Applied Coaching Research Journal Research Journal 4

APPLIED COACHING RESEARCH JOURNAL 2019, Vol. 4 APPLIED COACHING RESEARCH JOURNAL 2019, Vol. 4 Introduction Coaching is rapidly evolving and becoming a more holistic process, requiring coaches to understand and use more complex knowledge and skills. There is a move away from the traditional approach of ‘teaching’ technical and tactical skills to participants towards one that involves participants in the learning process with a view to develop every individual as a person as well as a performer. This approach expects coaches to learn more and become self-directed in their quest to improve and develop themselves in the knowledge and skills required. Linked to this, within coach education there has been some movement towards self-directed learning, where coaches are encouraged to do their own learning and work things out for themselves. This movement has also seen a shift away from more formal education courses, and more emphasis placed on learning to coach through experience. The intended benefits of this approach include higher levels of motivation of learners, more individualised learning and more focus on what the coach is doing on an everyday basis. However, the expectation that coaches learn through experience just by coaching is misguided. Thinking On Your Feet: How Coaches Can Use Reflection-in-Action to Develop their Coaching Craft Mark Scott UK Coaching Abstract This article aims to consider how coaching practice is influenced by a coach’s craft (knowing-in-action). This craft determines what coaches know how to do and allows them to make decisions quickly and instinctively. This is influenced by the agreed ways of working or way things are done in a coach’s social context (knowing-in-practice). The interdependent nature of knowing, doing and reflection is discussed, including the impact of different types of reflection 10 and how using these at different times can grow coaches’ experience to inform future coaching. Specifically, the benefits of thinking about what you are doing, while you are doing it or thinking on your feet (reflection-in-action) are considered, including ways that coaches can begin to effectively use this practice in their coaching. Keywords: knowing-in-action, knowing-in-practice, reflection, reflection-in-action, reflection-on-action. Coaches are often told they need to review or reflect as part of the plan-do-review model, yet they may not be shown how to do great reflection. Have you ever wondered how you should reflect… and reflect well, if you have not been shown how to do it? Reflection, after all, is not a simple process. If it was, it would be easy to learn how to do it. This article aims to investigate why reflection is so important for developing coaching craft (knowing-in-action) and how this can impact on coaching practice. It will also examine how knowing-in-action influences and is influenced by different types of reflection, and how using different types of reflection at different times can grow our ways of knowing. What is reflective practice? “The ability to reflect on one's actions so as to engage in a process of continuous learning.” (Schön, 1983) Reflection builds ‘knowing’ Everything that coaches draw upon to help them to make decisions quickly and instinctively is their ‘knowing’ (Schön,1983). Therefore, the benefit of reflecting upon experiences is to build more ways of knowing – essentially giving a coach more experience or tools to draw upon when coaching. As Schön suggests, it seems right to say that knowing is in our action. Knowing-in-action “What we know how to do in everyday and professional life.” (Schön,1995) Knowing in this instance is different to knowledge. Whereas knowledge tends to be static and about abstract facts that we possess (eg you might possess knowledge of the different types of coaching styles), the knowing is in the craft of how, when and which coaching style to use in the activity you are doing right now. Knowing is concrete because knowing is doing. Knowing is dynamic because it is never completed, it is always fluid. Knowledge Knowing Static Abstract About possession Is a tool for knowing Dynamic Concrete About action Uses knowledge to inform Knowing is about action as it is an ongoing social interaction. Coaches repeat practical application of knowing in an experimental, sometimes improvisational and almost always in an incremental way. Knowing, therefore, relies not only on experience but thinking about those experiences to discover what you need, in order to do what you need to do. This highlights the importance of doing in the reflection process. Until you try out the new thing you have learnt about in your coaching, you can’t increase your ways of knowing about how it can work best for your coaching practice. Reflection is really just learning to coach from and through experience! However, it cannot be expected that simply by engaging in coaching that you will learn from these experiences. Learning to become a more effective coach from your experiences requires the magic ingredient – reflection! 11

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