How can you best support those you coach or mentor?

1 Know your role

As a coach or mentor, you have a specific role and responsibility to your coachee or mentee. You are not their boss, friend, therapist, or teacher. You are their partner, guide, facilitator, and supporter. Your role is to help them explore their challenges, opportunities, strengths, and weaknesses, and to empower them to find their own solutions, actions, and outcomes. You are not there to tell them what to do, judge them, or solve their problems for them.

2 Establish trust and rapport

Trust and rapport are essential for any coaching or mentoring relationship. Without them, your coachee or mentee may not feel comfortable, confident, or motivated to share their thoughts, feelings, and goals with you. To build trust and rapport, you need to show genuine interest, respect, empathy, and curiosity. You also need to be honest, reliable, consistent, and ethical. You can demonstrate these qualities by listening actively, asking open-ended questions, giving constructive feedback, keeping confidentiality, and following up on your commitments.

3 Set clear and realistic goals

One of the main purposes of coaching and mentoring is to help your coachee or mentee achieve their goals. But what are their goals? How do they define success? How will they measure their progress? These are some of the questions you need to ask and clarify with them at the beginning of your relationship. You also need to help them set clear and realistic goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). This will help them focus their efforts, track their results, and celebrate their achievements.

4 Provide support and challenge

Another key aspect of coaching and mentoring is to provide the right balance of support and challenge for your coachee or mentee. Support means offering encouragement, recognition, resources, and guidance. Challenge means stimulating, stretching, and challenging them to think creatively, critically, and strategically. You can provide support and challenge by using different coaching and mentoring techniques, such as brainstorming, role-playing, feedback, reflection, action planning, and accountability. You also need to adapt your style and approach according to their needs, preferences, and readiness.