7.2 Coaching and mentoring
Every company needs champions. You don't have to be the collar and tie executive with the degree and a mobile 'phone. As you would recognise the importance of being competitive and being able to meet customer demands has shifted the emphasis onto champions who link senior management with the customer and those delivering services to the customer.
Companies without champions stagnate and eventually lose customers and market share. This means no-one wins.
The aim today is to recognise that being a coach and mentor is a vital role for all leaders in the organisation. This includes all leaders from the junior manager to the most senior executive in the company.
Team leaders are champions. You initiate, assist, advise, and implement actions that enable staff to deliver improved standards of service to all customers. You also develop staff with the new skills and improve existing skills to meet the challenges confronting day-to-day task completion.
The manager has to balance the different needs and ensure they can respond to each need. As depicted below this may involve not only resourcing task needs, but also intervening to assist individual team members who cannot achieve the standards required by the tasks or team needs.
Figure 1 Plans involve the management of needs
Acting as a leader or manager the intervention to balance needs may require being more than a provider or training. It may require the provision of a role model, or acting as a coach or mentor.
Coaches and mentors provide one-on-one training and development for employees with less experience in an organisation.
Activity 2
Visit and undertake some of the tutorials or access resources at the Mentoring centre ( Canada ) at http://www.mentors.ca/ .
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