What to do if your mentee becomes your direct report

It’s general good practice to separate mentoring from line management – there are simply too many areas of potential conflict of interest to maintain fully open developmental conversations. On the occasions, when a mentee becomes a direct report, however, there are both positive and negative consequences. On the positive side, mentor and mentee know each...

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When and how to give advice

One of the myths of coaching and mentoring is that coaches don’t give advice, while mentors do. The reality is that there are many situations where both should and do give advice – for example, if the learner is at risk. However, effective developmental coaches and mentors are careful to choose the appropriate situations for (more…)

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When is it OK for a coach or mentor to interrupt?

The notion that “It’s rude to interrupt” is instilled into most people from an early age. A coaches or mentors, who have been taught the importance of listening and letting the client do most of the talking, we may feel even stronger inhibitions against interrupting. However, there are some occasions when interruption is exactly what...

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Working with noise

There are two types of noise or interference that prevent people achieving what they want. One we can call “fog” – not being able to see things clearly enough to work out what to do or where to go. The other is the “inner voice” that gets in the way of performance. The coaching pioneer...

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Working with strengths and weaknesses at a deeper level

The relationship between strengths and weaknesses is a complex one. Strengths can often become weaknesses, if we become over-reliant on them, reducing our portfolio of responses to situations or leading us to inappropriate responses. For example, humour can often defuse tension in some circumstances, but increase it in others. Equally, acknowledging weaknesses can be a...

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Where do managers spend their energy?

The energy grid is a simple tool for helping managers and executives analyse where their time and, most importantly, their energy, goes. The two dimensions of the grid are: They may choose to complete the six permutations instinctively, or complete a log over a period of a week or so. Analysing this information stimulates discussion...

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Work-life balance issues

Achieving work-life balance is vital to individuals, teams and organisations. People feel more fulfilled and better able to perform in roles when they achieve a balance between work and non-work roles. Balancing roles and responsibilities is challenging, particularly in light of the changing nature of employment and the workplace. People face competing demands on time,...

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Working with shame

Shame is a universal experience of mentally healthy people. Defined as “a feeling of humiliation or distress caused by the consciousness of wrong or foolish behaviour”, shame tends to have the negative impact that it inhibits learning. Whenever people feel shame, they tend to avoid discussing it with other people and they also try not (more…)

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Your mindset as a coach

Coaching requires skills, such as listening, questioning and giving feedback, but all of these should already be developed to some extent in line manager coaches and in coaches more generally. What makes them effective is the coaching mindset, and this we can summarise as the three Cs: Caring:   Co-learning:   Creativity: © David Clutterbuck,...

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