Coaching handbook

Crystal McTigue

Coaching Manager

Crystal project manages the coaching offers across our programmes and is responsible for the strategic planning for leadership coaching activity.

Crystal works closely with the rest of the team to ensure the offer remains relevant and effective, continually looking to further improve and shape it. Contact Crystal for all queries relating to the coaching offer, including any concerns surrounding safeguarding.

Asma Tariq

Coaching Coordinator

Asma coordinates and supports in a number of key areas crucial to the delivery of the Frontline and pathways coaching offer. Asma manages the coaching sessions inbox will respond to all queries relating to the logistical side of coaching, including invoices, travel, delivery of coaching sessions, submission of forms and organising meetings and events.

Helen O’Grady

Lead on Frontline, CSW and Pathway 1

“I am a paediatric nurse by background having trained and worked at Great Ormond Street Hospital before moving to Australia with my husband.

I trained as a coach 15 years ago and have had successful coaching practices both in Australia and the UK, where I have been based for the last 5 years. I coach predominantly in the health and social care setting.

I am a coach supervisor and provide individual and group supervision for coaches. I teach coaching skills to health and social care staff, in particular how to have coaching conversations with clients. I have been a Lead Coach with Frontline since 2018.”

Steve Bagnall

Lead Coach for Pathway 2, 3 and 4

“I am a social worker, trainer and systemic psychotherapist. It is many years since I left university and started social work in a London Borough. I’ve had several jobs in that time including being deputy CEO of a large national charity and working as assistant director for children’s social care. Early on in my social work career, I was introduced to systemic ideas.

I found them practical and useful and was lucky to get the chance to do 4 years of training at the Institute of Family Therapy and Tavistock Clinic. I still do a lot of work training people to use systemic ideas in children’s social care.

I have worked with Frontline and Firstline since they began. It has been great to see the positive impact of our coaching as part of those programmes. I became a lead coach in February 2022.”

During year one of the Frontline programme, participants work within a local authority-based unit and are supported by a consultant social worker (CSW) and practice tutor (PT). Coaching is not offered to year one participants as standard; PTs identify where a need could be met through coaching and make a referral. Coaching is also offered to participants from racialised minority backgrounds.

• Year one sessions are ad hoc and can commence at any time of the year. The coaching coordinator will reach out to guage your availability for working with a participant, the participant will then be allocated and introduced to you and you will then provide 4 x one-hour sessions.
• Year one participant coaching guidance
  
• Year one participant programme handbook 23-24
• Frontline Signposting to Support Participants

During their second year, participants are newly qualified social workers and undertake their assessed and supported year in employment (ASYE) alongside others within the local authority. Coaching is available to all year two participants, including those who choose not to take part in the masters. 6 x one-hour sessions taking place between October and August.

• Please consult the Year two recall dates to avoid booking sessions on these days.

• At the end of your second and final round of coaching sessions, you will complete one form for all your year two participants. We would like you to share the key themes that have come out of the sessions. The link for the forms will be posted here.
• Coaches will deliver a 30 minute group introductory session ahead of their first sessions, billable at £100. Here is guidance on how to deliver these sessions and a template slide deck.
• Year two coaching handbook
• Year two Participant Handbook 23-24
• Year two Leadership Capabilities 
• Frontline Signposting to Support Participants

The Pathways programme consists of multiple bespoke pathways for four levels of social worker role. Throughout their pathway, leaders will participate in a range of learning experiences, all embedded in the 4C leadership capability framework, that provide opportunities for shared learning as well as access to bespoke content for their experience level and development goals.

If your leader has any queries regarding the programme, they can ask here.

If you have a leader who has requested support with accessibility, please view our Accessibility Guidance for Coaches.

You can now view the Pathways programme curriculum overview. These documents illustrate what is being taught across the Pathways and how. This could be a useful tool for coaches to reference expected learning and development on the programme, as well as what the commitment looks like for the different Pathways.

Practice supervisors – primary responsibility is to supervise the practice and decision-making of child and family practitioners and to develop the skills of individuals and teams.

• 3 x 1.5-hour coaching sessions over the 3-month programme.
• Pathway 1 – Programme Brochure
• Pathway 1 – Handbook
• Pathway 1 – Leadership Capabilities
• Pathway 1 – Ongoing feedback form – Please use this form to share any feedback that you have regarding the leaders’ experience on the programme. This is NOT the round up form.
• Pathway 1 – Cohort 3 residential Leaders’ pledges

Coaching sessions should take place between the following session windows:

Cohort 5:

• Session 1: 25 January – 23 February 2024
• Session 2: 26 February – 22 March 2024
• Session 3: 18 March – 19 April 2024

Cohort 6:

• Session 1: 10 May  – 7 June 2024
• Session 2: 10 June – 5 July 2024
• Session 3: 22 July – 9 August 204

Middle managers :

In-role team managers: qualified social workers who are managers of practice supervisors but are not heads of service. They will have operational and management responsibilities. They will lead a team of social workers and manage the risk of a substantial case load of children

Aspirant team managers: experienced practice supervisors who want to develop into team managers.

• 4 x 1.5-hour coaching session over a 10-month programme.
• 3 x 1.5-hour deliberate practice group sessions. These groups will be led by the Deliberate Practice Group Leads.
• Pathway 2 – Handbook
• Pathway 2 – Leadership Capabilities
• Pathway 2 – Learning Outcomes
• Pathway 2 cohort 3 – Programme map
• Pathway 2 cohort 4 – Programme map

Coaching sessions should take place between the following session windows:

Cohort 3:

• Session 1: 14 August – 15 September 2023
• Session 2: 30 October – 24 November 2023
• Session 3: 15 January – 09 February 2024
• Session 4: 15 April – 17 May 2024

Cohort 4:

• Session 1: 13 November – 3 December 2023
• Session 2: 5 February – 3 March 2024
• Session 3: 29 April – 24 May 2024
• Session 4: 17 June – 12 July 2024

Booking within the session windows is very important, especially for session 1 and 4, as you will require additional information prior to your session which will be made available in the week before the window opening.

For more guidance on Deliberate Practice sessions:

• Deliberate Practice for coaches
• General principals
• DP1 – Public Narrative Guidance
• DP2 – EDI Guidance
• C4-DP2-EDI-guidance-for-COACHES
• DP3 – Leader-led session Guidance
• C3-DP3 – Guidance for coaches
• C4 DP3 – Guidance for coaches

Heads of service

In-role service managers/heads of service: responsible for the strategic leadership and effective delivery of services through management of multiple social work teams and interagency partnerships.

Aspirant service managers/head of service: experienced middle managers (e.g. team managers) who are motivated to develop their leadership skills and develop into a service manager/head of service.

• 6 x 1.5-hour coaching sessions over a 12-month programme.
• 2 x 1.5-hour coaching triads (with line manager).
• Pathway 3 – Programme Brochure
• Pathway 3 – Handbook
• Pathway 3 – Leadership Capabilities
• Pathway 3 – Development Goals
• Pathway 3 – Coaching Triad Guidance for Leaders
• Pathway 3 – Coaching Triad Guidance for Line Managers
• Pathway 3 – Line Manager Briefing Slides

Coaching sessions should take place between the following session windows:

Cohort 2:

• Session 1: 12 June – 3 July 2023
• Triad 1: 3 – 24 July 2023
• Session 2: 21 August – 11 September 2023
• Session 3: 23 October – 13 November 2023
• Session 4: 2 – 22 January 2024
• Session 5: 19 February – 11 March 2024
• Triad 2: 1 – 26 April 2024
• Session 6: 6 – 22 May 2024

Practice leaders

In-role practice leaders: Assistant directors (or equivalent role e.g. Director for Family Services) with day-to-day operational responsibility across the whole local system for child and family social work practice, ensuring it operates correctly and overseeing child and family frontline practitioners and leaders.

Aspirant practice leaders: experienced heads of service (or equivalent) who are motivated to develop their leadership skills and progress into a practice leader role. These roles are responsible for the strategic leadership and effective delivery of services through management of multiple social work teams and interagency partnerships.

• 6 x 1.5-hour coaching sessions over a 12-month programme.
• Pathway 4 – Programme Brochure
• Pathway 4 – Handbook
• Pathway 4 – Leadership Capabilities
• Pathway 4 Cohort 2 – Shadowing Guidance 
• Pathway 4 – Development Goals

Coaching sessions should take place within the following session windows:

Cohort 2:

• Session 1: 19 June – 14 July 2023
• Session 2: 28 August – 22 September 2023
• Session 3: 30 October – 24 November 2023
• Session 4: 22 January – 16 February 2024
• Session 5: 25 March – 19 April 2024
• Session 6: 20 May – 14 June 2024

Invoices and expenses must be sent at the end of each month for any sessions that have been delivered in that calendar month. Invoices must clearly outline the work undertaken, include your PO number and be in PDF format. Please submit one invoice pdf per email. All invoices should be sent to invoicing@thefrontline.org.uk and cc’d to coachingsessions@thefrontline.org.uk.

Each invoice should include session details including participant name, pathway or programme, session number, date and any ‘spent’ sessions (sessions cancelled with less than one business days’ notice or no shows) e.g. 25 Oct 2022 – Thomas Hayes, Pathway 1 (1) (no show).

For any other activity please also include a description e.g.

21 February 2022 – Coaching Network Day.

14 May 2022 – Group A Cohort 1

All coaching sessions must be booked using Calendly. We use this system to monitor and track all sessions and session attendance. You will be provided with a Calendly account with which you can connect to Microsoft Teams and Zoom. Frontline can provide you with a Teams account, but we ask that you use your own Zoom account.

You can send out a booking link to your participant/leader to schedule their sessions with you. You can also mark these sessions as ‘no show’ or cancelled through Calendly.

Please use follow this guide to set up your Calendly account. You can check out the help centre for user guides on various Calendly functions. Please see this guidance document on Troubleshooting Availability. There is also a live chat function that can put you in touch with a Calendly tech support agent.

Here is a FAQ document with commonly requested Calendly guides. If you are still unsure how to resolve your Calendly question, please email coachingsessions@thefrontline.org.uk or book in a support session with a coaching team member.

It is required that you provide a minimum of one business days’ notice for session cancellations or changes, otherwise, the session is considered ‘spent’ and this session can be invoiced for. If a participant misses a session, please get written confirmation that they will be attending their next sessions.  If a cancellation is unavoidable due to exceptional circumstances (Sickness, Bereavement or Ofsted visit) , please reach out to the coaching team and we may be able to reinstate the sessions. Reinstated sessions must take place before the end of the cohort.

Please view the Pathways Programme Attendance and Completion Policy for all leaders.

The Attendance Requirements for Year 1 and Year 2 Particpants have been updated for 23-24.

The feedback session is a chance for you to reflect on your coaching with support and feedback from our Lead Coach. The session is a 1-hour session with the Lead Coach, which is billable at £100 for the hour. During this session the Lead Coach will support you to reflect on your coaching to enable your development as a coach based on the recording you choose to submit.

You and the Lead Coach will be reflecting on your coaching in relation to the Frontline Coaching Standards. These standards are based on the standards from the main coaching bodies. If you are working towards accreditation with a particular coaching body or would prefer to use those coaching standards, please indicate this on the feedback reflection form.

If Helen O’Grady is your Lead Coach please use this feedback form.

If Steve Bagnall is your Lead Coach please use this feedback form.

At least 1 week prior to your booked session you will need to submit one video of the session onto SharePoint (see guidance) and email the Lead Coach a completed feedback session reflection form. Please make sure that you have rewatched your session in the week prior to your sessions.

The recording you share can be from any of your Frontline or Pathways coaching however we do recommend avoiding recording your first session.

After your feedback session you and the Lead Coach will complete the summary section of the form, including a reflection on the coaching and any agreed-up actions. This section only will be shared with the Coaching Manager.

Please review this document for guidance on recording using Zoom or Teams and how to safely store recordings. After you have completed your feedback session, the Lead coach will delete the recording from the SharePoint folder.

We also request email confirmation after you have had your feedback session, to confirm that you have deleted all session recordings from your computer or other device used. Guidance on how to delete a Teams recording can be found Here.

Group supervision is optional and open to all coaches who wish to take part. The group supervision consists of 2 x 2 hours sessions led by Helen or Steve. If you have not signed up for a supervision group and would like to take part, please email coachingsessions@thefrontline.org.uk

Your supervisor is available for 1:1 supervision throughout the year if you require additional support. Please reach out to them directly to arrange.

The content of network days varies, and the agenda will provide space for you to connect, share and make meaning from your experiences of Frontline and Pathways coaching. You will also receive updates on the activity of the wider Frontline organisation. Network days are paid at £400 per day.

All Coaches: 6 February 2024 (Resource for London, 356 Holloway Road, London, N7 6PA)

Half-day briefings will run for each Pathway or Programme to share information and updates ahead of the cohort launch. Briefings are paid at £200 per half day.

Frontline, CSW and Pathway 1:   03 October 2023 9.00 – 12.00
Pathways 2, 3 and 4:                    18 October 2023 9.00 – 12.00

Half-day briefings are for each Pathway or Programme for LDCs to connect and share their learning and insights from the programme with each other. Catch ups are paid at £200 per half day.

Frontline Programme: TBC
Pathway Programme: TBC

LDCs will have an annual call with a member of the coaching or Pathways team so that information sharing can take place. Organisational and team updates will be provided, as well as LDCs feeding back to the team and sharing any concerns, learning or insight.

We expect all LDCs and participants to complete a coaching agreement with their participants or leaders as part of their contracting during the first session. This should include confidentiality, contracting, safeguarding, your ways of working and any expectations you have for both the coach and the coachee.

You are responsible for keeping any personal data you receive/collect secure.

If you are emailing your participants as a group please make sure that you blind copy them into emails. Please make sure that you sure that you secure your data securely; make sure that your laptop or device is password protected and dispose of any handwritten notes securely. If you become aware of a data breach please email dpo@thefrontline.org.uk immediately and cc in crystal.mctigue@thefrontline.org.uk

The coaching team will ask for feedback from participants and you as Leadership Development Coaches in order to maximise our learning. We will share summaries of participant feedback with you. LDCs will complete one round-up feedback form for all that participants that they coach on the same programme or pathway. This form is for you to share the key themes that have come out of the sessions and be used for the purpose of programme development.

If you have a concern about safeguarding, please contact the coaching manager to share this with us immediately. We will discuss the situation with you and escalate if/when appropriate. Please see our organisational safeguarding policy which gives you a comprehensive overview of our safeguarding policy and procedure.

There may be times where your participant or leader may be hard to contact. If you have attempted multiple times and still haven’t heard back from them for a while, please let the coaching team know at coachingsessions@thefrontline.org.uk and we will follow up.