As businesses adapt to shifting workplace cultures and evolving employee expectations, investing in employees’ growth is increasingly seen as vital to shaping the future of work.
In this article, Sue Pallot PCD Dip, APC – Founder of The Coaching Agency and the Jersey Association of Coach Practitioners – explores how coaching and mentoring can empower employees and help organisations thrive.
As a qualified, accredited practicing coach, I am a huge advocate and believer of both coaching and mentoring for personal and professional development, and everything in between.
“Coaching works for everyone, in every sector in life. But you need a desire to improve some aspect of your life to make it worthwhile.”
Fred Kofman
Some of the most influential leaders of our time (so far!) have coaches and mentors.
Whether you are a Blue-Chip Company leader, a political leader or a sports or TV personality, coaching and mentoring opens a window to the world that you have never looked through before.
Jeff Weiner – Founder of LinkedIn – Coached by Fred Kofman
In other articles that I have penned, I have outlined the fundamentals of coaching and mentoring and we know that there are benefits to using both of these practices. They are different from each other but also complement each other particularly in a working environment.
Coaching gives employees the tools, confidence and support to grow in their role. It empowers them to problem solve, to focus and improve skills. It gives individuals confidence in using their initiative, decision making and to recognise the strengths that they can bring to the working environment and their organisation. Coaching provides a safe space for everyone to grow, to discover and address weakness through constructive feedback and structured coaching plans.
Bill Gates – Founder of Microsoft – Coached by Bill Campell
When businesses have a coaching culture, employees feel valued, they feel motivated to grow and to bring their best selves to their work. Increased engagement motivates people to do the best that they can do for themselves and for their colleagues, peers and leaders. Feeling valued and engaged, nurtured and inspired encourages job satisfaction and loyalty in a business.
Richard Branson (Virgin Founder)
As mentioned, coaching and mentoring, support one another. By virtue, they are quite different practices, but with one common goal, to help someone grow.
Julie Starr, author of ‘The Mentoring Manual,’ describes a mentor as ‘someone who takes on the role of a trusted advisor, supporter, teacher and wise counsel to another person.’
It is a ‘primarily selfless’ role that supports another person to learn and to develop someone to their goals and success. The mentoring roots come from Greek mythology and propose that a wise elder (the mentor) gives their support guidance and wisdom to a younger less experienced person (the mentee.).
Predominantly this is still the case in the 21st century but our future leaders are gaining skills and insights in technology and innovation at a rapid pace. Mentoring can support that individual technically whilst coaching can support emotionally. Learning the technical skills of the future, in the present, is a challenge as we navigate the landscape of ‘work’ and what that may look like in the future, but one thing that will not change is how as humans we will understand and nourish our emotional intelligence to be the transformational leaders of the future.
With AI being used more frequently now particularly by our future leaders, our brains are struggling to keep up. Statistics tell us that more than a billion people worldwide live with mental health conditions. With the World Health Organisation (WHO) stating that 17.2% of the global disability burden is due to mental disorders. Our future leaders will need to lead with courage, kindness and compassion, purpose and passion to support their ideas, innovation and technical expertise.
Roger Enrico – Former CEO of Pepsi and DreamWorks – Coached by John Mattone
We have the power now to change the path of our future leaders; to help them to grow, to be resilient and adaptable, and more importantly to know themselves, their aspirations, goals and dreams – whether they want to be great leaders or great supports, part of a team or a solopreneur. Through coaching and mentoring, we can provide the tools for them to have the choice to do whatever they desire.
Andre Agassi – World No 1 Tennis player – Coached by Brad Gilbert
In Jersey, we are fortunate to have many qualified coaches and mentors that can work with a business or on an individual basis.
The Jersey Association of Coach Practitioners was established in 2001 to bring coaches and mentors together on island to collaborate, educate and to provide valuable expertise in these practices.
The IoD in Jersey provides a free mentoring scheme to their membership annually. With over 800 members in the association, there is a vast network of expertise across all industries on island.
Sue Pallot PCD Dip, APC is Founder of The Coaching Agency and the Jersey Association of Coach Practitioners. She is also Chair of the Professional Development Committee at the IoD Jersey. For more information, contact Sue on [email protected].
