Coaching & Mentoring Dsp

Coaching & Mentoring 20 March 2009

Mano Verabathran INTAN Bukit Kiara, JPA Tel. : 03 - 20847480 [email protected]

Learning Objectives Upon completion of this module you will be able to define the key concepts associated with Coaching and Mentoring and you will be able to: – Understand the basic processes behind coaching and mentoring – Have the ability to introduce coaching and mentoring into the organization – Understand the benefits of coaching and mentoring in the organization

Learning Objectives (cont’d) – Identify opportunities for coaching and mentoring – Understand the nature of the relationships that must be managed in any coaching or mentoring program – Use the knowledge for the overall benefit of the organization

Why Do We Need Coaching & Mentoring?

Why Do We Need Coaching & Mentoring?  The main reasons why organizations need coaching and mentoring activities are as follows: To maximize knowledge transfer To increase the skill levels For succession planning

Why Do We Need Coaching & Mentoring?

 To maximize knowledge transfer

Coaching & Mentoring provides a learning channel that effectively transfers knowledge within the organization Critical knowledge is maintained in the organization Contextual learning is evident

Why Do We Need Coaching & Mentoring?

 To increase skill levels

The coaches and mentors can very effectively transfer core skills Customization of skills in relation to the core activities of the business is retained Cross training of staff can be achieved

Why Do We Need Coaching & Mentoring?

 For succession planning

The ability for the organization to identify ‘fast track’ candidates and prepare them for new jobs is enhanced by coaching & mentoring Coaching & Mentoring can ensure continuity of performance when key staff leave the organization because core skills have been transferred

Beneficiaries of Coaching & Mentoring The Coach / Mentor

The Employee

The Department

The Organization

Benefits to The Coach / Mentor  Benefits to the Coach / Mentor can be described as: Job Satisfaction Further development of own skill level Involvement in strategic activity

Module 1 Understanding Mentoring

Characteristics of a Mentor Task: List what you think are the responsibilities of a mentor and discuss it.

What does a mentor actually do?

What does a mentor actually do? Encourage Convey sincere belief in protégé ability to succeed Give advice Give constructive feedback Give formal and informal instruction (technical, clinical, political) Introduce to colleagues, etc. Provide opportunities for protégé to demonstrate his/her skills

What does a mentor actually do? Serve as career and lifestyle role model Attend meetings, conferences, and other events together Provide observation experience Provide role-playing experience Exchange/discuss ideas Co-authoring Challenge protégé to and assist with career planning and development; emphasis on planning!

What does a mentor actually do? Review resumes, cover letters Provide sense of direction/focus Help in problem solving Practice communication/interpersonal skills Assist in career planning Help set goals

What about mentees?

What about mentees? Potential to succeed Capacity for self-disclosure Willing to learn Confident to try new things Communicate well Trust others Ambitious

What about mentees? Internal focus of control High job investment Values relationships Sees relationship between personal and professional growth Active learner Focused Learn from, but not have to please the mentor

What about mentees? Knows limits/ when to get help Ethical Takes initiative Goal oriented Organization/ time management skills Open minded

Tool 1 The Mentoring Readiness Test

The Mentoring Readiness Test 1. When you think about your development and growth, which of the following statement best represents your beliefs:

10

A.

I am responsible for my own development and growth

B.

Things change too fast, it is best to go with the flow

5

C.

If you work for good managers, they will take care of your growth and development

0

Comment: Mentoring and mentoring programs do not replace your responsibility for your growth and development - you make the choices and take the actions. A mentor can only help by asking questions, posing situations and providing resources.

The Mentoring Readiness Test 2. What do you believe is the most effective role for a mentor A.

Teaches me what they know

5

B.

Tells me what I need to do

0

C.

Facilitates me clarifying my thoughts and actions.

10

Comment: Although you may want answers and advice, mentors know that for you to be independent and able to think for yourself after the mentoring relationship ends, they need to facilitate your learning with a soft, no pressure, self discovery approach.

The Mentoring Readiness Test 3. When thinking about your expectations for the mentoring relationship should they: A.

Depend on what the mentor wants and needs

0

B.

Be clearly defined and communicated at the beginning of a mentoring relationship

10

C.

Emerge as the relationship develops

5

Comment: A mentor has the right to expect you to know and be able to articulate what you want from the mentoring relationship. The expectation is reciprocal. Without this up front discussion, it is impossible to determine if a good fit could exist.

The Mentoring Readiness Test 4. How aware are you of who you are, what you value, the skills and talents that make your unique and your limitations? A.

I am continually trying to define and refine what I understand about myself

10

B.

I sort of have some general impressions about myself

5

C.

I haven't really thought about these things.

0

Comment: Self-awareness is your responsibility and a continuing process. How can anyone help you achieve your goals and utilize your talents if you can’t communicate these in clear terms? They can’t, so don’t put them in a no-win situation - know thyself first.

The Mentoring Readiness Test 5. What do you feel the mentor should get out of the relationship: A.

A good feeling of helping someone like me

5

B.

Not much, they are already pretty successful and accomplished at what they do

0

C.

They should learn as much from me as I do from them

10

Comment: If, as a mentor, I don’t receive something in return, why should I do it? A mentor has the right to learn and develop in the process, if nothing else, from your feedback, how to be a more effective mentor and a different perspective. i.e., Help me want to continue our mentoring relationship, and spend time with you by providing me a reason-this is not a one-way street.

The Mentoring Readiness Test 6. Which statement best represents your belief about plans and ideas you and your mentor discuss: A.

I would think about these along time before taking action

0

B.

I need to be willing to implement, take action, and put things into effect

10

C.

I would be willing to take action only when it involved taking very little risk.

5

Comment: All talk and no action is the formula for frustration. As is playing it safe and not being willing to stretch, grow and take risks. This would be like always practicing and never playing the game. The reward is when things happen. No action on your part, is the surest way to lose a mentor.

The Mentoring Readiness Test 7. How will you react to feedback and observations from your mentor? A.

Check my ego at the door, be open-minded, willing to change and be coached

10

B.

Listen and take everything with a grain of salt, this is just one persons perspective

5

C.

Accept those things that affirm what you know about yourself and reject that when your mentor doesn't understand the situations you are dealing with

0

Comment: Assume your mentor is an ally, there to help you in your growth and development. Reciprocate by being open-minded, willing to change and coachable. Argumentativeness, resistance, hesitation, and suspicion are not the ingredients for a productive and satisfying mentoring relationship.

The Mentoring Readiness Test 8. What should be your role in finding a mentor? A.

Sign up for a mentoring program and wait for the organization to assign you a mentor

0

B.

A mentor has to want to help you so wait from them to ask you

5

C.

Watch for people who could help you and ask them to be your mentor

10

Comment: Be proactive, don’t wait, it’s your life. Watch others if you feel they could help you because of the traits they exhibit. Ask them to be your mentor. Most will consider this request a compliment and honor. Don’t wait to be asked to dance

The Mentoring Readiness Test 9. What should be your responsibility in maintaining the mentoring relationship? A.

The sponsors of the mentoring program should define and monitor how often and for how long we meet

0

B.

It is my responsibility to keep in touch and request time for us to meet

10

C.

Since the mentor is giving me their time they should define when and how often we meet.

5

Comment: Finding a mentor is just the start, keeping the relationship alive is equally important. Your role in this is essential. If the relationship is of value, work at keeping it on going by keeping in touch, asking for time, supporting, understanding your mentor, and putting decisions into effect

The Mentoring Readiness Test 10. Which statement best describes why you want to enter into a mentoring relationship A.

I want to develop my potential and career

10

B.

I would really like someone to listen to me and give advice on the problem I am facing

5

C.

It's kind of the thing to do in my organization and it sounds interesting

0

Comment: Mentoring relationships are built on a foundation of trust and support. Honesty is one of the bricks of this foundation. Disagreements will occur, how they are handled is the key - the more openly differences are discussed the firmer the foundation of trust between the mentoring partners.

Module 2 Mentoring: The Process

So You Want to Be a Mentor (or find a mentor)

Eight Steps • • • • • • • •

1. Learn what mentoring is all about 2. Review mentoring suggestions 3. Make a match 4. Have your first meeting 5. Continue the partnership 6. Have a six-month check-up 7. Continue with personal growth 8. Conclude the mentoring partnership

Step One: Learn What Mentoring Is All About The mentoring partnership is an agreement between two people sharing experiences and expertise to help with personal and professional growth.

Step One: Learn What Mentoring Is All About (cont’d) To learn about mentoring, you need to know: • What does it take to be a mentor? • What does the mentor get out of it? • What are the mentee’s responsibilities? • What does the mentee get out of it?

What Does It Take to Be a Mentor? • • • •

Desire Time Reality check Individual career development plan

• • • • •

What Does the Mentor Get Out of It? Pass on successes Practice interpersonal & management skills Become recognized Expand their horizons Gain more than the mentee does

What Are the Mentee’s Responsibilities? • • • •

Willing to learn Able to accept feedback Willing to “stretch” Able to identify goals

What Does the Mentee Get Out of It? • Listening ear • Valuable direction • Gaps filled in • Doors opened • Different perspective

Step Two: Review Mentoring Suggestions • Commit to one-year partnership • Discuss “no-fault” termination • Have a six-month check-up

Step Three: Make a Match

You may be looking for a mentor, a mentee, or both.

Step Three: Make a Match (cont’d) General Guidelines • Keep it out of the chain of command • Try for a two grade level difference

Step Three: Make a Match (cont’d) Looking for a Mentor • Look for someone at or near your location • Or use the Mentoring Program database

Step Three: Make a Match (cont’d) Looking for a Mentee • Look at your location – Senior people should reach out to junior people – Consider those who are quiet, not likely to ask for help, or feel excluded

Step Four: Have Your First Meeting • May be in person, by e-mail, or by phone • Discuss the mentee’s expectations • Choose a neutral setting (if face-toface) • Discuss when you will meet and how often

Step Four: Have Your First Meeting (cont’d) • Discuss when it’s okay to phone • Agree to confidentiality • Get to know each other

Now you’re on your way!

Step Five: Continue the Partnership • Mentor will use listening, counseling, coaching, career advising, and goal setting to help mentee develop Individual Career Development Plan

Step Five: Continue the Partnership (cont’d) • Identify goals • Fill in the gaps • Expand available options • Explore referral resources • Build self-esteem • Evaluate each meeting

Step Six: Have a Six-month Check-up • Describe progress • Review Career Development Plan • Ask questions

Step Seven: Continue With Personal Growth (for Both Partners) • Mentoring can expand world of both partners • Mentoring can help people become more comfortable with differences

Step Seven: Continue With Personal Growth (cont’d) • Resources to help – Gender differences – Ethnic differences – Personality differences

• • • • •

Step Eight: Conclude the Mentoring Partnership Many partnerships continue Notify if you decide to end it early Give feedback Review and revise goals Express gratitude Congratulations! And thank you for participating in the Mentoring Program.

Module 3 Identifying Opportunities for Coaching & Mentoring

Definitions • What does the term “coaching” mean to you? • What does the term “mentoring” mean to you?

What Coaching and Mentoring Are Instead of being seen as a low level, add on activity. . . • Coaching is a core competency necessary for knowledge transfer

What Coaching and Mentoring Are Instead of being seen as privilege for the lucky few. . . • Mentoring is a two-way process of dialogue and planning – People helping each other to find their way on the job, in the organization and over a lifetime

What Coaching and Mentoring Are •

Both require . . . . . .

observation, agreement. . . . . individual and team foster continuous organizations.

dialogue, and targeted at building capabilities. . . . . .to improvement in

STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE OF COACHING AND MENTORING

Coaching and mentoring as knowledge transfer: Everyone has unique knowledge to exchange with others Insist on the discipline of a 50/50 split in time

Coaching and Mentoring Hall of Shame Take a moment and record one or more horror stories --from your own personal experience or that of others •

In clusters of 2-3 people briefly describe some of these experiences (2-3 min. each)

•

Select one for analysis using the analysis sheet

Coaching and Mentoring Hall of Fame Now reflect on an example of excellent coaching and mentoring --either involving you or someone else •

As you think about this situation, what worked well?

• What factors account for the success?

Coaching and Mentoring with Groups • Stages in Group Development Forming Storming Norming and Performing

• Situational Leadership Directing Mediating Coaching and Mentoring

Coaching and Mentoring: A Final Question Should coaching and mentoring focus on: • Content (what needs to be done)? or • Process (how it should be done)? or • Rationale (why it is to be done)?

Case Study 1 The story of Rosalyn Yalow

Module 4 Making it work

What Are the Different Types of Mentoring? It’s important to understand that there are several types of mentoring: • • • •

Natural mentoring Situational mentoring Supervisory mentoring Formal facilitated mentoring

Natural Mentoring Natural mentoring occurs all the time and always has. It happens when one person (usually senior) reaches out to another, and a career-helping relationship develops. Research shows this type of mentoring most often occurs between people who have a lot in common. This is because we are usually more comfortable with those who are most like ourselves.

Situational Mentoring Situational mentoring is usually short-lived and happens for a specific purpose. An example would be when one worker helps another with a new office computer system, or when someone goes on an “informational interview” with someone who is in a career they are considering.

Supervisory Mentoring • Very important • All good supervisors mentor their subordinates • Drawbacks – May not be a “subject matter expert” – Heavily tasked – Comfort levels

Formal Facilitated Mentoring

• Formal facilitated mentoring programs are structured programs in which an organization matches mentors with mentees. • They may target one special segment of the organization whose career development may be lagging behind that of others (for example, women) to help that group advance further. • They may assign mentors to mentees and monitor the progress of the mentoring connection.

Example of a Mentoring Program • Partly formal, partly informal • Used benchmarking and research – Programs are most successful when mentee selects mentor – E-mail partnerships are valuable • Chose a user-friendly program, available to all

Example of a Mentoring Program • Educate people so they will form mentoring partnerships • Includes a database of volunteers – Web-based system – People can sign up as mentors and/or search for mentors – Most useful for those who cannot find a mentor at their location

Case Study 2 The Cat’s Dilemma

Module 5 Understanding Coaching

What is coaching? There is some confusion about what exactly coaching is, and how it differs from other ‘helping behaviours’ such as counselling and mentoring.

What is coaching? Broadly speaking, coaching is defined as ‘developing a person’s skills and knowledge so that their job performance improves, hopefully leading to the achievement of organisational objectives. It targets high performance and improvement at work, although it may also have an impact on an individual’s private life. It usually lasts for a short period and focuses on specific skills and goals’.

Characteristics of Coaching in Organisations It is essentially a non-directive form of development. It focuses on improving performance and developing individuals’ skills. Personal issues may be discussed but the emphasis is on performance at work. Coaching activities have both organisational and individual goals.

Characteristics of Coaching in Organisations Assumes that the individual is psychologically well and does not require a clinical intervention. Provides people with feedback on both their strengths and their weaknesses. It is a skill-based activity.

Developing a coaching culture A coaching culture as one where ‘coaching is the predominant style of managing and working together and where commitment to improving the organisation is embedded in a parallel commitment to improving the people’

Who delivers coaching? Delivered by external coaches, full-time and part-time internal coaches who may be line managers, or members of the HR department. Helpful to enable internal and external coaches share supervision arrangements. This enables external coaches to get a better understanding of the organisation and also enables them to share their perspectives on what is happening within the organisation.

Coaching supervision Coaching can be a challenging and lonely activity Coaches need structured opportunities to reflect on their practice. Such opportunities can help coaches continuously to develop their skills as well as provide them with support. It can also be an important quality assurance activity for organisations and a source of organisational learning about issues being addressed in coaching sessions.

Stakeholders in coaching The primary relationship is between the coach and the individual Other key stakeholders include the person representing the organisation’s interests – HR practitioner and – the individual’s manager. Both of these parties are interested in improving the individual’s performance and therefore their contribution to the organisation.

When is coaching the best development intervention? First step - identification of some kind of learning or development need, either by the individual themselves, their line manager or some one from the HR department. Next step is for the manager and the individual to decide how best the need can be met.

When is coaching the best development intervention? Coaching is just one of a range of training and development interventions to meet identified learning and development needs. Should be considered alongside other types of development interventions. Employee preferences should also be borne in mind. There is a danger that coaching can be seen as a solution for all kinds of development needs.

Examples where coaching is a suitable tool helping competent technical experts develop better interpersonal or managerial skills developing an individual’s potential and providing career support developing a more strategic perspective after a promotion to a more senior role handling conflict situations so that they are resolved effectively.

Important to remember that here are some individuals who may not respond well to coaching. May be because their problems are best dealt with by another type of intervention, Or may be because their attitude may interfere with the effectiveness of coaching.

So before coaching is begun, organisations need to assess an individual’s ‘readiness’. Some examples of situations when coaching is not an appropriate intervention are if the individual has psychological problems, they are resistant to coaching or they lack self-insight.

Case Study 3 (Groupwork) Mentoring at Purdue University

THANK YOU AND GOOD LUCK