8508-502 Undertaking an Extended Period of Management Coaching or Mentoring in the Workplace

Unit Overview

8508-502 Undertaking an Extended Period of Management Coaching or Mentoring in the Workplace is the biggest unit within the ILM Level 5 qualification in coaching and mentoring. The leaders must be able to consistently apply principles of mentoring and coaching within the workplace. This involves being able to deal with clients over a longer period of time. In some cases, the managers are required to handle more than one client simultaneously.

They should be in a position to develop effective strategies and measures that are able to effectively meet the learning needs of each client. This requires them to develop sustainable mentoring programs and keep logs from each client hence ensuring they build relationships using effective communication and feedback strategies that address the needs of the clients.8508-502 as a unit helps leaders to develop the required knowledge and skills that facilitates the accomplishment of the desired levels of mentoring and coaching within the workplace.

With the information taught in this unit, the learner should be able to fully master the process of developing and implementing a mentoring program for clients with different developmental needs hence, making this a significantly important unit ensures there is a sense of sustainability and ability of the learner to deliver the desired services to clients. The unit is taught in 20 hours of guided learning and contributes 29 credit values towards the completion of ILM Level 5 Qualifications in Coaching and Mentoring.

Suitability of the unit

Mentoring and coaching is a continuous process that implies a leader should develop a sense of sustainability required to deal with multiple clients simultaneously or at different times. This unit provides learners with the skills and knowledge to achieve their goals. The unit involves being able to prepare more than one mentoring program, which is important for all stakeholders or individuals responsible for conducting mentoring activities in their areas of responsibility, organisation context or private practice.

The unit is designed to cater for the learning needs of managers and leaders within the organisation. It helps them build and master skills that they will require in different areas of practice. This ensures they deliver required quality of services to clients through mentoring and coaching. However, the concept is applicable to other stakeholders. It can be used by private mentors and coaches to ensure they improve their skills and ability to handle clients effectively. Employees can also pursue the unit to improve their social interactions and relationships with others and prepare them for future leadership engagements within their organisations.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of the unit, the learners should be able to:

• Provide a rationale for coaching or mentoring a minimum of six clients and be able to agree on a valid contract with each client

• Conduct an assessment of the individual developmental needs of each client in line with organisational, departmental or team goals and objectives

• Create and prepare a coaching and mentoring program targeting the minimum of six clients

• Compete a minimum of one hundred hours of coaching or mentoring activity with a minimum of six clients

• Evaluate the use of different coaching and mentoring tools and techniques in the formal mentoring or coaching activity

• Assess personal ability to create relationships by using effective communication skills and techniques

• Maintain effective records of goals discussions and progress towards achieving the goals and objectives

• Collect feedback from clients and other stakeholders on the effectiveness of coaching interventions in accomplishing the set goals

• Summarise the coaching activities and conduct a personal review and assessment ton patterns and areas of learning

• Discuss and agree with coaching supervisor/ tutor a contract that requires realistic personal learning and development goals for hundred hours of management and mentoring practice

• Summarise the coaching or mentoring activity, making reference to the activities and challenges within the process

• Evaluate the impact of the coaching or mentoring activity you have received at an individual and organisational level.

Key Learning Areas

8508-502 Undertaking an Extended Period of Management Coaching or Mentoring in the Workplace provides coverage of key concepts and areas revolving around understanding the management of coaching or mentoring within the workplace. As such, they share similar learning areas but with an emphasis on a practical setting that focuses on meeting the learning needs of a minimum of 6 clients. Some of the main learning areas include:

Creating a Program for Coaching

In this area of learning, the main content focuses on the ability to identify effective goals and targets for a mentoring or coaching program with more than 6 clients. The learners are guided to understand the learning and development outcomes that are intended in various formal mentoring or coaching activities that are being pursued.

Implementing the Formal Mentoring or Coaching Activity

This area of learning focuses on the actual process of implementing a formal coaching and mentoring activity. The learners are guided on the effective approaches to coaching and mentoring that is coherent and logical. They are guided to understand the models of learning and personality preferences characteristics such as Kolb’s learning cycle, Belbin, Myers Briggs, and Argyris’s double learning, among others and identify their use and implementation. Additionally, learners are introduced to models of coaching and mentoring hence improving their theoretical mastery. Learners are guided to effectively plan a mentoring or coaching session and implement it effectively with the guidance of their assessor in supervised practice.

Reflecting on Personal Management Coaching or Mentoring Practice

This area of learning helps the learners to understand the strategies for building effective relationships. The learners are guided to strategies that can be used to encourage openness, honesty and trust throughout the mentoring and coaching activity hence encourage receiving of feedback. The use and completion of a personal reflection log are helped to evaluate social interaction strategies and reflect on the theory and behaviour of the learner as a practitioner.

Supervision and Reflective Learning

In this area of learning, the learner is required to actively take part in the mentoring or coaching program as a mentee. They develop an understanding of the diverse nature and value of networks and the ability to analyse personal networks. In this area of learning, they are able to learn how to use networks to support personal and others’ continuous professional development

Wrap Up

The main form of assessment in this unit is the supervised practice where the ability of the learner to effectively conduct mentoring activities for more than 6 clients is observed and the reflective logs evaluated. However, a written assessment is also used to ensure the learner is able to master theoretical information within the unit.