVELOPERS

In my current job at the university, I mainly teach master’s students.

In our system (Applied University), you only apply for the master’s degree after a few years of work experience as a coach or coach related job. So, the students are relatively experienced and in important positions in their working life. Learning together with them is really rewarding.

I used to work in the Olympic Committee and was responsible for coach development. I led the network of coach developers, and it has been one of the top things in my working life. We achieved a lot.

I have held numerous positions of trust where I have been able to influence coaching and coaching skills. The most important is certainly being a member of the International Council for Coaching Excellence board (ICCE), and my involvement with numerous ICCE projects over the years.

It has also been great to be involved in the activities of Finnish Coaches Association.

IF I HAD MORE RESOURCES

If I won the lottery, I would establish a foundation to support sports research. Its funding in Finland is too low.

And if I could make laws, I would make coach education free. Finland is a country of free education. Most coaches are volunteers, and yet we have created a system where coach training costs money and some coaches pay to be able to do their volunteer work better.

DO YOU WORK in PARTNERSHIP with OTHER COACH DEVELOPERS?

This is the pepper and the salt in my job. We have a great team at the university, and I still work with the people from my previous job at the Olympic committee. AND the international network within ICCE has been a big part of my life for 30 years.

HIGHLIGHTS and CHALLENGES

I am especially proud of these:

  • Building the coach developer Network in Finland when I worked at the Finnish Olympic Committee.
  • Development of ICCE activities over the years
  • The work for developing coaching culture and respect for coaches – baby steps and some bigger ones.
  • The students and co-workers excelling in their jobs.
DO YOU HAVE a MENTOR?

Several people have helped me during my career. Two times I have been in a professional guidance process and that has been very useful.

I also have some mutual mentoring relationships. One of them is Gene, who has given me food for thinking for several years.

MY TOP 4 COACH DEVELOPER TIPS
  1. Focus on “how”. Choose learning methods that develop different ‘meta skills’ in the participants. That is, the ability to apply a range of deep-thinking skills. These include reflecting on their coaching and the self-regulation of their thoughts, emotions, and behaviours. Other important ‘meta skills’ include thinking skills, knowledge seeking, analysis skills, development skills and assessment skills. These might be even more important than the content in the long run.
  2. How do you want the coaches to work with the athletes? Give them experience and work with them to nurture and refine that experience.  If you want them to be athlete centred – be coach centred.
  3. Less is more. If they master something well – that is a bigger achievement than if they have a big bag full of material they never can use.
  4. Good questions are so critical and yet so difficult to find. It is way more demanding to find good questions than answers. Reflect on your coaching experience with the view to developing a toolkit of useful questions.

Coach Developer Profile

Megan Moss

Megan Moss aims to be a revolutionist.

As the owner of a gymnastics club in Canberra, Australia, that employs over 60 coaches, Megan is determined to revolutionise coaching in the sport of gymnastics to provide an environment that is participant centric and where the values of the club are at the forefront of everything the coaches do.

Starting her coaching career at the age of 12 in the sport of hockey, Megan found a passion for sharing the joy of sports participation early and has coached in hockey, dance and gymnastics for over 30 years.

Having experienced a variety of coaching methods and approaches in her own sporting career,
Megan quickly established the impact a coach can have on a participant’s motivation and long-term participation in sport. Her experiences shaped the coach she is today that is focused on inclusion, fun and engagement.

She is a master in group management and loves using analogies in coaching to enhance understanding, learning and engagement of her participants.
She leads a team of over 60 coaches in her club where she aims to impart her positive, inclusive approach to coaching and leads the training and development of the coaching team at Gungahlin Gymnastics.

HOW DID YOU GET INTO THE CD ROLE?
"It starts with a love story!

It starts with a love story! I met my husband Joel, a former Australian representative gymnast, in year 11 at school and we joked that one day we would open our own gymnastics club.

With life’s journey, that joke became a reality in early 2015 when we made the leap and decided to open Gungahlin Gymnastics.

From day one, we knew that we wanted to deliver the sport of gymnastics differently. We set our values early and aimed to deliver gymnastics, in all its forms, in a FUN and positive environment. Initially we started with just Joel and I coaching and 16 classes on our timetable.

The club took off quickly and we employed our first coach to work with us within 12 weeks of opening due to the strong demand. It has been a roller coaster since then and we now have just over 1500 gymnasts in the club and over 60 coaches.

I lead the coach development and training aspects of the business and this is an area I love, creating the next generation of coaches delivering gymnastics “the Gungahlin way”.

BEST PARTS ABOUT THE ROLE

Without a doubt seeing my coaching team engaged and enjoying their role is the best part.

Coaching kids is not an easy gig, we get kids at their best and their worst and seeing my team adapt their coaching and work so hard to engage their participants and keep it fun is so rewarding.

My coaches for the most part are young students, most of whom might not become career coaches however when departing their role with us, leave with skills that will serve them in so many ways. I get to see them grow as individuals while sharing the joy they have for the sport of gymnastics with the next generation.

SUPPORT FOR COACHES

We operate in a sport that is very structured and focused on pathways and compliance in terms of what you can coach and competitive gymnastics.

I respect that part of the sport however my support for my coaches extends well beyond a formal coaching accreditation and is focused more on our values, living those values as a coach and coaching to create an environment that is always fun and positive.

We do a lot of work with our coaching team on the soft skills of coaching, how you interact with your participants, what engaged coaching looks like in practice and how you create the right environment to enable the fun while balancing the needs of diverse groups.

Given we operate across two facilities, and I can’t be in two places at once, I have a team of Floor Managers who monitor things on the floor and report each day on how coaches are going and if they need more training or support in certain aspects of their coaching.

These insights provide me with the topics that form part of our twice yearly all staff workshops where we bring the whole team together to work on challenges and scenarios to further develop the soft skills of the team.

I also use this feedback to engage directly with individual coaches to provide more targeted support as required to help them be the best coach they can be.

IF YOU HAD MORE RESOURCES

Time is my most challenging resource – running a small business is very challenging and I wish I had more time to dedicate to coach development. If I had all the time in the world, my focus would be on more explicit coaching practices to ensure development and progression of participants and specialised training for my staff in handling participants with additional needs.

DO YOU WORK IN PARTNERSHIP WITH OTHER CDs?

I have working alongside me two full time staff who are also qualified Club Coach Educators who help me deliver training and workshops. Their expertise is in differing areas to my expertise so we complement each other well.

I also collaborate with lots of people outside of our sport to hear what others are doing, to discuss challenges and to network and hear best practice operations to learn more. The learning for me never stops!

DO YOU HAVE A MENTOR?

I don’t have a formal mentor for the coach development side of my role however I engage with some outstanding people in the field like Gene Schembri to further my learning and seek support.

I have a general life mentor in my big sister who is my biggest cheerleader and who is the one that gives me pep talks when I am experiencing imposter syndrome.

MY TOP 5 COACH DEV TIPS
  1. Tell the story, the story of the impact positive coaching can have on a participant and the coaches’ role in this.
  2. Encourage coaches to reflect on coaches or teachers they have had that brought out their best and how those coaches delivered lessons and training to do that and how they can do the same.
  3. Don’t take it too seriously – at the end of the day, we are dealing with kids sport. Sport is meant to be fun and the goal should always be engagement and retention. Don’t lose sight of the fact this is kids sport.
  4. Learn the soft skills more than the technical skills and always stay connected to the grassroots. It is very easy to coach high level athletes who know what to do, you truly earn and maintain your coaching stripes coaching in the grassroots.
  5. Never stop learning. Always seek out new information, especially from outside your sport and continue to learn and develop as a coach developer and in your own coaching.