12 Great Coaching Reflection Questions

Sometimes looking in the mirror as a coach is challenging…especially when you realize that the mirror doesn’t lie and you feel like you are walking through a funhouse of mirrors that also might distort your reflection from reality.

Cushion, Armour, and Jones (2003) noted critical reflection is a tool for coaches that functions as “a mirror in which they can see their own programs and practices” (p. 223), while Gilbert and Trudel (2013) delved deeper and stated that critical reflection through regular reflective practices are important and “driven by the need to understand why events occur as they do, [coach] assumptions about why they occur this way, and how these assumptions influence [coach] behaviors and attitudes” (p. 44).

Coaching reflection without a mirror is much harder to see and turn into action as a coach who can feel distracted and time-poor. 

Yet, growth as a coach also means growth as a person. And, coaches tend to think about coaching 24/7 (Werthner et al, 2012), so imagine all the growing you could do if you can effectively capture all of your successes, mistakes, and everything in between to link back to your own growth. Coaches who spend time reflecting actually supercharge their learning and become better coaches than those who do not. 

Oftentimes, coaches believe that simply experiencing an event causes significant learning for them. While some learning occurs and sticks with the coach, the full meal deal learning experience is not absorbed until the coach takes the time – and effort – to reflect and make sense of the experience after it occurs. 

Reflection is where the magic happens. Instead of experiences happening to you, you have a sense of deeper connection and a forward looking application of what you have learned so that your decisions and ideas in the future are more clear and closer to your overall goals or value

Reflection is how you turn “I’ve been doing this for years” into “I’ve been getting better for years”

Surely you’ve heard a professional mention that they have been doing things for years and therefore they must be an expert. But not every professional is as good as the next one; teachers, lawyers, doctors who all have 25 years of experience are NOT all the same.

However, those pros who intentionally designed their reflective processes and took every bit of learning out of every error and success they had…wow, they are the folks who are the professionals we remember as being the best at what they do. 

The old adage says, “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” As coaches, we often do use a blueprint over and over again for practice sessions, for conversations, for team meetings since it worked the last time we used it.

But, things change – athletes, venues, parents, the sport itself with different rules or other changes, etcetera. Without intentional reflection, you risk repeating these same patterns instead of refining them along the way. 

Great coaches as better questions of themselves. Sometimes those questions make them think or struggle for answers – and that’s exactly why these questions are fantastic! Many coach mentors and scholars have developed questions that are helpful to get you started on asking yourself questions, if making them up sounds like quite a challenge!

Better questions lead to better mental wrestling and learning. They also help to pinpoint areas that you might have experienced but are unwilling to learn from since the experience felt too raw or uncomfortable or perhaps ended in disappointment. 

Your mindset sets the tone for the entire program

A coach is the face of the entire program and athletes are highly influenced by you. In fact, they respond to every action you take, not just the words that you say. In turn, when they see you self-reflection and regulating yourself, they see a role model who can show them to do the same. Self aware coaches create self-aware athletes!

In a study on serial winning coaches at professional and international levels, Mallet and Lara-Bercial (2016) found that self-reflection and self-awareness was a key factor in continued learning for coaches, even at the most elite levels.

Regardless of the level you are coaching, scheduling moments and processes to self-reflect helps you become a master at your craft and prevents burnout, frustration, and tunnel vision. A coach developer can also help to supercharge this process. 

12 reflection questions to grow as a coach

• When do I feel most proud of how I coach (and why)?
  
• What habits have I picked up that don’t reflect the coach I want to be?
  
• How do I define success… and has that changed over time?
  
• What do my athletes need most from me right now?
  
• How do I respond to mistakes (from my athletes and from myself)?
  
• Which values show up most clearly in my coaching? Which ones don’t?
  
• What kind of environment am I creating, even unintentionally?
  
• How do I handle conflict, pressure, or a losing streak?
  
• Who do I go to for support or perspective when I need it?
  
• Where am I growing and where and I coasting?
  
• What legacy am I building with this team?
  
• What’s one small shift I could make this week to coach with more clarity or care?

You don’t have to reflect alone (but you do have to make space for it)

Reflection can be a very personal process and can happen in a number of different ways. Many coaches think that reflection must happen through journaling for hours, with pen to paper. However, that most definitely isn’t the case!

Sometimes the best reflection is in the quiet spaces in life – the drive home, a walk with the dog, or even a conversation with a friend, spouse, or colleague. It can also happen in 5-10 minute chunks that fit much better into a coach’s day.

The key here is that you need to make the time and space for reflection and experiment with what works best for you. I find I still need to write down my thoughts after I’ve walked the dog, driven home, or spoken with a trusted friend, but I usually speed up the process and use speech-to-text so I can move on to my next task. I find that clarity often results most clearly when I speak to others, so I regularly schedule times to discuss.

Critical reflection is more easily undertaken in a group setting with other trusted team members who can help to expand on previous experiences in a supportive environment (Culver & Trudel, 2008). For me, this social connection process usually occurs weekly, but sometimes can be more often, especially when I’m thinking through a big issue. 

The point here isn’t to judge yourself. It’s to notice patterns and make choices in the future that could result in different better outcomes. As coaches ask athletes to learn, we must commit to learning ourselves. Learning is solidified through a process of critical reflection. Gilbert and Trudel (2013) said, “Reflecting on everyday events that occur as part of…coaching is referred to as reflective practice” (p. 35), and much of the literature supported critical reflection as a significant learning tool.

Coaches take action and make decisions regularly so adding a small bit of time to think about your thinking and actions can separate the day-to-day into helpful and actionable ideas. 

Reflection is how good coaches become great

Self-reflection is one action we can take at any time; in fact, if we do it more often, then when a crisis strikes, we feel more comfortable pausing for a moment before making a decision. Your willingness to reflect is a gift to your athletes and to yourself as what you do off the playing surface shapes what happens on it. Growth starts with curiosity, and you don’t need all the answers – just the willingness to wrestle with them – to begin.