Exploring Leadership Coaching Readiness in Capstone Experiences

• In Event: Interactive Roundtable Discussions & Member Community Information Tables
  In Interactive Roundtable: Leadership Development Interactive Roundtable Discussions

Short Description

We are interested in sharing coaching practices that shape leadership identity, efficacy, and motivation. Participants will leave with resources that describe coaching principles integrated into the Snyder Leadership Legacy Program and engage in a conversation on how coaching helps students transition from college to early career in turbulent times

Detailed Abstract

The purpose of our presentation is to explore a model of leadership coaching readiness that illuminates: a) the practical leadership coaching model utilized to prepare program participants to transition from one developmental stage to another b) the impact of leadership coaching as an intervention to improve leader identity, efficacy, motivation, and realization of existing skills in difficult and turbulent times c) determine strategies to personalize coaching approaches depending on an individual’s coaching readiness.

Our presentation will consider the following questions and prompts:
1. Describe Snyder Fellows’ developmental readiness for coaching (coachability).

2. What are general lessons learned and practical approaches to leadership coaching and development that can be applied to other leadership development programs?
3. What aspects of the coaching relationship/process contribute most to students’ development?

Prior research suggests that college students’ leadership development within courses and programs is influenced by a combination of their readiness for leadership, willingness (motivation) to lead, and their ability to lead (e.g., skills). Reichard, Walker, Putter, Middleton, and Johnson (2016) propose that leader developmental readiness involves a variety of factors, including leader identity development, motivation to lead, and leadership efficacy. Leadership coaching has been identified as an effective intervention to help individuals make progress on personal and professional leadership challenges (International Coach Federation, 2016).

The program model we will discuss at our roundtable assumes that the college-career transitions can be difficult and feel unknown. Leadership coaching is an effective development intervention to help students meet the challenges and changing context of the world. We have developed a coaching readiness assessment to improve the effectiveness of coaching as a leadership development intervention. Students and coaches complete this assessment after the completion of each coaching session. The results of the assessment are used to personalize future coaching sessions to meet the unique challenges and contexts for each student. This approach to leadership development and coaching is particularly relevant to an ever-changing world.

Our program and study assumes that leadership development requires learning. Our project is interested in exploring how approaches to learning and mindset (Dweck, 2007) relate to leadership development. For our purposes, understanding how individuals constitute their mindset towards learning is essential in devising educational interventions that improve leader readiness. In turbulent times, the context, systems, and structures of society are always in flux. As such, students need to be prepared with the capacities to constantly make sense of their learning and how they are able to understand complexity and act accordingly.

The Staley School offers a range of leadership education and development experiences for undergraduate students, graduate students, working professionals, community organizers, and activists. We are interested in sharing our understanding of how coaching practices and approaches are shaping leadership identity, efficacy, motivation, and application of existing skills. This roundtable discussion will be of interest to a wide audience at ILA and speak to individuals interested in personalized approaches to leadership coaching in turbulent times.

Attendees that participate in this session will leave with a basic understanding of the role coaching can play in leadership development and how leadership programs can structure coaching programs of their own. Participants will leave with resources that describe principles integrated into the Snyder program, coaching administration - identifying, training, and evaluating coaches, operationalizing coaching concepts into practice, and how coaching effectiveness is evaluated. There will also be a larger discussion of how leadership coaching, as a leadership development intervention, is uniquely positioned to help students transition from college to early career. This transition is often difficult for students. This session will leave attendees with an idea of how coaching can be used to demystify the college-to-career transition and to increase the capacity of students to make sense of personal and societal complexity. All of these conversations will be situated in relation to the assessment and evaluation framework that is built into the Snyder Leadership Legacy Fellows program.

Participants

• Andrew Wefald, Kansas State University

• Marcia Hornung, Kansas State University

• Brandon Kliewer, Kansas State University