Examining influence, the “E” phase of the VECTOR virtual coaching process, focuses on locus of control. Many conditions and circumstances influence an educator's life and practice; however, the external influences are often outside the educator's control. In this chapter, the authors describe a variety of these influences, and they use examples and anecdotes to guide the reader to a better understanding of this phase. They also offer practical tips for working with educators to determine the things in their sphere of influence so that precious coaching time is not wasted on issues, circumstances, and conditions outside their control. Finally, the authors explain why this phase is essential before a goal can be set in the C-commit to change phase.
TopKey Questions For Reader Consideration
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Why is this phase necessary for virtual coaching?
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What are best practices for examining a coachee’s influence virtually?
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Additional reader questions:
Like the authors, you may have had the experience of opening a closet door in your home and having something come tumbling out on the floor at your feet. This experience prompts many of us to think, “Wow, I really need to organize this closet,” before finding a way to close it again and get back to the business of our lives. In the last chapter about the Verifying Perspectives phase, we described some strategic questions and exercises to help coaches and coachees better understand underlying beliefs and contextual factors that may influence them in their work. To stick with our closet metaphor, the V-phase of VECTOR is the equivalent of opening up that closet, taking everything out of it, and asking, “What is this and why do I own it?” And if you – like us – have ever stared down at a big pile of stuff just pulled from a now-empty closet, you know the feeling that you have in that moment can be overwhelming. That’s the same feeling coachees report having as a result of the V-phase, except instead of wondering how they’ve acquired a lifetime supply of cotton swabs, they’re wondering why they have spent the last ten years faithfully administering weekly vocabulary quizzes.
The E-phase – Examining Influence – is all about prioritizing our work based on what is exposed during the V-verify perspective phase. Just as we may know we are never going to be able to bring ourselves to throw out our grandmother’s cross-stitched pillowcases, now stained from that time our cat threw up, we also know we are not going to be able to change everything that was brought to light during the V-phase, and which we may now be questioning.
Educators often do not realize the power they have, and it is understandable how they come to feel this way. Mandates at the federal, state, and local levels can feel overwhelming and often disconnected from an educator’s daily experience. Likewise, while programs, materials, and strategies may be intended to provide support and assistance to educators in the work they do, they can often have the opposite effect, causing people to feel trapped, patronized, and undervalued for their own professional expertise.
When virtual coaches work with coachees in the E-examining influence phase, they focus on helping coachees to recognize their own power and influence over their environment. Can a brand-new classroom teacher change a state or federal policy? Maybe not immediately. But a classroom teacher can make informed choices about student learning goals. A classroom teacher can make valuable contributions to a school’s or department’s decisions. A classroom teacher can create meaningful learning and assessment opportunities for students. These are examples of things virtual coaches can help coachees think about and prioritize during the E-examining influence phase of VECTOR.
It is critical for a coachee to recognize their locus of control. This fact was made clear in Julian Rotter’s 1954 seminal work on social learning theory. In more recent years, John Hattie (2012) described the power of teacher collaboration in determining what challenges exist, how they might be addressed, and what student success in overcoming those challenges might look like. During the Examining Influence phase, coaches and coachees build on the work done during the previous Verifying Perspectives phase by looking as objectively as possible at all the information before them. Very often, the V phase illuminates topics that are emotionally charged, sensitive, stressful, or angering, and coachees must spend some time looking at those issues with their coaches and determining whether each topic is something that they can realistically influence or not. It is important to remember too that during this phase, coaches and coachees are advised to keep their attention on student learning as the ultimate goal. Otherwise, it is easy to become bogged down by policy complaints and the like. This is the coach’s opportunity to acknowledge challenges, but to also keep things positive, with a hopeful eye on the future work of the coachee.
The following anecdotes show what can happen when there is not systemic support for a coachee’s work, as well as what can happen when there is. We also tell the story of a coach and coachee team during the E phase who navigate through a prioritization process remotely in a way that allows them both to see a clear path forward.