July's theme on TrainingZONE: Coaching and mentoring

TrainingZone

July’s theme on TrainingZONE: Coaching and mentoring

By TrainingZone

An increased emphasis on both personalisation of learning and a trend towards the individual taking responsibility for their own development at work have meant that both coaching and mentoring have grown in popularity in recent years. Among the issues we'll be looking at this month:

Establishing the key differences between coaching and mentoring

How to identify potential and train coaches and mentors

Making use of mentoring for managers and other staff

How to set up a mentor scheme within your own organisation

Using online techniques as part of coaching and mentoring programmes

How to identify credible coaching providers

How to establish a return on investment from coaching and mentoring

What techniques and tools are available

We're inviting TrainingZONE members to contribute views, advice, tips and opinion on the subject for publication throughout the month. More details can be found below, or you can e-mail the Editor.

Features added this month to date:

Designing and implementing mentoring schemes that work has become easier as more and more experience of other organisations is made available. However, it does require a considerable upfront investment of time and expertise. Professor David Clutterbuck, senior partner of mentoring consultants Clutterbuck Associates examines the issues involved.

TrainingZONE Library author Stuart Emmett is the latest contributor to the Document Centre on the site, with the publication of two handy tip lists on learning and mentoring.

Coaching does not have to be as complex as could be inferred from the wealth of coaching books out there. This Nine-Step Model from Jim Scalise tries to simplify the mystique of coaching, getting first-time coaches up and running quickly and effectively.

Martina Legg, Professional Development Manager of the Association of Accounting Technicians describes their mentoring scheme, designed to match members with others to gain help, advice and support.

Tina Coulsting, Director at Mentor Consultancy says there is no place for ego when it comes to being a Mentor.

Dianne Bown-Wilson, executive coach and Managing Director of The M3 Consultancy, examines how coaching can help develop those seemingly unfathomable leadership skills.

Working for a very well-established organisation in the public eye, undergoing significant change, Andy Parfitt's role as Controller of BBC Radio 1 presents a whole range of leadership challenges. This abridged article examines how coaching helped Andy develop his personal skills and provides an account of his own experiences.

Mike Bagshaw of Trans4mation presents a useful guide to the concepts behind mentoring, and looks at how to put a mentoring programme into action within your own organisation.

Understanding how generations differ and how you can unlock their potential is an increasingly important tool to have when coaching and mentoring, says Ken Scott, MD of training consultancy Develop’s Scottish office. Here, he outlines some of the main differences between the generations and their likely outlook on working life.

Joanna Howard examines some of the areas mentors need to develop to perform effectively in their roles.

Alistair Fenton, Management and Personal Development Consultant with business growth company Rewards Scotland looks at some of the key differences between coaching and mentoring approaches.

European-based executive coaches Dr Sabine Dembkowski, Director of The Coaching Centre and Fiona Eldridge, Director of The Coaching and Communication Centre outline a guide that can be used by coaches and organisations to calculate Return on Investment (ROI) and contributes to enhancing the standing of coaching as an effective tool for developing leaders of an organisation.

Alan Gorringe, Regional Coaching Head at RightCoutts puts forward some handy do's and don'ts for selecting and developing mentors within organisations.

In this feature piece, Eileen Murphy looks at how concentrating on an individual's strengths rather than their weaknesses can help to introduce doubt into negative beliefs without resorting to positive thinking.

Paul Hunting of Horsejoy, The Natural Leadership Centre says it's important to let the coaching process develop at its own place, in this short article for TrainingZONE.

Editorial Guidelines

Overall content: Our editorial policy is not to use material directly promoting an organisation's goods and services. Instead, we publish original contributed features containing specific viewpoints on training-related subjects, advice guides and opinion pieces commenting on customer experiences or experiences of the training market itself.

Length of piece: 300-1000 words

Format: People tend to scan read on the internet - it is a habit we are all developing in response to the massive amount of information available. So it's good to alert readers quickly to what you are going to put before them, by using headings through a long piece, and splitting the text into relatively short paragraphs.

Inclusion of links: We will include a link to contributors' nominated sites and/or e-mail contact address, so that members can access further information about the author if they wish to do so.

Access the full features listing for this year here.