Actions to Take
How can I implement mentoring and coaching?
How can I support my employee to find the right mentor or coach?
There are three options to consider when supporting your employee to find the right mentor / coach.
Tip!
Usually coaches are within the business and can be the line-manager. Mentors may be external.
Is there someone suitable within the business?
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Is this person experienced and have they mentored or coached before?
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What support do they need to be a good mentor / coach?
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Do they have the capacity to mentor and/or coach?
If someone internal is unavailable, is there someone in your community or network who:
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Is this person experienced mentoring others in the industry?
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Does their experience align with areas your employee is looking to develop?
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Are they willing to take on a new mentee?
If the above are not feasible, or another mentor/coach is required then:
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Could you support your employee to become involved in a professional or organised programme to gain mentorship? Examples include:
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NZ Young Farmers Regional Mentor Teams
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Agri-Women’s Development Trust Generation Change Mentoring
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Rural Leaders Programmes and various industry body programmes
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Could you encourage them to network in different forums (such as local workshops, meetings, and conferences) to find a mentor?
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Could you encourage them to seek out individual professional business mentors and coaches (paid).
Tip!
Encourage your employee to find potential mentors through channels available to them. This could include through social groups, via social media on Facebook or Linkedin, through industry body channels, or through networking at conferences.
What steps can I (or others) coach or mentor employees?
Coaching and mentoring can both follow a simple process. A useful tool is the The GROW Model which can be found on the MindTools website. GROW is easy to remember as it stands for Goal, Reality, Options, and Way Forward. It helps coaches and mentors work through with their coachee / mentee a logical process and the right questions to ask at each stage.
Think of it like planning a journey:
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first, help your coachee/mentee decide where they want to go (the goal),
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second, help them explore where they are now (your current reality),
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then, explore different ways to get to the goal together (the options),
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finally, make sure they’re committed and ready to handle any obstacles along the way (the way forward)
While the process can be the same for both coaching and mentoring, as explained previously, coaching will take a more short-term and enabling approach. Mentoring, on the other hand, will take a longer-term, career-focused approach with more support given by the mentor.
You can also see a Mentoring Programme rubric created by Food and Fibre CoVE which outlines a set of criteria to measure the level of vocational excellence achieved. It can be a helpful tool to see how you can improve your mentoring abilities.