Every day we face alarming news, fake or otherwise, that throws our minds into turmoil. How we decide to react, engage and evaluate our situation is down to us, our mindset, our ability to be resilient and how we develop our adaptive capacity. We have two solutions to support yourselves or encourage others, to make the best choices during this pandemic, maintain good mental health and to thrive through chaos!
Mentoring Archives
How a mentoring culture can support inclusion
During National Inclusion Week 2020, can you put your hand on your heart and say that, your organisation takes a holistic approach to inclusion? Is it embedded into organisational values, people management practices and employee behaviours? Does your organisation give your employees fair opportunities to contribute and develop?
Mentor supervision, where’s the latest research?
A good question and one that Paul Stokes and I were chewing the cud over earlier this week. We have been asked to update our chapter for the second edition of Coaching and Mentoring Supervision and Practice on this very topic. We found the absolute paucity of new research and interest in mentor supervision very disappointing.
Covid-19: languishing lettuce, ‘side hustles’ and career transition!
What do languishing lettuce, ‘side hustles’, career transition and the catalyst of Covid-19 have in common? Read on and find out how the current pandemic may be the trigger to reassess your working life and future post lockdown.
Internal coaching and mentoring to support through Covid-19
We are now into the fourth week of Covid-19 lockdown in the UK, but already it is obvious our old ‘normal’ has gone and will not return. I have previously explored how mentoring interventions can support the transitions that individuals’ experience as they engage with this new world. However, in this article I will consider how internal coaching and mentoring can actually improve individual’s ability to reinvent and adapt both themselves and their organisations to thrive in the future. Continue reading
Transition mentoring to enable your employees to thrive in a pandemic
A quarter of the world’s population is now in lockdown. Lis Merrick explores the situation and offers a perspective on what employers can do in this extraordinary chaos. Exploring mentoring through the lens of William Bridges’ Model of Managing Transitions1, she proposes the greatest gift an employer can give at this time is a mentor to support through these incredulous changes in our lives caused by the Covid-19 virus.
Our virtual Coaching & Mentoring team continues virtual client working
The Coach Mentoring Ltd team has been working virtually for the last 15 years. In fact in 2019 we delivered 90% of our business virtually—this suited both us and our clients. We are now moving to 100% virtual delivery as a result of the Covid-19 virus pandemic. So it’s very much business as usual; we aren’t anticipating any change to the high quality of service our clients enjoy.
Save the Children grow and nurture their talent – PGC case study
After a successful first cohort on the Postgraduate Certificate for Coaching and Mentoring for Leadership in Organisations in 2019, Save the Children has launched another cohort for their Senior Leadership Team. In addition to building up the senior humanitarian leadership behaviours, Save the Children hopes to build up a pool of humanitarian coaches and mentors who are able to:
- Strengthen national/local leadership through coaching and/or mentoring
- Increase the effectiveness of knowledge transfer in an emergency response through a mentoring coaching hybrid approach
- Create a ‘coaching culture’ in order to grow and nurture talent in order to deliver key results, strengthen leadership capacities, increase retention and deepen engagement
Accredited PGC – Coaching and Mentoring for Leadership in Organisations
Join this accredited PGC (postgraduate certificate) open programme this spring to develop your practical skills and gain a qualification as part of your continuing professional development. You will be part of a small group of like-minded individuals looking to become accredited coaches or mentors. Perhaps to develop your coaching and mentoring behaviours as a leader or manager, or to support your professional HR or OD role. Your tutors will blend initial face-to-face contact to establish your study cohort, with the convenience of virtual delivery thereafter.
Slowdown to achieve more in your life and career
Some time ago I was delivering a mentoring workshop for some senior managers in a very large financial services business. The training manager was taking part and at the first coffee break he came up to me and said “They say it’s going well, but it’s a bit slow!”. “Thank you for the feedback” I said and when we restarted the workshop, I mentioned “I have had some welcome feedback from your training manager. He tells me that it is going well, but it’s a bit slow!” “Yes, yes” said the managers. “Ok” I replied, “That’s good, but I don’t think it’s slow enough!” Continue reading

Mentoring is one of the most powerful learning and change interventions our clients use within an organisational setting. Some organisations see it as an activity, which can take place within the line of command; other organisations see it as incompatible with the fundamental openness of the relationship. Similarly, some cultures see the exercise of authority and influence on the part of a protégé as appropriate; others see mentoring as primarily a developmental activity, with the emphasis on empowering and enabling people to do things for themselves. Some people view mentoring as synonymous with coaching, or teaching; others see it as a form of counselling. Certainly others view it as a kind of godfather relationship.