Why a Coaching Qualification Makes You a Better Mentor

It helps to have a coaching qualification if you want to be a better mentor. It enables you to have a wider skill set to draw upon while mentoring someone. The advantages it gives you can result in expediting your success within your mentor relationships. This is why a coaching qualification leads to being a better mentor.

What is the difference between Coaching and Mentoring

Someone who is a coach is not a mentor. And someone who is a mentor does not operate in the same manner as a coach. However, while there are distinct differences there are complementary factors between the two. This means that having a coaching qualification is advantageous when you mentor someone.

What is Coaching?

A coach operates in the present. Meaning that they have defined intentions to achieve agreed-upon goals. Therefore, coaching is purpose-driven. It is about defining a goal, strategically planning how to achieve it and then working towards achieving the goal.

A coach is an expert at assisting someone to leverage their inherent capabilities so as to perform at their best. They hold their client accountable during their coaching journey and provide encouragement when needed. They are also an external, unbiased sounding board and will help their client see and mitigate challenges.

Increasingly, individuals and companies are seeing coaching as an efficient way to become more effective and productive. As a result, coaching and coaching qualifications are becoming a norm.

“Coaches help people unlock their potential.”

What is Mentoring?

Mentorship focuses on providing motivation, guidance, emotional support and insight. A mentor is an expert within a specific field. Someone who chooses to be mentored is doing so to improve their performance in that field.

The relationship between mentor and mentored can be formal or informal. It’s usually within a professional setting, however, many people have personal-lives-focused mentors. Furthermore, the relationship could be longer-term or short and purposed to achieve an explicit objective.

A mentor doesn’t aim to replicate themselves in the person they mentoring. Instead, the objective is to upskill them while keeping their best interests at heart. Mentorship is also about modelling best behaviours and learning alongside someone more experienced.

“Mentors and Development driven.”

How does a Coaching Qualification Advantage a Mentor

A mentor values learning. They need to be able to provide constructive and helpful, honest feedback. To be a good mentor you need to be able to articulate the situation at hand. Then highlight possible challenges and propose solutions. This puts those that are being mentored in a position where they are out of their comfort zone. Consequently, this means that they need to feel continually encouraged, supported and secure. Therefore, a great mentor has good communication and interpersonal relationship skills. Additionally, a mentor needs to find a balance of professionalism and personal-relationship with someone they’re mentoring.

A coaching qualification builds and refines many of these attributes of a great mentor. This is because the basis of coaching overlaps with what’s needed to successfully mentor someone.

4 Areas of Coaching Competency

1. Develop trusting and professional relationships.
2. Great listening, questioning and explaining communication skills.
3. Valuing and promoting learning and outcomes.
4. High level of professionalism and adherence to ethical standards.

Building a foundation which is based on these four areas of coaching competencies is an excellent way to ensure that you are a better mentor. It immediately ensures that you have the correct skills to mentor in an effective and efficient manner. For example, having insight into human behaviour and how to help someone leverage their strengths to their advantage.

Where to do a Coaching Qualification

It’s important to do a coaching qualification through a reputable and accredited institution. SACAP’s coaching courses are accredited by the International Coaching Federation (ICF) and aligned with COMENSA.

There are three primary coaching courses: Coach Practitioner Programme, Advance Coach Practitioner Programme and a Postgraduate Diploma in Coaching. These equip graduates to be competent and knowledgeable practitioners. A distinct advantage of studying coaching at SACAP is that courses have an Applied Psychology component. This enables SACAP Coaching Graduates to have an in-depth understanding of the human psyche. Which is an invaluable skill when it comes to understanding why and what people do as well as providing the right motivation to a client. For more information on how to start becoming a coach, enquire now.