When someone rejects a coach’s suggestion, the temptation is to explain the objection away: they are unwilling, difficult or afraid of change. But what if the coach’s response is helping to keep the disagreement alive? That question drives a conversation between educator and podcast host Jennifer Gonzalez and instructional coach and author Elena Aguilar on The Cult of Pedagogy Podcast.
In the episode “When Teachers Push Back: What Are We Missing?”, Aguilar discusses her book How to Coach Resistance and the encounters that shaped her approach. She asks coaches to pay attention not only to what the other person refuses, but also to their own urge to persuade, correct or defend. An interaction can harden when each side responds to pressure with more pressure.
The distinction matters in professional coaching well beyond schools. A person may object to a proposed change because they do not understand it, lack time to carry it out, fear looking incompetent or believe the proposal itself is flawed. Treating all those responses as a single attitude called resistance leaves the coach with little useful information. It may also make the person receiving support feel less heard.
Aguilar argues for curiosity before persuasion. In the interview, she describes acknowledging someone’s frustration without announcing what they must be feeling. That small difference gives the other person room to describe their experience rather than defend against the coach’s interpretation. She also explains that a conversation about emotion need not become a therapy session. Sometimes a brief acknowledgment is enough to return to the practical question at hand.
One of the interview’s useful moments comes when Gonzalez and Aguilar act out a coaching exchange involving a discouraged teacher. After the teacher’s disappointment is recognized, the conversation can return to a specific teaching decision. The point is not that every objection disappears when someone feels understood. It is that understanding the objection makes a more relevant response possible.
Aguilar is careful not to treat every refusal as a problem to be overcome. She discusses circumstances in which a teacher may have good reasons to challenge an instruction. A coach who listens seriously must remain open to that possibility, even when it complicates the original plan.
For coaches working with clients, colleagues or teams, the episode offers a practical test: before deciding someone is resisting change, examine what is being asked of them and how the conversation itself is unfolding. The full interview and transcript are available from Cult of Pedagogy.
Source: The Cult of Pedagogy Podcast
Web: https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/teacher-pushback/
