Coaching With Heart

From the desk of LifeBound Master Trainer Sarah Kravits, an Academic Coach at Rutgers University-New Brunswick:

"This February 14, I'm thinking of how important caring and human connection to the work we coaches do. You may recall the Gallup-Purdue Index finding, from 2015, that six student experiences in particular were linked to time to degree and life preparedness, two of which were having a professor who cared about them, and having a mentor who encouraged the pursuit of their dreams and goals. Through and beyond the pandemic, as modern life grows ever more complicated, caring can only have grown in importance.

"I often say that love is attention. As coaches pay focused attention to students, centering them in the conversation, they send a crucial message: You are valued and have something to offer. Feeling cared about in this way helps students grow in self-advocacy and in the courage to pursue goals they find meaningful. 

"Students often come into coaching sessions preoccupied with feelings about their abilities, their coursework, their professors, their major. When coaches validate emotions in a supportive way, this often helps the student shift focus to actions that promote their academic goals. It takes time to connect personally with a student in a session, hear them vent, and validate them, but keep in mind: caring may make everything else possible. Happy Valentine's Day!"

Reflection questions:

• How do your students know you care?
• How do students who are different from you experience your care and concern for them?
• How do your boundaries help you to better care for yourself and your students?
• How can you pay attention to your own needs?

We’d love to hear from you. What are some of your strategies for meaningfully connecting with students? Reply to this message to let us know. We will share the community’s wisdom, with first-name attribution only, in a future newsletter.