Mentoring & Coaching Essay

Analyse and evaluate the use of Mentoring and/or coaching to support both your own and others,’ development of professional skills and knowledge. In ancient Greek mythology Mentor was the friend of Odysseus and tutor to his son. His name is well-known for a faithful and wise adviser. Today on the athletic field and in corporate offices a mentor or coach can help elevate performance. (http://heartlandbusinessexchange.com/MentorCoach.aspx) There are many definitions for coaching and mentoring. The commonality we can find in these hundreds of definitions of Coaching and Mentoring is that they both aim to support the Coached / Mentees (people that are in a relation with a Coach/Mentor) developing themselves in order to reach specific goals. Coaching is collaborative inquiry into the technical aspects of any activity, most often of work, as well as support for development and performance improvement. Of course, coaching applies to relationships in every setting. Mentoring provides a unique growth-oriented relationship which is the necessary context for risk taking, deep sharing, insights, and growth. Mentoring requires commitment and freely choosing to be held accountable for living out one’s intentions. It also includes coaching, but adds a wide range of strategies for discovering, supporting, and challenging personal, spiritual, and/or professional growth Both coaching and mentoring must be non evaluative, positive, and nonjudgmental if the process is to be authentic and genuine and the results are to be discovery, learning, growth, and improvement. Mentoring and coaching are an investment in another person’s success, you may have experienced this kind of empowering support from parents, a pastor, a teacher, an athletic coach, a friend, perhaps even a boss or your spouse. Often, people like these care so much about you that they will go the â€Å"extra mile† and do all they can to help you succeed. We might call this f orm of support â€Å"intuitive† mentoring or coaching because it is well meaning folks, doing the best they can, based on common sense and what they feel is best. www.businessmentorcenter.com A mentor can enter into a truly collaborative, trusting, positive, and support relationship . He can make you feel comfortable and make a person see the benefits of an open sharing of his feelings and dreams for his life, help to  learn to see oneself more objectively and how to gain the personal insights one needs to succeed, assess one’s natural tendencies and gifts and how their interactions may create internal confusion and dissatisfaction. It helps a person to set goals and develop plans and the self discipline to achieve his goals and more over he helps to solve and understand the problems and conflicts one confronts and move on. Coaching and Mentoring are then aimed to promote the development of an individual in order to be successful in the fulfilment of their tasks (at school, at work or in their personal lives), reinforc ing and strengthening their competencies and self-confidence. Coaching and Mentoring are to be considered as the two extreme of the line. Between these two extremes exists many different and flexible possibilities for support, using Mentoring and Coaching as appropriate to the situation.