Supporting Individual Learning through Coaching and Mentoring (3LCM)

Description of 3LCM unit

Coaching and mentoring are essential in empowering and improving the skills of HR specialists. 3LCM is
based on things that should and need to be done. Learners are expected to assume an HR manager's
role and bring out the culture of coaching and mentoring by showing them and putting them into
practice. Coaching and mentoring have different meanings though they also have some similarities. They
both purpose to improve an individual’s competence and ability either from a career's perspective or in
other aspects of life. However, coaching is offering training either as a group or as an individual to
impact skills or personal development. It focuses on specified objectives that need to meet at a specified
time. Its primary concern is performance and developing specified skills.

On the other hand, mentoring is a process of long-term engagement between an individual and a
mentor, mainly to assist one in life or their career. Its primary focus is to impart wisdom, knowledge,
ability to apply skills and experience to new processes.

There are two significant models and techniques that are used in coaching and mentoring. These are:

1. GROW Model which is an acronym for Goal, Reality, Options and Will.
2. OSCAR Model, an acronym for Outcome, Situation, Choices and consequences, Action and
Review.

Benefits of coaching and mentoring to the learners

 Promotes better relationship and engagement between employees and the management
 It allows employees to share ideas and sensitive issues with their employers.
 It helps to increase employees confidence when dealing with challenges
 It improves productivity and job performance in an organisation
 Provides an opportunity to develop and improve special skills essential in good management
 Helps in improving self-awareness, career options and opportunities
 It helps the employees to embrace and adapt to change
 It gives employees a sense of belonging and being valued
 It helps to identify organisational and individual strengths
 It helps in empowering individuals

Students will learn the different types of coaching and mentoring depending on the target audience.

Types of coaching that students will learn

 Executive coaching. Deals with assisting executives, directors, managers and high potential
employees to unlock their potentials, reach their goals and self-awareness
 Leadership coaching. It is meant for all business leaders to help them leverage their leadership
skills for better work performance.
 Career coaching. It is for those clients who need help in managing their learning and work
journey of life.
  Business coaching. It is for the business owners to have a clear mission and vision of the
business and its personal goals.

The difference in coaching methods depends on the target groups, the purpose of the coaching and the
type of facilitator. To obtain a successful coaching process, the coach is responsible for building a good
relationship with the client and identifying their strengths and weaknesses. The coaching process is
executed into four major stages to meet the targeted outcome. These stages are:

1. Contracting. This is the first stage where the coach and the client agree on both teams'
requirements and the terms to be used.
2. Planning. This is the second stage where the coach comes up with the number of sessions they
will need to conduct the process.
3. Coaching. This is the third stage where the actual coaching is taking place with all the necessary
tools.
4. Exit. This is the fourth and final stage where the whole process is completed, and all the
Contracting terms are met.

Types of mentoring that students will learn

 Induced mentoring is offered to new employees to help them get acquitted to the processes in
an organisation.
 Peer mentoring
 Developmental mentoring

Mentoring process has three major stages, namely:

1. Introduction
2. Action planning
3. Mentoring and exit

To have a successful mentoring process, proper preparation and planning are essential. Here you are
required to define your role as a mentor where the primary role should be;

 Providing guidance
 Giving advice
 Providing support

For a mentoring process to be successful, a mentor must apply mentoring techniques, which include;

 Actively listening to the client.

 Pose open-ended questions, e.g. what? How? When? Where? Who? Why?
 Appreciating inquiries from the client
 Must maintain a personal quality profile helps in case the client is suffering from low self-
esteem.
 Mind mapping
 Force field analysis to help consider the argument for and against a course of action.
 Career scenarios to help form the basis for a series of meetings.

Learning objectives
At the end of this unit, learners should be able to;

 Understand the similarities and differences in coaching and mentoring

 Outline the purpose and process of coaching
 Outline the purpose and process of mentoring
 Be in a position to apply the models used in coaching and mentoring
 Be able to use the different techniques used

Summary