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General Tips for Coaching
- Intentionally practicing inappropriate skills
Students have fun and learn what not to do when the coach asks each student to say or do something wrong on purpose. For example, in crisis interviewing certain questions are considered ineffective. Beginning counselors often ask a series of close-ended questions such as "Do you feel angry?" "Did you tell your wife?" and "Do you have a support system?" Client responses to these questions might be "yes," "no," and "yes," making the interview appear like a police interrogation rather than a counseling conversation. When this happens, very little new information is gathered. Coaches can invite students to ask these types of questions on purpose. By doing this, they will easily see how that line of questioning will lead to a dead end.
This exercise also helps get mistakes out of the students' system, so they may be less prone to make such mistakes in real-life settings. For example, if the goal of the coaching group is to teach assertive management skills, the coach might have the students practice ineffective skills such as ordering an employee demandingly or, the opposite, pleading with an employee to do his work. The other group members could then share their feedback about why that method is ineffective.
- Round Robin
One strategy I have found quite useful in coaching students involves inviting one student to present a problem, acting as the client, while each of the students takes a turn practicing specific skills while in the counselor role. The coach directs each student, one at a time, to demonstrate a certain skill. This requires students to pay attention and stay "on top of things." Even inappropriate performances are useful for the students. Learning to identify ineffective skill demonstration is often as helpful as learning to identify more appropriate skill utilization.
This technique may be useful for other disciplines as well. For example, suppose the goal is to learn the skill of articulate presentation of an advertising campaign. One student might be asked to begin the presentation and the next student might be asked to continue the presentation while focusing more on the client's needs. Perhaps the next student would be asked to emphasize cost effectiveness, and another would then be asked to provide an emotional conclusion to the presentation. At times, students are encouraged to brainstorm the best ways to present an idea. This takes the heat off of any one student and creates a cooperative atmosphere.
- Dyads
Coaches have two students pair up, one playing the client, the other playing the counselor while the others in the group observe. It is essential to provide honest, direct feedback, both critical and positive after these role-plays.
A similar technique may be useful for fields other than counseling. For example, perhaps one student could role-play teaching kindergarteners the vowel sounds. One student would role-play the teacher and the other students could provide feedback to this student about the role-play. Others could then role-play the same situation, using the feedback to improve their performances.
- Demonstrating
Since students learn skills by watching others the coach or instructor may need at times to demonstrate how to perform a certain skill. The coach should do this regularly, but not so often that it prevents the students themselves from practicing. After any demonstration, students should give feedback and discuss their reactions to what they've observed.
- Processing personal feelings regarding the role-play situation
When students who are role-playing get "stuck" and do not know what to say, asking what they are feeling at the moment helps them think of appropriate comments or questions, enabling them to continue the role-play. Sometimes students need to talk about their feelings of inadequacy in handling a situation. The coach can encourage the student to continue despite these feelings, pointing out that the lab group is the perfect opportunity to make mistakes without serious consequences. This may relieve the student of these insecure feelings.
- Breaking skills down and practicing them one at a time
When students are presented with many skills to learn, it is helpful to break them down one by one. Depending on the difficulty level, a skill may be practiced for fifteen minutes, an entire class period, or several weeks. Certain skills are more difficult than others, and these should be emphasized in coaching groups. For example, when learning about crisis interviewing, most students have trouble identifying the cognitive element of a person's crisis situation. More time is spent in learning to do this than in learning how to ask a client if they are having trouble functioning at work, a relatively simple skill to learn.
Once the coaches observe mastery of one skill, they should have students practice another skill, until all the skills are covered. By the end of the semester, students should be evaluated on their ability to perform all the skills, which validates their skill proficiency and provides feedback on areas that need improvement. A rating sheet with objective criteria is vital in conducting this type of evaluation. Coaches simply put a check mark next to the skill that the student being evaluated demonstrated with a few comments about proficiency level. The weight of these evaluations toward the overall class grade is not heavy in comparison to exams and other projects, but enough so that students take this coaching process seriously.
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Appendix A
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