Out with Unstructured Coffee and Lunch Chats. Instead, Be Deliberate about Installing a Coaching Culture

One of our clients recently said that he has observed greater engagement from his team as a result of taking concrete steps to be an effective mentor and coach. 
Indeed, studies show that coaching and mentoring can increase engagement, job satisfaction and morale, teamwork and even bench strength. 
Granted, some of the best mentoring and coaching experiences occur informally over coffee, in corridors, and chance interactions during the course of work. 

However, in order for these interactions to have the potential to be powerful, people in the organisation need to have a coaching and mentoring mindset. This could shift your organisational culture. Imagine people having candid coaching conversations across your organisation. 

To make this happen, ensure your people listen and communicate skilfully in order to be the best colleagues they can be. 
Comprehensive coaching and mentoring programmes can sensitise them to the following:

Identify opportunities for coaching
Learn how to recognise when a person is open to coaching. Here are some cues you can listen for: 

1. I need help with this.
   
2. Could I run some ideas by you?
   
3. I need help thinking things through. 

Help them master the basics of a good coaching conversation
Coaching isn’t about providing solutions. It’s about uncovering answers through inquiry, and exploration. Coaches know that the following are absolutely fundamental to a productive interaction.

1. Listen carefully
   
2. Respond thoughtfully by asking questions to draw out more insights, prompt reflection or to expand the person’s mental model
   
3. Resist imposing your own views and solutions

Ensure that mentoring programmes are structured 
Many organisations encourage mentorship without any structure. This results in interactions that often go nowhere. 

Start building a culture of mentorship by having structured programmes and providing guidance for fruitful mentoring relationships. Make it clear that mentoring topics could include discussions about purpose and skills, situational advice and giving and receiving constructive feedback. 

In the initial stages, you might have to hire experts to structure programmes and guides, but once a culture of mentoring takes hold, your people will need only minimal handholding. 

This post was co-written by Communications Strategist, Consultant and Coach, Bharati Jagdish.