The Wayside Network

Coach-mentoring is a blend of two of the most powerful methods for transformational learning (which simply means learning more effectively because you know how to learn). Sportsmen and women use coaches to increase their focus and to provide support, structure, and ongoing accountability to prepare them for win/lose competitions. Business people have long used more experienced mentors to guide less experienced managers in unfamiliar situations - it is one of the traditional functions of the non-executive director. Coach-mentoring starts with two assumptions:

• the client (the learner) takes responsibility for his or her own development and
• the learner has more potential resources than they realise.

Like counselling, coach-mentoring is client-centred and individual. Like consulting, it is outcome oriented, dealing in actions and results. It uses a process of inquiry and personal discovery to build the learner's level of awareness and responsibility, and provides the learner with structure, support and feedback. Training courses are very good for acquiring new knowledge and being introduced to new skills but very often the benefits are lost because the new skills don't get put into practice back at work. This is because changing the way you do things (like improving your swing in golf or your backhand in tennis) needs plenty of repetition to move from feeling uncomfortable and strange to being second nature. The coach-mentor helps you to make that transformation more quickly.
What areas are most suitable for coach-mentoring?