With preparation and perseverance coaching or mentoring can make a great contribution to your career and your organisation. By Alexa Michael, information specialist, CIMA.
Your CIMA skills, together with any training your company provides, should go a long way towards helping you meet your long term career goals.
However, individuals and the organisations they work for all have different needs.
Both personal and corporate goals will change over time. You may have some gaps in meeting your goals that formal qualifications and training alone cannot fill. Mentoring or coaching might be able to help.
Allan Watson, CIMA member and winner of the 2008 Young FD of the Year, had a mentor in the earlier stages of his career.
He says: 'I certainly think that you can benefit from a mentor. There was a CIMA student two years ahead of me when I was working at Reckitt and Coleman (now Reckitt Benckiser) who is now an FD of a FTSE250 company. He was very supportive and it's very helpful to have someone you can bounce ideas off. They don't have to be hugely senior or even in finance but someone you have a rapport with. It can be really useful to have someone who is more experienced and can put your career into perspective.'
But is mentoring or coaching right for you?
They might be appropriate if you:
- need the space to develop or improve new or existing skills
- are on a 'fast track' career programme
- should focus more on your career path
- are developing a new career
- have reached a career plateau and want to progress, but don't know how
- want to change career direction
- respond better to alternative learning methods
- are returning to work after a career break.
How do they differ?
Mentoring is an indefinite, relationship based activity with several specific but wide-ranging goals.
It does not have to be a formal process. The mentor is a facilitator who works with either an individual or a group of people over an extended time period. The agenda is open and evolves over time.
With coaching, the focus is on meeting very specific objectives within a set time period. Coaching is mainly concerned with performance and the development of certain skills. It usually takes place on a one to one basis and has a very specific purpose. There is normally a planned programme and goals are agreed in advance.
What benefits can mentoring and coaching bring?
Mentoring can increase your individual (and team) commitment to the organisation and its goals. It can offer a greater insight into the organisation's workings and give you the chance to meet different people, and to network.
Coaching can give you the opportunity to learn new skills, offer learning opportunities geared to your individual needs, and allow you to select how and what you learn.
Mentoring and coaching are not panaceas. Mentoring cannot succeed unless there is an agreed plan of action and clear objectives. Coaching cannot effect change unless clear, measurable goals are set, and both the coach and protégé are committed to the coaching programme. Neither mentoring nor coaching can act as a replacement for conventional training.
If you think you might benefit from mentoring or coaching, think about how the process could link to your organisation's purpose and strategy. Talk to your manager about your current work situation, your goals and how you see yourself in a particular role.
Once it has been agreed to begin mentoring or coaching, you and your mentor/coach should decide which areas to concentrate on, devise an appropriate programme and agree the timescales.
Mentoring and coaching take time to produce results. With the right preparation and perseverance, they can make a great contribution to your career and your company.
Related links
The Coaching and Mentoring Network
The Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD)
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