Mentoring
There are many definitions of mentoring. The one that resonates with me is provided by David Clutterbuck, a seminal writer on the topic.
“Mentoring involves primarily listening with empathy, sharing experience (usually mutually), professional friendship, developing insight through reflection, being a sounding board, encouraging”
A good mentor invariably has a knack for making you think you are better than you think you are. They influence you to have a good opinion of yourself, letting you know they believe in you. They encourage you to get more out of yourself, and once you learn how good you really are, you don’t settle for anything less than your very best. They should have the qualities of experience, perspective and distance, sometimes challenging the mentee to reexamine and reprioritise their approaches, but without being a crutch.
Combining Coaching & Mentoring
Coaching and mentoring can work together, but there are subtle differences. Good coaching is based on asking the right questions to raise awareness and generate responsibility for the coachee to make better choices for themselves.
Whilst mentoring can use this approach, it can also involve the giving of advice. It can flow along a spectrum from pure listening to just telling.
Julie Hay, another well respected and seminal person in the field of development and whom I have trained with, sees mentoring as a “developmental alliance”.
My approach to mentoring is one of providing that developmental alliance, helping you to appreciate your value, build on your existing strengths and guide you to your very best.
So if this sounds like a partnership that you need or would like……why not take the FIRST STEP which is FREE. An opportunity to get to know you and the support you are looking for.
