The Ultimate Guide to Counselling,Coaching and Mentoring - The Handbook of Coaching Skills and Tools to Improve Results and Performance Of your Team!

Aiden Sisko

• Publisher: JNR Publishing
• eBook ISBN: 9781310329289
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Mentoring & Coaching
• Index: Business

If your main focus is growth, the most valuable asset you can possess is a quality assemblage of employees/team members who are flexible learners; problem solvers, well motivated and highly trained who will put your company on the fast track to success!Proper coaching and mentoring of this team will put you right were you need to be. This will only be possible if you work closely with each member of your team’s professional and personal growth in their abilities and performance. Close and skillful coaching and mentoring to develop champions! This book aims to do exactly that and more.

Table of Contents
CONTENT OVERVIEW
MORE IN REGARD TO COACHING: BUILDING YOUR PEOPLE SKILLS
Educate Yourself by Gaining Much Needed Information
The Format for Feedback
A Team Coach of Substance
Develop Skills:
Plot the Course:
Review and Consider
Choose Specifically
Design a Free-Flow Process
MENTORING: NEED TO KNOW INFORMATION; NEED TO HAVE SKILLS
How Can You Benefit From All This?
How to be a Mentor of Quality
Keeping Lines of Communication Open: Learning Honest Give & Take
You Must Focus on Building Trust
COUNSELING AND YOU
Identification of the Trouble Areas
Assist the Employee in Realizing the need to Improve Performance in That Area
Set Goals with the Employee that will be Conducive to Improvement
Make sure the goals set are achieved
When the behavior is right, let them know!
A. Issue a Verbal Warning
B. Issue a Written Warning
C. If the Offense Occurs Yet Again, Human Resources Should Issue a Formal Reprimand
D. Suspension
CONCLUSION

Content Overview

If your main focus is growth, the most valuable asset you can possess is a quality assemblage of employees who are flexible learners; problem solvers who will put your company on the fast track to success! Proper administration of this team will put you right were you need to be in preparation for moving up the ladder. And this will only be possible if you work closely with each member of your team’s professional and personal growth in their abilities and performance. Close and skillful coaching and mentoring to develop champions!

This book aims to do exactly that and more.

The fact is this: others around you are the vessel which will carry you to the place of success you envision. Once again: other people will get you there. The thing you must realize now is the fact that clients will opt to take their business elsewhere if they feel they are not getting their money’s worth; perhaps they think they can do better if they take their business to the competition. The primary thoughts in your mind at that point should be:

What can we do to make our customers or clients happy? How can we keep them with us?

If we consider the words and writings of motivational speakers and authors, most everyone desires success. Not simply financial or professional success, but success in every aspect of their lives. They want to improve; it is at their core!

It is your directive to assist them in achieving the improvements they want to make in their lives. This does involve nagging or prodding the individual in any way. The key here is to be of genuine assistance, offering guidance and help when needed. When you begin to practice this directive consistently and with diligence, you will have improved your own management skills significantly!

The following information is a tool which is highly effective in teaching you the skills you need in order to effectively mentor other members of your team or organization, coaching them in the various parts of their lives that make them robust and whole. Taking this position is to counsel them, and you will in turn be counseled through the experience. You should prepare yourself to see success.

If you become a mentor it is typically because you have encountered an individual in whom you see depth and potential. You will be compelled to nurture the qualities that will bring them success when properly honed, and you are aware of what they will be able to do for your company at that point in their career.

As with any group of individuals, you will usually have a problem child. A person who has the ability to go far but is lazy and unproductive, doing just what they can to get by. They more than likely need to be dealt with on a regular basis. These are the individuals that need counseled, even reprimanded if necessary.

If you are in a coaching position and your team sees a coach they can trust when they look at you, you are going to experience growth and achievement from them! They will be content as a unit and work together exceptionally well. The trust level you have taught them to build is the adhesive that holds them together as an effective company entity. Everyone continues to grow.

In order for you to be highly effective in any one category you must possess and practice skills from all three. What follows will detail these skills and provide you with other information that you will find highly beneficial on your road to success.

More in Regard to Coaching: Building Your People Skills

The first thing you must solidify in your mind is the fact that in this position, being a quality listener and discerner of the feelings of others is essential. If you want to be an effective coach, there are specific skills you must pursue and take possession of to achieve it; read on.

Educate Yourself by Gaining Much Needed Information

You must first possess the skills you are attempting to share; after all, you cannot give away something you just don’t have.

You must be able to identify and ask the appropriate questions honestly and properly. Making others feel uncomfortable by your inquiries is not an option, so you must gain the needed communication skills that are necessary for this position or task.

Because you need to determine who you are going to ultimately hire, information about the candidate in question is appropriate when done using your tools of communication.

When you are given responses to the question you have asked, you need to be sure to really listen to the answer. By listen I mean chew on it, swallow it, and digest it. Allow your mind to really be aware of what they are saying to you. Eye contact is essential, making the other aware of you focus and attention. Also keep your antennas up in regard to the tone of voice they are using, the places of emphasis in their voice, and the body language they are using as they speak. In order to listen fully you must be sensitive to all of these things in combination. Sharpening this ability takes practice and experience, but it is a much needed tool of the trade.

Make it a point to schedule regular times to sit down with your crew and hear what they have to say regarding how things are going. By listening to and watching your team as they speak and interact, you will be able to detect any potential or underlying problems in the team dynamic that may need to be dealt with.

In this type of position, wearing a teacher’s hat is part of future success for you. If you have never been in the position of an educator, understand that you certainly are now, and begin to look for ways to improve this skill. Be aware of the potential for little opportunities to teach in your everyday life and use them to sharpen your senses in this area. Being a teacher also means having the ability to rate what is needed by those under your tutelage, and you must lead them to it and show them what it is all about through training. This is teaching.

It is important that you offer constructive, effective feedback to your employees when they need and/or deserve it. This does not mean you only critique their work, though that is your job, but if an employee had produced fine work or exceeded your expectations, this needs to be recognized as well. Practice balance when offering feedback; point out what needs to improve, but help the missile hit the target by offering them the padding of a compliment as well. Encouragement and confirmation that you know you can rely on them to make things right will make your words more effective than you could possibly know. When you tell them they are able to improve, and then proceed to teach them where and how, they see that someone believes in their capabilities and potential. They will aim to live up to that.

The Format for Feedback

Giving feedback that counsels and teaches can be quite a daunting task when dealing with the problem worker. This will not always be the case as they grow and improve however, in the beginning of your counsel, it is vital that you be very aware of the emotions of the employee, as well as how they are responding to what you are saying by their facial expressions and body language. Gauge the individual and choose your words, tone of voice, and approach accordingly. These individuals will respect you and the things you tell them if you show them respect first.

Patience, our favorite virtue, is going to need to come into play here on a consistent, if not constant, basis in the initial stages. If you are not patient by nature this is the perfect opportunity to get your hands on some literature that deals directly with the art of Patience. Find one that offers exercises for you to practice in your day to day routines and implement them. You simply have to possess this attribute in order to counsel or teach effectively.

When you are offering suggestions for improvement to any individual or team, make your communication with them very clear and specific. For instance, do not simply tell them to begin to set a daily goal and meet it; begin a one-on-one conversation with them that will lead into the topic of goal setting. Counsel him in the area. Show concern for their final outcome, and show them the best road to travel.

Another point to keep in mind is the fact that there is some behavior that cannot be changed. Spinning your wheels, and theirs, is a waste of time if the behavior is simply out of your circle of influence. Use wisdom and honesty when determining if the behavior of focus can be influenced and ultimately changed. If the answer is yes, forge on.

The employee is also very keen to the signals you are giving off when you speak, probably more than you. Make sure your own body language, facial expressions, and voice tone and emphasis are appropriate and never counterproductive.

Change what needs to be changed to fit the individual and the circumstances, practicing temperance at all times.

A Team Coach of Substance

When you have a team that looks to you as its coach, they expect you to be experience and skilled in various areas of the trade or discipline. Below are some things to pursue to perfection:

Develop Skills:

Teach the crew what they need to know to become an excellent member of the team! This includes observing and assisting with the adjustment of attitudes and thought processes that need to change. Polishing on the areas they are already good with. Exposing them to skillsets they need to acquire.

Plot the Course:

Those you are coaching are looking to you for the answers what steps should come next. Be prepared. Focus your mind and your time on being effective to others while in the position you are in; while this will improve you, remember it’s about them, not about you.

Review and Consider

It is important to read the minutes from your meetings thoroughly. This gives you the opportunity to review the comments, ideas, and concerns that were voiced by members of your team. Your team meetings are also an ideal opportunity to conduct a progress review on current assignments. This promotes accountability and provides employees with an excellent opportunity to ask questions and get clear answers. Use this as an opportunity to gauge the development of your team as a whole, and the individual members comprising the team.

Choose Specifically

Assigning a team to a specific job is a delegation of authority that needs to be organized correctly. Choose the individuals that fit the position perfectly-but also understanding the future benefits of assigning certain tasks to a member that is just learning the ropes. Are they a skill match? What about experience? Pay attention to this detail carefully and with due consideration on the long term as well as immediate benefits.

Design a Free-Flow Process

Be proactive in creating surroundings for your employees that are conducive for them to feel open to express. A good coach has a team that is comfortable speaking and asking questions when they need to. This is the direction you need to take of your people on a consistent basis. You are the one that will make the atmosphere easier for them to be most productive.

Mentoring: Need to Know Information; Need to Have Skills

Here is the good news: The flip side of your position takes the other side into consideration. You are going to run into those who are simply exceptional employees. They will be bright, energetic, and affect change all around them. Not only that, they will be teachable! The edification of this individual’s skills, mindset, and future become of the utmost importance; you can see them going far. You have the opportunity to unleash the beast in terms of their full potentials!

It is also going to be your job to live up to the values your company maintains, and you need to think and act in a manner conducive to objectivity, growth, and optimism for the future. The individuals you mentor will be watching you at all times, taking in every detail, and if you live by the values you teach i.e. can you walk the talk. Temperance and honesty are vital at all times.

How Can You Benefit From All This?

You need to get a firm grasp on the fact that in the end you are gaining the most from the mentoring relationship. As a mentor you are accomplishing so much with the individuals you take under your wing, and they are aware of that fact. A very valuable loyalty will form, and these employees stay where they are. You can count on having them on your team because you didn’t turn your back on them, and they won’t on you. One of the best ways to really solidify learning upon yourself, is to teach it! It also feels great to be giving back to the world, and that you are passing on what you have to the next generation.

Another great element of mentoring is the way it specifically teaches proper corporate values to the student. If you yourself are teaching them, and you have been instilled with a fine value system yourself, they too will possess a quality set of values.

Trust your gut as well as your experience. You know what has gotten you where you are, and you want to share those qualities with them.

You will also be able to learn a large amount of information through your team. They have inside company contacts you know nothing about, and you will be surprised at the insight you will gain into your own yard. Some of them will be willing to keep you posted regarding the inside trek of the group itself.

What is going on in your crew? Are there personal or professional problems you should know about? If so, you are now a step ahead when it comes to dealing with them. Those whom you are mentoring will not only be able to help your position, but they will be willing.

Another good point is the fact that those you mentor are excellent assistants when it comes to the projects you are working on. Not only are they learning while they assist, but you are able to communicate corporate dynamics through the relationship of trust you have built, instilling in them good work ethic and other skills. Through this, you will also have more time to concentrate your focus on other projects that will take the company even further in the right direction.

The individuals we are discussing right now will someday be your business associates; the important thing is to realize how effective they will be as an ally to you. As you work with them, you will begin to see how your mentorship is actually building a tool that you can use to better your own investments in the long run. Act accordingly.

How to be a Mentor of Quality

Take a moment to consider your full staff, or if you are a large corporation, ponder the group under your direct supervision. When you think about individual potential as it relates to the future of your company, does one person in particular come to mind? It is likely someone who is loaded with skills that were taught, but you also recognize the unpolished raw talent. With work and the right guidance you are positive this person will indeed go far. Perhaps this person just needs a little assistance to get their ideas moving, and you are just the person to help.

You may have even been approached by someone on your crew who has stood out to you before. Whether they personally requested you to mentor them or you brought the subject to the table, be sure to consider whether or not the commitment and investment of time has the potential to succeed or fail. Weigh the pros and cons honestly on objectively. If for any reason you do not feel comfortable with the pairing in a mentor/student relationship, be sure to discuss this in a tactful and compassionate manner. They asked you to mentor them for a reason; if you are turning them down, be sure not to do damage to the individual in the process.

To make the determination process easier, take a pencil or pen and a sheet of paper. Proceed to draw a line down the center of the paper, forming two columns. In one column you will list the needs of the potential mentee; you will be paying attention to needs that apply to their development only. In the second column list their knowledge and skill level, and the talents and abilities they possess. Ask yourself what you have to offer them. Consider your background both personally and professionally. Then think about the same things at the present.

Finally, look at where you are aiming for them to be in the future. What does your personal and professional life look like and sound like to someone who is learning from you? Now it is time to take your own resources into consideration and see if you have anything to offer that particular individual. If you need to, connect items in the columns together, for instance, link a need they have with something you have that will assist in fulfilling that need. Be honest; it is their future as well as yours.

Keeping Lines of Communication Open: Learning Honest Give & Take

While you are in the mentoring position, you are undergoing a change of lifestyle. You cannot mentor part-time. You must meet with the mentee on a regular basis, at least 1 or 2 times per month, to discuss progress, exercises, ideas, and growth. You must feel free to do the same with the mentee, however this should be done with temperance and wise judgment when determining what is appropriate to share. Be sure it applies to the growth and learning of the mentee, or it will be superfluous and questionable. Remember boundaries on both sides of the relationship.

When you initiate conversation with your pupil, it is very important to make them aware of what you intend to talk about. Perhaps just offer a remark about the issue or topic at hand to get the ball rolling. You may be tempted to start the conversation off with a question but you should not. Questions may feel a bit stifling, similar t...

Table of contents

• Educate Yourself by Gaining Much Needed Information
• The Format for Feedback