This episode of the PBL Simplified Podcast features guest Matt Taylor, who leads the Noble Story Group, a consulting firm that focuses on emotional intelligence-based leadership development in education and nonprofits.

Matt’s “Why”

He had an epiphany while observing both urban district schools and charter schools that they either had teachers with great technical and instructional skills, but unhappy students and teachers or they were happy places where students weren’t being challenged. He believes the “sweet spot” is a place where adults and kids feel connected and challenged. His executive coaching training grounded in emotional intelligence changed his life and gave him a framework to address his observations. He seeks to create the conditions for learning and thriving for individuals, teams, and learning communities.

The Value of Executive Coaching

• Executive coaching helps build competencies, not skills.
• It focuses on the “below the surface” aspects, like beliefs and mindsets, that affect competency.
• Coaching helps identify roadblocks that training alone can’t address, like being conflict-averse.
• Coaching helps leaders shift deep-seated habits based on core values.
• It empowers individuals to find their own solutions.
• It creates a ripple effect, enabling leaders to coach their teams.

Success Story: The Second-Year Principal

• A high-achieving assistant principal, promoted to principal, struggled with delegation.
• Coaching revealed her underlying beliefs: She felt the need to prove herself, to be liked, to not overburden others, and that this was what leadership entailed.
• This led to her disempowering her team and hindering their growth.
• By connecting her actions to her core value of developing people, she found the motivation to change.
• She learned to self-coach, interrupting her old patterns and reminding herself of her true goal.

The Five Square Method

• This coaching process is based on the four dimensions of emotional intelligence: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management.
• It emphasizes that 75% of leadership happens internally.
• Leaders must understand their own values, mindsets, and potential obstacles before engaging others.
• Social awareness, particularly empathy, is key to understanding others’ perspectives and choosing effective engagement strategies.
• A fifth square, “core values,” was added to highlight their importance in guiding leadership decisions.

The Importance of Listening

• Executive coaching involves the coach listening 70% of the time.
• This allows the person being coached to process information and find their own insights.

Expertise for School Leaders

• The most important expertise for school leaders is being the “learning leader.”
• This means embodying a growth mindset, fostering relational trust and belonging, and balancing challenge and care for adults as well as students.

Launching a Vision

• Connect the vision to your core values.
• Make it a shared vision by listening to and incorporating your team’s aspirations.
• View implementing the vision as adaptive change, involving the people affected in the solution.
• Focus on the common ground of shared values and goals.

Opportunities in the Future of Education

• Shift from short-term fixes to long-term strategies that address teacher and leader retention.
• Prioritize creating a supportive and challenging learning community for adults.
• Recognize the contagious nature of emotions: Adults’ engagement in learning will inspire students.

Parting Advice

• This work is a marathon, not a sprint: Take care of yourselves and each other.
• Build a strong team that provides both support and challenge.
• Maintain hope and belief in your collective ability to overcome challenges.

Call to Action

• Don’t go it alone. Seek support through coaching or masterminds.

Resources

• Website: NobleStoryGroup.com
• LinkedIn: Matt Taylor, Noble Story Group
• Free Resource: EI Mindset Self Assessment
• Book: The Noble School Leader