What is the Waterfall Effect?
When was the last time you saw a waterfall in real life? If you’re like us, it’s sadly been a few years. So, let’s take a moment to remember their immense capacity.
A waterfall gushes down the side of a rock with unexplainable force. A waterfall carries momentum into the water below and trickles onwards. A waterfall has grace and strength. A waterfall is powerful.
The idea of ‘The Waterfall Effect’ has been contemplated by many. In Paul H Burton’s book, The Waterfall Effect: Six Principles for Productive Leadership, he describes the effect as the benefits that cascade down through an organisation, into the community and out to the client base. For us, the effect is seen in nearly every school we’ve worked with and seen in spades!
Different schools take different approaches, of course. No waterfall is the same. Two of our schools in the United Kingdom, Rugby School and Forest School, have focused on training several members of their staff (six and eight respectively) to facilitate coaching courses. With that many educators all on the same page, coaching has become an integral part of their school’s daily life.
In these schools, staff and students know what it’s like to coach and be coached. This understanding is what cascades into their personal lives as they interact with friends and family. There’s immense personal impact from coaching. When it becomes second nature, the waterfall’s impact reaches the wider community.
We’re also seeing this in one of our American schools in Boston. The Longy School of Music of Bard College has three, proactive and determined Certified Start With Heart Facilitators. As a result, 87% of their staff have taken Graydin’s foundational coaching course. To put that into perspective, 100 faculty, staff and graduate students have been trained in coaching skills.
What’s even more exciting is that Longy’s waterfall didn’t stop at students and staff; it even cascaded towards and engaged their Board of Directors. They are one of the first conservatories to do this and their vision is to share coaching far and wide.
Waterfalls have a majestic feel to them, but when you take a magnifying glass, you notice the forceful energy starts much earlier. It’s through the hard work and energy of so many that the waterfall is even possible.
We’re often reminded of the potential of this tremendous effect when we receive feedback from our course participants. They like to say things like:
“I can’t wait to go and help others that are in need. I feel ready and prepared after the course”.
“This coaching course opened up my understanding of working with my children, family and colleagues - a mind shifting process.”
What we’ve learned over the years is that there’s a big picture and a little picture. The individual, micro changes add up and the momentum that shoots down from a waterfall creates little ripples.
Movement in all directions means everyone is impacted.
If you’re interested in bringing coaching to your school and seeing the waterfall effect for yourself, join us on March 2nd, 2022 for our Coaching Day. We will be exploring coaching in much more depth.