Applied Coaching Research Journal Research Journal 4 | Page 26

APPLIED COACHING RESEARCH JOURNAL 2019, Vol. 4
APPLIED COACHING RESEARCH JOURNAL 2019, Vol. 4
1. COACHING ISSUES
Creativity
Schön’s (1992) discussion on technical rationality
refers to the limited approach of applying
knowledge to decision making in order to
eliminate surprises in professional practice.
According to Schön, this systematic approach
is inappropriate in the context of working life
because an experienced practitioner’s reactions
are largely informed by tacit knowledge. Technical
rationality therefore limits creativity in a
coaching context and underestimates the coach’s
ability to respond reactively and to engage in
critical conversation with the scenario; namely,
‘reflection-in-action’ (Schön, 1992). A distinction
should be made here between the expert coach
and the novice practitioner, whose learning needs
are invariably different. It can be reasoned that
technical rationality has its place in the education
of the novice coach who has not yet gained the
experience necessary to retain the relevant tacit
knowledge and may benefit from guided reflection
tasks. In contrast, the expert coach should be given
the freedom to reflect in his or her own style
and thus cultivate ‘professional artistry’, which
is particularly essential if they have managerial
duties.
As both a Futsal Coach and Manager, I have found
that during matches I am forced to ‘reflect-in-
action’ and make decisions in order to affect
the flow of the game. These moments are often
followed by a time out, during which I will convey
a change of tactics to the players in order to
combat the strategies of the opposition. Schön
(1992) terms this the ‘action present’, as the
outcome from reflection can still make a difference
to the situation. Some studies have suggested that
reflection-in-action is impractical for coaches to
engage in due to attentional capacity and time
restraints (Gilbert and Côté, 2013). However,
empirical research for this theory is limited and
my experience suggests that instant reflection is
not only practical, but essential (Box 1).
Box 1
When I deliver coach education courses I promote
a learning cycle process to facilitate reflection
tasks within large cohorts of coach learners.
Coaches are asked to ‘plan, do and review’ a
group delivery that includes reflection-in-action
and to peer review in pairs in order to feed back
to the whole group. I encourage open responses
and opinions from the wider group to validate
and consolidate their reflection. Giving coaches a
reflective framework to work from which looks
at specific areas such as the positive learning
environment, planning and practice design,
responsiveness and communication, helps to
create structure whilst encouraging creativity
within the framework. My personal reflection
methods incorporate many of the same elements,
individualised to my learning style.
Emotion
Gilbert and Trudel (2001) expanded Schön’s work
by conducting a study of six coaches engaged in
reflective practice and developed a new model
of experiential learning that highlighted six key
components as central to the reflective process:
coaching issues, role frames, issue setting, strategy
generation, experimentation and evaluation
(Figure 2). According to their study, a reflective
conversation is inspired by a tangible coaching
issue, which is filtered through an individual’s role
frame (consisting of personal attitudes towards
practice) to decide if it is worthy of reflection
time. This process demonstrates that reflection
is typically caused by uncomfortable feelings
regarding an issue, which highlights a further
consideration for discussion, as it suggests that
reflection only occurs after negative experiences
(Lynn, 2010).
REFLECTIVE CONVERSATION
Joint
2.
3. ISSUE SETTING
Conditions
• Access to peers
• Stage of learning
R
O
L
E
Other
Conditions
• Issue characteristics
• Environment
Self
Joint
Construction
Advice
Seeking
F
R
A
M
E
Reflective
Transformation
4. STRATEGY GENERATION
2.
R
O
L
E
F
R
A
M
E
Coaching
Repertoire
Coaching
Materials
Creative
Thought
Other
Real World
Peer
6. EVALUATION 5. EXPERIMENTATION
Self Virtual World
Termination of Reflective Conversation
Figure 2: Gilbert and Trudel’s (2001) model of reflection in sports coaching
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