Mentoring
Mentoring can provide the bridge between the “hard business skills” of operational P&L management and the “softer skills” of commerical, organisational and leadership development.
In these cases, coaching for skills-based or concrete developmental outcomes is not necessarily the best approach – mentoring provides a much more useful way to develop emotional and intuitive capabilities.
For employers, mentoring can deliver significant business benefits, particularly as individuals become more senior, and especially in a post-pandemic world where much more is expected from our business leaders.
For individuals, mentoring can deliver a plethora of learning and development benefits, including:
having a role model and critical friend
exploring different approaches to leadership and providing a trusted and safe environment within which to practice
helping to explore and build personal resourcefulness
simply having confidant to talk with, who can listen and provide experienced and intuitive understanding
settling into new and more challenging roles quickly
the opportunity to explore and understand their own motivations in a given set of circumstances
experience powerful outcomes as they create the space to explore their emotional state
Last but not least, through the skillful pairing of mentor and mentee, individuals experience dedicated time and attention from a mentor who delivers intellectual challenge in a safe and confidential space outside of the confines their usual role.
Sharon has a unique skill of managing to be empathetic to the challenges one faces but also firm and directional with the areas of personal development that one needs to focus on. I have always been impressed with Sharon’s ability to appraise business situations and an individual’s impact within that very quickly. Sharon then makes sound judgement calls with advice and coaching on how to move forward.
Whilst in my role as Global Marketing Director at Virgin Atlantic, I made no hesitation in recommending her to my Board Peers. VAA was embarking on an immense period of change and I knew Sharon was an excellent option to help us through this with her coaching and leadership support, particularly with her experience in bringing leaders with different strengths together to create a high performing team.
I hopefully will continue to work with Sharon for many years and I fully recommend her to anyone looking for Leadership Coaching, mentoring, or performance and effectiveness development.”
