I recently hosted a podcast with FE and HE leaders reflecting on their experiences of leading, sponsoring and taking part in coaching over the past decade. It was a fascinating learning opportunity and reminded me how much Further and Higher Education can learn from each other when it comes to coaching and mentoring.
Three themes inspired by the podcast conversations
- What seems to make coaching OD/L&D work?
Coaching and mentoring learning are well established across universities and colleges eg Manager as Coach, Action Learning etc. What I’m increasingly experiencing with colleagues is that the most effective and efficient coaching learning programmes, come from either a well-designed internal coaching programme run over the medium or long term, or through partnering with internal staff and external providers for design and delivery. Getting that balance right often matters more than the particular coaching model being used in a coaching programme.
Internally, the starting point for any coaching learning initiative is understanding what the organisation actually has and needs before building anything. Rebecca Henry-Litteck, Head of Learning and OD for the School of Health and Medical Sciences at City St George’s, describes in the podcast how she first reviewed the coaching and mentoring already in place. This created a clearer picture of gaps and opportunities before any programme design began.
She’s also been candid that this review work, along with the design and delivery of the longer-term Manager as Coach (MAC) programme, was not carried out by one person or by an internal team alone. Capacity constraints meant partnership working was essential.
In Rebecca’s experience, when a MAC programme worked well and was scaled up, what made the partnership and programme work was staying alert to who was actually in the room for each cohort and adjusting accordingly, and continually updating the programme as needs evolved.
From my own experience of partnering on coaching and mentoring programme design and delivery, the practical foundations are similar; it helps to choose an OD or L&D partner you trust and work well with, agree quality standards before you begin, maintain those standards throughout delivery, and build in honest, constructive feedback for one another along the way rather than waiting until the programme has finished.
These themes emerged strongly in my podcast conversations with Rebecca.
- How students are impacted by staff being in coaching – learning from FE
Kieren McIntosh, Vice-Principal at Lewisham College, also reflected in the podcast on his experience as a participant in a Manager as Coach programme and one to one coaching within FE and how his learning impacted him and then Student Services.
We discussed examples where coaching conversations had contributed to a manager realising that he needed to focus deeply on one or two student areas, leading to improvements in student services and helping teams work together more effectively to support students with complex needs, including those experiencing domestic violence, forced marriage or living with disabilities.
In HE, I have seen similar impacts through coaching programmes linked to student services, information and guidance, and wider learner support.
This joined-up way of thinking about the impact of coaching feels important. By focusing on how coaching affects an individual, and then broadening the question to ask how that individual influences their relationships, their team, their service and ultimately the wider HE organisation, we gain a fuller picture of coaching’s reach.
In many organisations, team coaching is also developing as a way to help teams connect more effectively and improve the services they provide, whether to students, members, customers or the wider community.
- Where AI fits in coaching (and where it doesn’t)
One topic we didn’t explore is the role of AI in coaching within HE. We didn’t discuss this in depth in the podcast, but my thinking here is inspired by the inherent humanity in the coaching we explored.
AI is currently proving useful for tasks such as structuring ideas, drafting documents, supporting reflection, summarising information and carrying out initial and deeper-dive research. These, however, are not coaching.
Many academics and coaching practitioners argue that AI itself does not replace human coaching. As Tatiana Bachkirova has noted, “AI cannot form genuine relationships, make moral judgements or adapt in the same way humans can to the unpredictable nature of coaching conversations.”
Coaching and mentoring remain live relational experiences. They involve a person listening deeply, creating safety, noticing what is being said and what is not being said, and responding in ways that depend on trust, context and judgement. There are also significant ethical questions to consider.
Others, such as Jonathan Passmore, argue—supported by emerging research—that AI can perform some coaching functions effectively and may help organisations scale aspects of coaching provision.
The future of coaching in HE
A few areas inspired by the podcast stand out as particularly important opportunities for the future of coaching in Higher Education:
- Creating conversation spaces for HE, FE and MATs to learn from each other’s coaching practice and successes.
- Exploring how AI can support coaching—without assuming it is coaching.
- Better understanding the wider impact of coaching and coaching learning on teams, services, organisations and systems.
- Continuing to explore whether coaching and mentoring programmes are best served by internal delivery, external delivery or a collaborative partnership approach.
Perhaps the most interesting question isn’t how much coaching and mentoring HE does, but how each of us makes sure that coaching and mentoring in HE transform minds and actions, and how they impact working lives before reaching the students, teams and systems we serve.
About the author: Andry Anastasis McFarlane is an ex-Senior Lecturer and teacher trainer and assessor. She and her team are now learning consultants, accredited coaches , coach supervisors and facilitators. She leads The Learning Moment and hosts 1AM talks, a free OD and L&D 20 minute podcast:
Spotify: https://spotify.link/4zbSdUnyFXb
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/1am-talks/id1846348556
Her company The Learning Moment has partnered with SDF festival for several years.
Rebecca Henry-Litteck and Kieren McIntosh speak on setting up, designing, delivering and taking part in coaching learning in HE and FE, including how HE is changing coaching and mentoring – in May and June episodes of 1AM talks.