Two Ways to Reflect On Your Own Coaching Performance
There is no right or wrong way to reflect on your coaching performances. What format you decide upon will depend on what your current focus is and what you want to get out of it.
If you are not sure where to start, are looking for some more ideas, or feel like you want to totally refresh your coaching self-reflection, this article will provide you with some inspiration.
Overview
I currently aim to reflect on each individual session that I deliver. I also perform an annual review.
In this article, I will discuss and demonstrate ways in which you can reflect upon your individual coaching session performances by using a self-reflection form template.
Basic Session Review Template
Currently, I use a very simple template contained within an electronic notebook:
This template sits immediately under my session plan. In addition to this review, within the actual session plan, I also add post-session observations, learnings, and changes to the original plan. I write these in italics so that they stand out
The advantage of this type of self-review is that it provides guidance, but isn’t too prescriptive or restrictive.
Detailed Session Session Review Form
In the past, I have also used a very prescriptive and more detailed session review, as shown below.
Despite this form being more detailed, it primarily uses a number rating system and it is very quick and easy to fill in. It is a really useful format if you have some particular areas that you are working on, which you can specify within the review. It also provides a really clear indication of what you are doing well and not-so-well in some very specific areas, and subsequently what to focus on in future sessions. It can also be a bit of fun to add up your ratings and record a cumulative score for your session, and then try to beat this score the next time you coach.
Summary
Above I have shared two quite different, but effective, coaching self-reflection templates. Each format will provide you with valuable feedback and help you plan for future sessions.
Whatever method you choose, it has to work for you and serve its purpose. Use a format that will most likely see you complete the exercise regularly and make productive use of its content.
Over To You!
Do you use any type of self-reflection template? If so, I would love to hear a bit about it. If not, why not try and create one using some of the above ideas to get you started? It would be great to know what you come up with.
Further Reading
If this post helped you please take a moment to help others by sharing it on social media. If you want to learn more I encourage you to leave questions and comments or contact me directly.
Darren Wensor is a sports development professional, coach educator, specialist coach of young athletes, and founder of the blog coachingyoungathletes.com. Learn more about him here and connect with him on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, or via email. Check out Coaching Young Athletes on YouTube, the Coaching Young Athletes podcast, and the Coaching Young Athletes E-Book Series.
Coaching Young Athletes 