One of the hardest things to do, in my opinion, is to coach and mentor others. In order to effectively coach and mentor, the other person needs to want to learn from you and you need to be able to understand their learning style. Here are some tips and techniques to consider when you are a mentor or a coach.
- Give Positive Feedback
- While it is easy to see where others can improve, it is equally important to see what value they bring and let them know what those areas are.
- Make sure that they have the opportunity to do what they do best.
- Tell them when they have improved so that they know they are moving in the right direction.
- Motivation
- Take the time to understand what motivates them and what is important to them. This could change what you coach and mentor them on.
- Focused Areas of Improvement
- Let them choose the areas that they focus on first. This gives more ownership over the improvement.
- Select only a few areas that they can improve on. Make sure they have shown improvement in those areas before giving them more.
- Ask for Feedback
- Ask them what is working well for them and what you could do differently. Let them know that you want to make sure that they are getting the most benefit from this and that the feedback helps you coach and mentor better.
- Act on the feedback. Change your style and technique to better suit your audience. When they see you improve, they will take those queues and improve as well.
What other tips and techniques do you have to be a better coach and mentor?
