8 Reasons Why You Need a Coach and Mentor for Your Career
In my talks ‘let go to leadership’ I talk about having both a coach AND mentor, and key differences between them and how they benefit your career and personal development. I have learnt a lot by having a brilliant coach and mentor and highly recommend you steer your way to getting both a coach and a mentor.
In this blog I’ll talk about the difference between a coach and mentor and what they can bring to your development, and some mentorship programmes I can recommend!
What is a Coach?
Coaches are trained to bring out the answer from within you for the present and future. They don’t give advice or mentorship or learnings from their own experience but they ask the right questions to bring you to your own conclusions. I had a brilliant coach and they helped me organise my thoughts around topics, and helped me understand my own thoughts around different situations and although they encouraged me to get to the answer myself, it may not have been the route I would have concluded myself. They help you think differently.
What are the benefits of a coach?
⭐ Helps with self confidence
⭐ Gives you a clearer understanding of yourself
⭐ Helps you identify strengths/ weaknesses
⭐ Supports you to build skills
What is a Mentor?
A mentor will be someone who has experience. The relationship between a mentor and a mentee is a precious thing, they can be your go to through challenges and wins, and they may draw upon their personal experience to guide you, so there is a high level of trust between a mentor and a mentee. You’ll link up with a mentor who is relevant to your requirements, such as entrepreneurial mentorship for starting up a business. Another example- perhaps you’re just starting out as a developer and you have a mentor who isn’t directly a manager but is a lead of another team to guide you through your coding career, or a mentor could be someone you don’t work with who has experience in your field. A mentor is someone who can advise you and draw upon their experience to guide you.
What are the benefits of a mentor?
⭐ A Mentor will help with motivation
⭐ A Mentor may share personal/sensitive topics to help guide you
⭐ A Mentor can empower you
⭐ A mentor can help develop your communication skills!
Recommendations
For mentorship programmes I recommend you check out:
Empowering women in tech mentorship scheme find out more on twitter
And the 500 mentors program ran by: Next-up and Leeds City Council.
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