Every Single Teacher You Coach has Gaps to Close

Every single teacher you coach has gaps. And so do you.

• Gaps are not deficits. They do not reveal fundamental flaws in who we are. 
• Gaps are areas for growth. 
• Conceptualizing these areas as gaps anchors us in a growth mindset when we’re coaching. 
• We all have gaps; we’ll have gaps for as long as we live, because there’s no person alive who has the ability to do everything. 

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As a Transformational Coach, your job is to recognize the potential of your clients and explore what lies in the way of fulfilling it. 

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That is what my Gaps Framework helps you do. It’s a way to categorize areas for growth, prioritize and sequence learning activities, and clarify next steps to close gaps.

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I present the gaps as a pyramid, to convey a hierarchy: some skills really do rest on others. 

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Instructional coaches often focus on knowledge and skill, but these elements depend on the foundational elements, those closer to the base of the pyramid.

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Coaching for transformation requires your having the ability to close emotional intelligence and cultural competence gaps–your own as well as your clients. 

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Your gap-filling action plan: 

• Take 15 minutes today and use the Gaps Framework to identify your gaps
• Select one of the gap areas at the base of the framework to prioritize growth in and determine one next step to take this week
• Repeat on a weekly basis* 

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Learn more:

• Subscribe to my Weekly Wisdom Newsletter to get content like this right in your inbox.
• Download The Gaps Framework to learn more about closing gaps (for your clients AND yourself!)
• Listen to Episode 220 of The Bright Morning Podcast ("Using the Gaps Framework: Coaching Demonstration") to hear me demonstrate a coaching conversation using The Gaps Framework.
• Check out our Learning Library and Transformational Coaching PLC to take advantage of yearlong access to on-demand PD and a supportive coaching community.
• Join The Art of Transformational Coaching to learn more about and practice using this (and many other) powerful coaching frameworks.