Practising mentors building their practice
Ethical mentoring is a fairly new term, but it’s likely to be one we are going to hear a lot more of. The concept comes from a recognition that unethical and illegal behaviour in organizations rarely happens because an individual or group of people set out to do wrong. Rather, it starts with small breaches...
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Levels of meaning are like the layers of an onion: each layer conceals another, deeper, layer of information. Goodman (2002) identifies four levels of meaning that can give structure to exploring an issue in a coaching or mentoring conversation. These are: In using this approach, it’s important to give sufficient time to understanding each layer...
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Read More Getting to the heart of a problem or issue, using levels of meaning
Giving and receiving feedback are essential to someone who wants to develop themselves and others it is also a critical element in performance improvement. How we both provide and receive feedback will impact on the overall success and on the outcomes of our mentoring / coaching relationships. But the skills of giving and receiving feedback (more…)
Objectives come in many sizes and varieties. Research evidence shows that whilst objective-orientation is significant in overall leadership performance, the nature of effective objective management changes at different levels, from a focus on task (practical, usually short-term objectives) at lower levels of leadership to one on purpose (achievement of a broad vision) at higher levels....
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Read More Goal setting in coaching and mentoring: general principles
There are a number of techniques and tools coaches and mentors can use to help the coachee/mentee gain commitment to change and accept the circumstances surrounding the need for change. Techniques include the change cascade, the change ballon and the ‘extreme’ techniques. All of these are outlined in Megginson and Clutterbuck’s (2004) text: Techniques for...
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While the core relationship in coaching and mentoring is the coach-coachee or mentor-mentee, other people have a stake or interest in it too. When a line manager coaches a member of his or her team, they have to take into account not only their own expectations of the direct report, but also what’s expected of...
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Read More Managing expectations of other stakeholders in coaching and mentoring
The three-way conversation between coach, client and the clients boss, is commonplace in coaching. Sometimes also involving HR, it provides a valuable opportunity to clarify agendas, establish the support needed from the boss, and improve the direct report-boss relationship. Yet in the context of mentoring, this conversation is typically seen as one to be avoided...
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Recommended good practice is for mentors to spend at least 30 minutes in quiet reflection after a coaching conversation. It’s helpful to use the following headings to structure this reflection: Issues Insights Ideas Intentions © David Clutterbuck, 2014...
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It is good practice to review your mentoring relationship at regular intervals. This will ensure you keep a check on how the relationship itself is working and on what progress is being made on achieving the objectives you set at the outset (and how those objectives may have changed). Ideally, a first review would take...
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Accepting is the ability to allow things to be as they are, to abandon or put in abeyance the desire to change or confront. Accepting others for who they are is important within the context of coaching and mentoring: Mentors and mentees / coaches and coachees need to be able to accept each other; to...
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