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Collegial Coaching Value in Education and the Workplace

Christy Hughes
Houston Baptist University
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Abstract

The purpose of the following study is to determine the effectiveness of collegial coaching in the

corporate environment in an educational setting. Collegial coaching provides the opportunity for

supervisors and staff members, along with the training team and quality assurance, to effectively

communicate and convey concepts relating to the various processes in the department through

coaching sessions. This study was conducted within the workplace of two companies. The

researcher served as the collegial coach to two participants, one of which is in a church

administration setting and one that is in the operational setting in an educational division. The

results of the study were determined based on information obtained from interviews and pre-and

post-coaching interactions with each candidate. Collegial coaching has proven to be effective in

the workplace setting, increasing the comprehension of processes and policy information to

succeed in their respective roles more effectively in their organization.

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Learning Through Technology in the Workplace

In today’s educational setting, leaders are faced with the need for more professional

development targeting technology integration and comprehension of processes and policies.

Collegial coaching has grown in popularity because the method encourages leaders to utilize a

more conversational approach to teaching, listening, and improving the comprehension of

material. Collegial coaching is like peer coaching; a term used to describe a process in which two

or more colleagues work together to improve their teaching/learning skills by observing targeted

behaviors of their partners in the classroom and providing constructive feedback (Peer Coaching

and Collegial Development Group, 2015). Collegial coaching can be performed in a variety of

ways, and active listening and questioning skills are essential to successful results. Collegiality is

the relationship between colleagues (Peer Coaching and Collegial Development Group, 2015),

and collegial coaching encourages an open and honest opportunity to instruct and learn in a safe

environment.

As a learner in the past, we were conditioned to sit and listen in a teacher to student

structure with minimal to no interaction, resulting in only a portion of the information truly being

absorbed. Collegial coaching opens the door for a more comprehensive process that will guide

the learner through the ability to ask questions, interact with the coach, and build on concepts as

they meet. Effective professional development is long-term and sustainable, whereas the typical

professional development may lack in actual positive results (Peer Coaching and Collegial

Development Group, 2015).

Creating a coaching culture is not as easy as one may think, but each coaching

opportunity can strengthen the ability to create a successful learning environment. Leaders and

team members recognize the need for coaching to help them succeed in their work and careers,
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yet they are not quite sure about why they should be involved in the coaching process (Fulmer &

Brock, 2014). Many of them believe that trainers are the ones that should be coaching.

A benefit to a peer-coaching relationship pertains to the reduction in the expense

required compared to a professional executive coaching session. It also builds coaching skills as

a part of the developmental experience for the coach and the staff member. Building a coaching

culture requires the development for coaching skills with the leaders through training before they

can execute effective coaching with their teams. Holding workshops and bringing in external

coaches into the workplace can assist with better education but also could cost more and prevents

the internal coaching ability from being nurtured from within. Successful coaching is more likely

to be accepted if kept within the internal walls of the company and it will encourage coaching

skills and career advancement, overseeing difficult team members, managing up. and strategic

influence (Fulmer & Brock, 2014).

Benefits of collegial coaching include that the advice is straightforward and candid

because it is delivered one-on-one, it benefits the organization because the advice typically

benefits the organization and the team, and coaches have each other’s best interests at heart, so

honesty comes easier in the dialogue (10 Benefits of Peer Coaching In The Workplace, 2018).

This website also meant mentions benefits of accountability, accelerated learning, emphasis on

using questions for personal development, perspective, practice and reflection, individual

productivity, build leadership skills, identify teamwork opportunities, and camaraderie. Active

encouragement and advice are welcome benefits of peer coaching, and while collegial coaching

may come from a different structure in the organizational chart, each method allows the

development of deeper relationships that will benefit the team and company (10 Benefits of Peer

Coaching In The Workplace, 2018).

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This research allows the continued pursuit of successful collegial coaching, and it assesses

the collegial coaching method for two participants over an eight-week period. One participant is

from a local church, and she is the administrative operations person in charge of creating

documentation for the communication to the membership, the coordination of events, handling

questions and issues, and other assigned tasks. The second participant is from an educational

institution in the area of admission verification, and she oversees processing all applicant and

student documentation for admission, identifying any issues with the calculation of cumulative

GPA’s, reviewing queries associated with the transfer credit process, and ensuring all

information is entered into the Banner system accurately.

Research questions include the following:

1. Is the collegial coaching method focusing on technological applications appropriate for

the staff members in an operational setting of education and a local church?

2. What effects will this collegial coaching method have upon the confidence levels of staff

members regarding technology integration?

3. What is the effectiveness of collegial coaching method overall in each setting?

Methods

This study of the effects of collegial coaching was conducted in two separate settings. The

researcher served as the collegial coach to two participants, one from each setting- education and

church administration.

Throughout the study, the collegial coach met with each participant for one session per week,

with each ranging in length from thirty minutes to one hour. In order to prepare for each concept, the

collegial coach devoted time to creating tutorials for each learning concept. The researcher also created
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Microsoft teams quizzes to gauge the understanding of the material that was discussed (Microsoft

Training, 2022). Then follow up sessions were scheduled to continue the learning discussions as the

concepts were put in to play. In total, each participant spent approximately 16 hours with the

researcher. The collegial coach spent approximately 40 hours researching, scheduling, designing, and

coaching the two participants.

Participants

Participant 1 is employed in an administrative role as the Administrative Secretary to the

pastor of Oasis Church and has worked in that capacity for eight years. Her responsibilities

include in charge of creating documentation for the communication to the membership, the

coordination of events, handling questions and issues, and other assigned tasks. She designs tri-

fold brochures, creates member directories, event flyers and pamphlets, schedules event

volunteers, and much more. At the beginning of the coaching sessions, participant 1’s initial

technology efficacy score was one, on a scale from one to five, with five being the highest. She

had often told me that she could perform the basic functions with technology but needed a lot of

training with many tools available to her, such as Microsoft Word, Adobe products, and social

media. She was extremely excited to have time with me to dive in and learn the to overcome

many things that were holding her back in her current role.

The focus of participant 1’s learning activities included creating a membership directory

with images of every member and their contact information, becoming more proficient with tri-

fold brochures, and storage of data. There are many more tools she wants to learn but we started

with the most immediate needs. The collegial coach began with basic information in Microsoft

and the commonalities between Word, Excel, and PowerPoint (Microsoft Training, 2022). The

participant then began to create the membership directory, adding the details of each family and
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then sizing the various submitted images to be consistent in the directory. At the end of the

sessions, participant 1 was able to collaborate on the design and then create the template, adding

images from a variety of document types into an eloquent final product. She was able to create a

tri-fold brochure with quality images, using consistent fonts and settings to provide accurate

information in a creative, professional style.

Participant 2 is employed in a verification processing role at Houston Baptist University

and has worked in that capacity for two years. Her responsibilities include overseeing the

processing of all applicant and student documentation for admission, evaluating the calculation

of cumulative GPA’s, reviewing queries associated with the transfer credit process, and ensuring

all information is entered into the Banner system accurately. Her main weakness stemmed from

the use of the Banner system since she mainly used interfaces that provided data but didn’t

directly utilize the Banner system.

Coaching participant 2 consisted of training modules that were delivered to her to

illustrate the many operations within Banner and what was pertinent to her role (Ellucian, 2022).

She was able to view the tutorials and then utilize the learned information in real life scenarios

upon completion of the sessions. Coaching conversations enhanced the learning as she

experienced the new screens and their purpose. At the end of the coaching sessions, participant 2

was able to confidently execute entries within the Banner system and she was able to better

comprehend the connection to the interfaces and the Banner system. After being coached, she

transferred her knowledge to the application of her daily tasks and was able to convey what she

learned to co-workers as they had questions.

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Information regarding the participants, including years of experience in the field, position

of employment, pre-and post-coaching technological efficacy ratings, and the primary project

undertaken by each one, has been summarized in Table 1.

Table 1

Summary Participant Information

Participant Years of Position Pre/Post Coaching Project Undertaken

Experience Technological with Coach’s
Efficacy Rating Assistance

1 8 Administrative 1 to 3 -Membership Directory

Secretary - Tri-fold Brochures
-Microsoft Competency
2 2 Verification 2 to 4 - Banner system screens
Processor -Transferability back to
interface systems

Results

Within the confines of this study, the existence of a collegial coaching program was proven to

be remarkably effective with a significantly higher rate of successful comprehension. Each participant

was appropriately coached in a manner that provided new opportunities to succeed in their job. Their

confidence soared as they completed quizzes and modules allowing them to easily share what they had

learned with others. Their technological efficacy ratings increased exponentially, whereas they would

not have been able to excel otherwise. Each participant found immense value in the collegial coaching

method and conveyed that they would not have been as successful on their own. Each enjoyed the two-

way conversations with the collegial coach, allowing them to grasp the information more readily.
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Coach’s Personal Reflections

The ability to coach these two participants was so beneficial for each of us. The opportunity to

assist them enabled me to hone my own skills in coaching and provided me with ideas to utilize in

future coaching sessions. Spending time creating training modules gave me insight into ways that I can

strengthen the tools that each team member can use. As I spent time in Banner and in the Microsoft

products, I was reminded of certain things that were less obvious in the past, so I can take that

knowledge and implement it into my learning tools. The outcome of the collegial coaching also

strengthened my relationship with each participant because we were able to spend time together in a

setting that was free from distractions and apprehension.

References

10 Benefits of Peer Coaching In The Workplace. (2018, January 18). Retrieved from UWA Online:
https://online.uwa.edu/news/peer-coaching-workplace/?
msclkid=110c336ece7111ecadfc7d3323194d9d

Ellucian. (2022). Retrieved from Ellucian.com: https://www.ellucian.com/

Fulmer, D. R., & Brock, J. E. (2014). Developing Peer Coaching. Retrieved from Grazadio Business Review:
https://gbr.pepperdine.edu/2014/10/developing-peer-coaching/?
msclkid=8dcfa4f0ce6c11ec81fb811b9c03398a

Microsoft Training. (2022). Retrieved from Microsoft:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/microsoft-365-basics-video-training-396b8d9e-
e118-42d0-8a0d-87d1f2f055fb?msclkid=0e5f65b2cee711ec97ed65d941bd608c

Peer Coaching and Collegial Development Group. (2015, November 4). Retrieved from SlideShare:
https://www.slideshare.net/sqjafery/peer-coaching-and-collegial-development-group?
msclkid=9a4e0ce8ce6611eca3e32f25553f917f