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Writer's pictureIan Kirkby

Effective Leadership - Tip 5 – Learn to Coach and Mentor.


Coaching and mentoring are 2 essential tools in the leader’s arsenal. The vast majority of large, successful companies now expect their managers to be able to use these skills to motivate and develop their teams. This results in much higher levels of employee engagement with attendant business benefits (higher profitability, lower staff turnover, greater agility, etc.).

Coaching is used to help the coachee articulate the root cause/s of the problem and generate solutions to address. The main task for the coach is to facilitate that process. This requires good listening and questioning skills. It is much more than just having a chat: it is structured, purposeful and productive. I find the ToGROW framework helpful here:

To – Topic (subject of the session/programme)

G – Goal (desired end-state)

R – Reality (what is happening now)

O – Options (what can the coachee do to change the situation)

W – What will the coachee do (action plan, to include ‘by when’)

Mentoring involves more direction from the mentor. He/she will have expertise and experience in the subject the mentee is developing. A key skill here is to avoid the temptation to try to turn the mentee in to a ‘mini-me’ version of the mentor. The wise mentor will provide advice and guidance, ask tough questions and then allow the mentee to explore options.

Emotional intelligence is vital to successful coaching and mentoring. For those who may be new to this concept, it would be helpful to take a free, online assessment to use as a benchmark. Here’s a link to one such test: https://goo.gl/YxcYqd

Call Aspire on 020 3904 7501 to grow your skills in this area.

Please feel free to repost if this has been helpful.

Coaching and Mentoring

See other top tips and more here: https://www.aspiremcl.co.uk/blog

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