GAEL UnscriptED S2:E6 | How Executive Coaching Transforms Georgia’s School Leaders

Leadership feels different when someone is asking the right questions instead of handing you quick fixes. We sit down with co-directors Kerensa Wing and Rickey Edmond to unpack how executive coaching is reshaping growth for Georgia’s school leaders—principals, assistant principals, district directors, and superintendents—through a safe, structured, and goal-driven process that outperforms traditional mentoring.From the ground up, this statewide effort was built on research, storyboarding, and relentless feedback. Kerensa and Rickey explain how an advisory board of RESA directors, superintendents, universities, and GAEL affiliates helped refine the model, and why partnerships with the Georgia Department of Education and regional networks unlocked trust and access. You’ll hear how they selected coaches with growth mindsets, trained them with Engage to Learn, and standardized practice using the GROW model and the Grow Lab platform—anchoring every session in clear goals, data, and progress.We take you inside the engine room: how districts self-selected, why confidentiality is non-negotiable, and what the matching process looks like when analytics and human judgment produce a 98% fit. The conversation moves from structure to impact—ten sessions a year, flexible formats, Georgia Leads-aligned rubrics—and the real-world outcomes when leaders own their development. Whether you’re building a pipeline from teacher leader to AP, stabilizing a school through turnover, or seeking a sounding board as a superintendent, this episode shows how coaching turns reflection into results.If you believe “so goes leadership, so goes the organization,” you’ll find a playbook here for sustainable improvement and courageous growth. Subscribe, share with a colleague who leads, and leave a review telling us the one question you wish someone would ask you right now.