What do coaches need to know about mastery?

In the light of the current drive to generate more evidence on which to base a profession of coaching, it was with interest that I read David B. Drake’s recent (2011) paper, What do coaches need to know? Using the Mastery Window to assess and develop expertise (Coaching: An International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice, Vol.4, No.2, September 2011, 138-155).

Drake highlighted an irony in that professionals do not necessarily make decisions based on evidence, but rather on limited evidence that usually supports their (existing) position and their own experience, rather than on a breadth of empirically validated knowledge. Therefore, he says, “Mastery = Artistry + Knowledge + Evidence.” This coincidentally forms yet another coaching acronym, MAKE, but I’ll consciously overlook that in the pursuit of “a better understanding of how great coaches actually develop and are able to perform at higher levels” (p.139).

COACHING RESEARCH:

The MAKE framework acknowledges that coaching is both an “applied science and an applied art” (p.140) and proposes an approach to “help practitioners to integrate knowledge and evidence, science and art, at higher levels in order for practitioners to more fully develop themselves and work at their best” (p.141).

Drake goes on to outline the characteristics of masters, based on the types of knowledge:

• Personal knowledge e.g. self-awareness, self-confidence
• Foundational knowledge e.g. comprehensive content knowledge
• Professional knowledge e.g. a superior procedural knowledge, “knowing ‘what’ to do ‘when'” (p.142)
• Contextual knowledge e.g. “awareness of motives, needs, resources and contextual constraints” (p.142)

Thus, “Any notion of mastery, then, must include a path for coaches to grow in both their technical/professional proficiency and their personal/relationship maturation” (p.143). To this end, Drake proposes a “Mastery Window” (p. 144), consisting of a four-squared window to look through:

• Personal knowledge – Awareness of evidence
• Foundational knowledge – Attention to evidence
• Professional knowledge – Adaptation of evidence
• Contextual knowledge – Accountability for evidence

Drake then explains that through this window, “we can see that coaches need to continually develop across the four domains of knowledge and, in doing so, enhance their Awareness of what is going on… their sense of what to pay Attention to; their ability to effectively Adapt; and their Accountability for their work and its consequences” (p. 146).

IN PRACTICE:

Interestingly, Drake argues that “it may be more useful to see evidence from an artisan’s viewpoint as a verb, a way to think about and engage in coaching so it works more effectively – more than from a technician’s viewpoint as a noun, something added to coaching so coaches are seen as being ‘right'” (p.141).  This is precisely the approach that has been adopted in each issue of Coaching Research in Practice. When I read the research, my main lens is focused on ‘How can coaches use this research to become better coaches?’ and I frequently ask the “So what?” question. This question is not intended to be rude or impolite (as it is often mistaken to be), but rather to distil from the evidence the opportunities for the application of research to raise the standard of coaching practice.

True to his word, Drake provides his own suggestions for how a coach may put his model into practice, explaining that coaches may “move through the model with a client by asking themselves questions from the MAKE framework such as: ‘What do I need to Know right now and how will that help me and the client?’ ‘What Evidence is relevant and meaningful in making decisions in this situation? ‘What is the role of Artistry in bringing together knowledge and evidence in this moment and for what aims?'” (p.146).

I would also like to add a few suggested applications of my own. To continually develop your:

• Personal knowledge – Engage in coaching (as a client) regularly yourself
• Foundational knowledge – Engage in mentoring regularly
• Professional & contextual knowledge – Engage in supervision regularly

As you will see if you follow the above links, these essential resources are all available from ReciproCoach, and they’re so affordable that there really is no reason why every coach shouldn’t be engaging in such practices on an ongoing basis as they develop towards coaching mastery.

Coaching Research in Practice is delivered free to all ReciproCoaches (including free members) once a month. As a ReciproCoach, you can access all past issues of Coaching Research in Practice via the members area. To see the titles of our issues to date, visit our public website: http://www.reciprocoach.com/coachingresearch.php