Coaching/Mentoring For Team Work

Both coaching and mentoring are great opportunities for learning, which uses effective questioning that brings insight, which fuels curiosity, which cultivates wisdom. Asking questions, rather than telling or ordering is the fundamental component which brings the processes of mentoring and coaching together. Mentoring encompasses coaching, but it also focuses on the individual, his or her performance, within a context of objectives. Mentoring is unique in that it does not exclude other methods, but exists alongside them, complementing them and adding value.

Considerable commitment is required of coach/mentor to fulfill the role properly, with the expectation that as managers, your communication skills are at a stage where the art of listening has been mastered. And have patience!!! Mentors are part wizard, comic, motivator, sergeant, and partner, and believe that great mentors are effective at surrendering, accepting, gifting, and extending. Surrendering in the sense of not controlling; accepting or including rather than judging; gifting, not using manipulatively and extending, pushing the relationship to grow beyond any preconceived boundaries.

It is an acceptable fact that there are three integral qualities which are very highly valued by learners, and they are: a keen understanding of management practices, organizational know-how, and credibility. Let your team members benefit from the experience, knowledge, and success you have attained, and there will be a win-win situation. Expect to become exhilarated.

Coaching/Mentoring Team Formation

Without guidelines and expectations, no relationship can succeed, so before anyone undertakes to become part of a coaching or mentoring process in a team, there must be an informed decision made by the managers and the learners. Since no one wants to waste time, Gilley and Boughton recommend that you choose:

Employees who are willing to assume responsibility for their own growth and development, who are receptive to positive and negative feedback, and who are willing to accept suggestions and advice (Gilley 1996,177).

These employees are usually very positive about their jobs, the workplace, and their colleagues, and are people one could envision as organizational leaders of the future. After choosing a good candidate, especially one deemed for a mentoring relationship, you may want to develop a formalized plan of action, which describes respective responsibilities, goals the employee would like to achieve, some strategies that can help, and target dates for the completion of specific activities. A mentoring plan can also be beneficial because it is a visual identification of progress made, and can act as a motivator. Of course, not all mentoring/coaching relationships are formalized ones, and remain as spontaneous discussions and meetings, however, regardless of the level of commitment, boundaries should be set out to avoid problems that can arise.

To be involved in a successful mentoring team, a team member must take responsibility for their own development, trust their mentors' suggestions and advice, expect both positive and negative feedback, not be controlling, and be willing to accept challenging assignments. And finally, he must make sure he include an understanding that results are expected, and an agreed method of evaluation will be in place before a coaching or mentoring relationship can be cemented in a team. With the number of employees who want to be involved in such a program, and considering that there are only so many of us who can become coaches or mentors, invest your time wisely, and if an employee is not taking advantage of the opportunity given to them, choose someone more worthy.