Unit 522 - Facilitate coaching and mentoring of practitioners in health and social care or children and young people's settings
2.4 - Explain the different types of information advice and guidance that can support learning in the work setting & 4.3 - Explain the support needs of those who are working with peers as coaches or mentors
There are 8 key communication skills for effective coaching that would also apply to mentoring: listening, questioning, constructively challenging, seeing different perspectives, encouraging and supporting, trusting and using intuition as well as keeping the focus on the coachee. (www.goalsandachievements.com).
Listening is not just about hearing words expressed. It involves a non-judgemental focus on all verbal communication and picking up non-verbal signals such as body language to absorb all the information available to understand how to respond.
Questioning effectively requires short sentences and are usually open, such as: “what do you want?” This elicits deeper feedback, can be powerful and allows the coachee to move towards what they want to achieve.
Constructively challenging is about not holding back but at the same time not destroying the relationship. By showing genuine interest it is possible to tease out how to overcome any barriers and promote better understanding. For example a challenge I used recently involved a colleague (very quiet staff member) distancing themselves from the staff team. I challenged this with “You are aware that you are a valued member of our team and all of the staff love to work with you, however, I feel that you have not been yourself lately and I would like you know that I am here to listen to any issues that are concerning you regarding work or your personal life.” This staff member later confided in me of a recent bout of depression that she had been experiencing, had I not chosen the correct words to open her up I potentially could have added pressure to an underlying