Coaching and mentoring serve as learning tools in the workplace that can lead to empowering your employees.
The employees mentored often receive the greatest benefit. Mentoring and coaching increase the confidence and interpersonal skills of the mentor and the mentee. It drastically improves individual performance. Coaching and mentoring gives new employees a hands-on training program to learn and help them to understand the defined job expectations. Instead of placing a new employee right into the position, the employee should have a support system and an interactive learning environment that may engender on-the-job confidence through professional coaching and mentoring.
Benefits of Coaching and Mentoring
Coaching and mentoring an employee makes them more valuable to the organization. It helps to develop and enhance their skills professionally and personally and provides a guided path toward the targeted goals. It directly benefits the employees to discover and embrace the truth about themselves and helps to explore by setting order and improving competencies.
Some general characteristics of coaching and mentoring
- Its focuses on improving performance and developing an individual
- It provides employees with the opportunity to assess their strengths as well as their development areas
- Commit to action
- Preparing and supporting people through change
- Sharing curated resources
- Time management and skill competencies
Why mentorship is more important than ever during a pandemic?
The pandemic has shown us how difficult it is to maintain society’s trust during trying times. It’s no wonder that people begin to lose faith in the institutions around them.
Especially in the post-COVID world scenario, businesses and organizations had to develop digital mentorship solutions for applying mentorship skills that allow them to stay connected with the employees in a way that builds skills and intra-company bonds.
Mentorship provides the same atmosphere of work culture that people experience in their workplace. Mentorship also opens the way to specific career opportunities and helps to exchange different ideas, receive guidance, and explore digital skills through the new normal.
5 Inspiring Examples of Coaching and Mentoring in the Workplace
Mastercard
Mastercard considered mentoring as a means to break down silos and help employees connect with co-workers across the business who have similar ambitions and interests. This leading global payments technology company leveraged its talent marketplace to generate mentor pairings based on capabilities and ambitions, instead of making matches based solely on seniority. Mastercard’s mentoring program has proven to be particularly beneficial for welcoming new talents into their organization.
Schneider Electric
Surveys revealed that nearly 50% of exiting employees cited subpar growth opportunities as their primary reason for leaving the business. Therefore, Schneider Electric decided to take action and launch a talent marketplace to transform internal mobility and empower its employees to take charge of their professional development. Mentoring is a core component of internal mobility at Schneider Electric.
Novartis
With a headcount that surpasses 100,000, breaking down silos is a priority for Novartis. In the past, associates struggled to gain visibility into opportunities outside of their region and function. This led to the launch of a mentoring program with an emphasis on cross-functional and cross-country pairings. The company used its talent marketplace to generate mentee-mentor pairs based on relevant expertise.
Cooley
Cooley is a global law firm with over 1,500 lawyers. The intricacies of their legal work demand that new attorneys be ready for action quickly. Their Cooley Academy Mentoring Program (CAMP) was designed to onboard new employees and get them ready to fasten connections with more experienced individuals. This provided them with a good support system that helped them become competent in their new roles faster.
McGraw-Hill
The education publication giant, based in New York City, has offices in 38 countries, which provides interesting opportunities for mentorships. The company undertook a comprehensive planning and strategy approach to its mentoring program development. A case study on the process shows that most employees are well-served by the program. 97% of participants said that they would recommend the program.
Real-world Examples
Why diversity coaching is important?
In 2018, Starbucks found itself in the middle of a public relations crisis when an employee called the police on two black men who were waiting for a friend in a Philadelphia cafe without ordering anything. The men were arrested, despite doing nothing wrong, and the incident went viral. Many activists used the incident to highlight bias against Black people and protesters began to hold demonstrations inside stores. In response, Starbucks decided to close all of its 8,000 U.S. stores for a day to hold racial bias training. Experts in diversity and inclusion pointed out that research shows that this type of one-day training often fails to produce even short-term results. Starbucks leadership acknowledged that the issue could not be solved within one day, and promised to create a program that was central to the company’s core mission and in line with its values.
Productivity Mentoring
Deloitte created its D-180 digital mentoring program in response to COVID-19. It targets university graduates, high school students, and college students. The aim is to provide participants with the skills and support they need to find meaningful work within the evolving new economy. Deloitte provides this service to youth in the Middle East and Cyprus. They advocate for an education that goes above and beyond academia. Deloitte pairs with mentors through internet mediums with young mentees and oversees their relationships. The aim is to encourage future employment opportunities
Conclusion
Therefore, mentoring and coaching are related to the dissemination of knowledge and the development of skills provided at various levels. The processes, when effectively done, are likely to bring positive change in individuals and hence, increase the productivity of organizations.
Resource: engagedly.com ~ Image: Canva Pro