Do you do push or pull coaching?
December 16 2009 by 
Jim Knight
I am in the middle of reading a very useful book, Masterful Coaching, by Robert Hargrove. The book targets executive coaches for business leaders, but I think every instructional coach can learn something from super-coach Hargrove.
One thing I learned from him is the difference between the push and pull approaches to coaching.?
Most coaches, he says, start with a series of ideas (he mentions leadership qualities but in schools we might refer to instructional practices) and then "seek to identify and fill gaps--a push approach."
In contrast, Hargrove starts his coaching engagements by asking: "What would be an Impossible Future... you are really passionate about?" (an Impossible Future, he says, is one that "can be only realized by leaders reinventing not just their organizations but also themselves" ). Then Hargrove asks, "How are you going to need to develop as a leader to get there? " Starting with what the "coachee" most desires, he says, is the pull approach.
These push and pull ideas apply directly to instructional coaching. If coaches use the push approach, they attempt to convince teachers to try strategies that the coach thinks will really help teachers be more effective. Sometimes when coaches take the push approach, a collaborating teacher appears to be doing a favor for the coach by learning something new.
If coaches use the pull approach, however, they might start by asking, "Today, how close is your class to what you imagine your ideal class to be? " Then, " What are you going to need to do as a teacher to get your class there?" Pull coaching starts with the teacher's most important goals.
Once goals have been identified, the coach can become what Hargrove refers to as a "thinking partner." Instructional coaches would partner with their collaborating teachers by identify teaching practices that will help teachers achieve their goals. Then, they would work to make it easy for teachers to implement the new practices.
With pull coaching, when a teacher learns a new teaching practice, that learning is not a favor, it is clear way for the teacher to move from where they are to where they say they want to be.
So my question is: Do you do push or pull coaching? If you do pull coaching, how do you do it? What moves do you do to surface authentic goals for the teacher? And how do you go about being a thinking partner with your teachers?
Jim Knight is a researcher at the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning. You can read his blog on instructional coaching, and download free teaching manuals developed by the Kansas Coaching Project, at www.instructionalcoach.org. His e-mail address is jimknight@mac.com.
Posted in Jim Knight | 
Dec 16, 2009 at 2:11 PM
It sounds like pull coaching is another way to talk about cognitive coaching, which focuses on providing the teacher with the tools to identify and problem solve goals, rather than delivering solutions to coach-identified issues. Costa's Cognitive Coaching model expresses this pretty well, I think. Do you see this idea as being separate from cognitive coaching?
Dec 16, 2009 at 5:18 PM
Hi Michael, that's a great question. My thinking is that the distinction between push and pull coaching isn't appropriate for any one model of coaching, but that it could apply for any approach. For example, an instructional coach who begins by helping a teacher surface a goal, and then introduces a range of instructional practices that the teacher might consider as a way to achieve those goals, in my opinion, would also be doing pull coaching.
Dec 16, 2009 at 5:28 PM
Jim...this was perfect timing for me. Having just finished 4 days of a non-stop schedule of coaching appointments I was sitting tonight thinking how can I make my coaching more about activating their desire and less about my goals. Love the "pull" idea. Going to try to come from that place tomorrow. Thanks for the ideas..Gina
Dec 16, 2009 at 5:34 PM
Hi Gina, keep me posted on how things go! I wonder if it just begins with asking teachers about their goals and concerns? I'll be interested to hear about what you learn.
Dec 16, 2009 at 6:00 PM
I'm not crazy about the metaphor of push or pull. I think it gives the power to the coach and the muscle is in the coach rather than in the coachee. In Cognitive Coaching, it is about generating thinking by shining a spotlight on the internal thought processes of the coachee. The energy comes from the coachee's thinking. It is an inside out approach rather than an outside in as implied in a push-pull.
Dec 16, 2009 at 9:01 PM
Carolee, thanks so much for your comments. I was so hoping that one of the leaders of Cognitive Coaching would comment here, so I'm very grateful for your words. You may have put your finger on a difference between Cognitive Coaching and Instructional Coaching. Instructional Coaching, at least as I describe it, puts the focus on sharing proven practices, and as such the metaphor is helpful for me. I see instructional coaching as a partnership, based on principles of equality, choice, voice, dialogue, praxis, reflection and reciprocity, but there is also a real sense that the coach brings new practices to the conversation. For instructional coaching, the coaching pretty much starts with the teacher identifying a goal and the coach suggesting some practices to help the teacher achieve that goal. Then reflection comes after the teacher tries out the new practice, with experience being the catalyst for that reflection. I believe both coaching approaches (and many others) can be tremendously valuable; they're just different ways of achieving the end goal of improving children's lives.
Dec 17, 2009 at 10:54 AM
Moving the conversation beyond a particular model of coaching is a great insight. In any learning relationship one key for the person in the teacher role is to maintain an awareness of the need for student agency and for the collaborative creation of new learning. Both when we work with students in the classroom and when we are working with colleagues, it is important to be mindful that all parties need to have access to both the agenda of the learning as well as the shared resources (for coaching that would be shared knowledge of practice) that can be used to create new learning.
Dec 17, 2009 at 1:36 PM
I also enjoyed the metaphor of push and pull. The pull to me is about setting the target or desired behavior which has been established by the teacher. Isn't that what Marzano speaks of when he names Setting Objectives as a strategy? We all need to know what we are aiming for and when we can support teachers in naming that up front and being transparent about that, it makes the work so much easier. God knows, we don't need our work to be any hardemdxtr than it is.
Thanks for helping me to frame my work with those terms and thinking.
Dec 17, 2009 at 8:26 PM
Some thoughts for what they are worth..... in my work The "coaching" needs to be pull to fit my definition of coaching. As the activity becomes push it becomes more supervisory than coaching (that's not negative...just different). I build pull with the question," what do your students need to do to reach the achievement you desire? "What ways can the teacher increase the desired student action?" In my work coaches share possibilities as does the teacher.Then the teacher decides what to try and the coach provides needed support...from planning to modeling to observing the impact.
Dec 18, 2009 at 6:22 AM
I like the notion of push-pull coaching. So often we develop district wide plans with an ideal in mind but when it comes to implementation, we are pushing the teachers and students and other stakeholders towards that end. If we had alignment in vision, we could ask teachers what alignment to the bigger picture would look like at the classroom level. I am going to formulate some initial interview questions that I include when I work with teachers as a result of this!
Dec 29, 2009 at 10:23 PM
I am intrigued by the concept of push-pull coaching. A nagging question I have is this: what do you do when a person doesn't know what they don't know? I have some of my own thoughts on this but wonder what the author would say.
Dec 30, 2009 at 5:51 PM
Hi Michelle, this is the nagging question indeed. I have come to believe that video is an essential tool in every coaches tool kit. When you video record a coach and share the video it can be a real revelation and open the door for real growth.
Dec 30, 2009 at 8:31 PM
I agree that Jim's suggestion of video is right on... asking the teacher, "what student behavior/practice do you want to see or have increased? That can open the door for a coach to look for it, see what the teachers des to encourage it. It can all so give the camera a focal point.
Jan 13, 2010 at 6:08 AM
Hello!I have read the book, and I think it's not bad!
From what I know today about Hargroves background and some of the terms used in Masterful Coaching, such as transformation and breakthrough thinking, I see the direct link to Werner Erhards est philosophy. Though this link is never mentioned (as it isnt for many well-known people who were influenced by Werner Erhard), it strengthens my belief that Werner Erhard had a strong influence on the foundations of coaching.
Jan 22, 2010 at 4:42 AM
Thanks for advice. I'll surelly find this book. I believe teaching is the best profession. At least it is very important and interesting. You understand that you do a good thing. But it is not easy at all to be a good teacher. That is why we should always look for the ways to improve our skills and methods.
Feb 5, 2010 at 12:21 AM
You understand that you do a good thing. But it is not easy at all to be a good teacher.
Feb 5, 2010 at 12:23 AM
Though this link is never mentioned (as it isnt for many well-known people who were influenced by Werner Erhard),
Jun 9, 2010 at 9:33 AM
I believe as long as teachers do good things there is no worry.Nice article on the push and pull approaches.
Jun 26, 2010 at 1:37 AM
I agree that Jim's suggestion of video is right on... asking the teacher, "what student behavior/practice do you want to see or have increased? That can open the door for a coach to look for it, see what the teachers des to encourage it. It can all so give the camera a focal point.
Jul 23, 2010 at 12:53 AM
I also enjoyed the metaphor of push and pull. The pull to me is about setting the target or desired behavior which has been established by the teacher. Isn't that what Marzano speaks of when he names Setting Objectives as a strategy? We all need to know what we are aiming for and when we can support teachers in naming that up front and being transparent about that, it makes the work so much easier. God knows, we don't need our work to be any hardemdxtr than it is.
Sep 4, 2010 at 8:26 AM
Hello! I agree. I am intrigued by the concept of push-pull coaching. A nagging question I have is this: what do you do when a person doesn't know what they don't know? I have some of my own thoughts on this but wonder what the author would say.
Sep 6, 2010 at 2:29 PM
Hi bwin, regarding your nagging question, we have found that video recording a class with a micro camera is incredibly powerful for accurately surfacing issues that can be addressed in the classroom.
Sep 15, 2010 at 1:06 PM
I think it gives the power to the coach and the muscle is in the coach rather than in the coachee. Thanks for the ideas..Gina
Sep 27, 2010 at 12:18 PM
The term "coaching" has grown to mean very different things to different people. It is often helpful to view one's purpose apart from one's job title. My job title may be "coach" yet in my work, sometimes I intentionally choose to give information (much as a consultant does). If I want to move the person to more self-directed behavior, I probably begin with the presupposition that s/he has the resources to transform her/his work, until it becomes evident that the person needs information from me. So, both roles are moving toward helping teachers be highly effective with all students, just use different behaviors.
Dec 20, 2010 at 6:59 AM
We all need to know what we are aiming for and when we can support teachers in naming that up front and being transparent about that,
Dec 20, 2010 at 7:26 AM
Here is a new blog that revisits Joellen Killon's writing about light and heavy coaching and the coach's belief system
http://blogs.plsweb.com/2010/12/moving-to-heavy-coaching.html