Endeavour Group offers coaching and mentoring services.

When you are learning – you are growing!

Each of us has stewardship responsibilities to be the best that we can, to use the talents, skills and aptitudes
that God has given us, so that all our good endeavours can have full effect.

Coaching and mentoring can be an important part of an individual’s on-going education regime. Often when
people use the term mentoring they are referring to some form of one-to-one coaching. The following may be
useful in distinguishing between coaching and mentoring.

Coaching tends to be relatively short term, sometimes just a few sessions and is normally focused on specific
issues or areas of performance. It is about the individual gaining the skills needed for certain tasks and
responsibilities directly related to their work. The emphasis is on skill based work performance rather than
any personal influences or issues. The coaching is concluded as soon as the individual is competent in
the skills needed.

In a professional work environment an individual’s immediate supervisor or manager normally has coaching
responsibilities for his or her direct reports. Where a supervisor does not have the requisite skills or ability to
coach for some other reason, then engaging another coach, possibly an external one may be an appropriate
solution. Often when a person is promoted or has accepted a new role in another organization, for example
being appointed for the first time to a senior management position, executive coaching can be very
helpful.….because…‘You don’t know, what you don’t know’

Mentoring is more relationship and long term oriented. It is about helping to form an individual’s overall
vocational development, not just coaching in specific skills and competencies required for the immediate job,
although these may also be included.

For mentoring to be effective it requires a safe environment to share the issues that the individual perceives
are important for their professional and personal achievement and development. Not surprisingly there needs
to be enough time to build genuine trust between the mentor and the individual.

The agenda for the mentoring is usually set by the individual being mentored, as they share their particular
challenges with the mentor. The meetings can be relatively informal and take place when the individual being
mentored requires specific guidance, support or advice.

The mentor is almost always a person who has held a more senior position than the individual being mentored,
is more qualified and can provide the knowledge and understanding that comes through having ‘been there – done that’.

Mentoring may include assisting the individual to: understand and articulate values and beliefs; become more aware of
the interconnectedness of professional and personal responsibilities; understand how to deal with developmental
barriers; be inspired to take up new opportunities, and so on.

If you would like to talk with us about our coaching and mentoring services
please contact us at admin@endeavour.org.nz

To learn more about mentors and find useful links we suggest you see
Michael Hyatt’s article at http://michaelhyatt.com/find-mentor.html