Coaching, Mentoring and Developing Staff Skills Blog

Very informative, creative and easy to follow. Lots of different presentation styles used which kept my attention. This can be extremely difficult when delivering digitally so thought it was...

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Chris Farmer's Leadership and Management Training Blog

Welcome - the purpose of the blog page is to provide you with a never ending source of valuable, practical and entertaining information designed to help you get the best performance from yourself and others.

In these blogs you will find all the information you need to make faster progress in less time and effort. Here you will find all the information you need to achieve your goals. In addition to helping yourself to achieve your goals, you can use the same information to help others to achieve their goals.

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Coaching, Mentoring and Developing Staff Skills Blogs

Coaching and mentoring are two excellent ways to develop staff.

There are differences between coaching and mentoring:

Coaching is a form of development that is based upon Personalised one to one training that will improve the learner’s skills knowledge and technique.
Mentoring is a different form of development that is similar to coaching except that a mentor teaches by Role Modelling. A mentor teaches by example; demonstrating the skills that the learner can then emulate.

To be a good coach and mentor requires a high degree of skills.

Here is a list of skills required by both a coach and mentor:

Excellent communication skills. To communicate clearly and concisely. Not vague or ambiguous language
To encourage and motivate the learner.
How to give negative feedback in a positive way
To be exemplars of the methods they want to see others use. To teach be example.
To ask questions that stimulate right answers, (as opposed to giving answers readymade): This is called the Socratic Method
To build the self-image and self-confidence of others
They purposefully build the levels of goal focus, confidence and knowledge, and they thus will produce improved team performance.
To be a mentor and a coach is a privilege and an honour.

Coaching, Mentoring and Developing Staff Skills Blogs

Six Rules for Better Teaching and Training

2 June 2020

By following these basic rules, you can improve your training style to ensure your audience fully engages and benefits from your presentation.

Giving Effective Feedback

27 July 2018

Performance feedback in the workplace is valuable to the personal development of individuals and to the effectiveness of the organisation itself. Managers need training in how to deliver feedback consistently and rationally.

Coaching Skills Training

4 July 2017

In order to get the best performance from yourself and others, you need to develop yourself in three areas of coaching skills relating to continuous improvement, learning and motivation.

Help With My Staff Training

21 October 2016

Help your managers and team leaders in handling difficult members of staff, by providing them with good training in the correct skills and knowledge.

Coaching and Mentoring Training

2 September 2016

To be a coach or a mentor is a privilege. By developing your coaching and mentoring skills, you can help others to achieve their goals.

Good Training is Fun

5 August 2016

There is a certain thrill of excitement that you feel whenever you know you are learning useful, new stuff and making rapid progress. Progress feels like fun. So good training is fun.

With the Right Training, you can Do Anything

26 April 2016

Have you got what it takes to succeed? If not, then the right training will certainly help you achieve anything you want to do.

Are There Universal Laws That are True for Everyone?

13 November 2015

Base your staff training on ten principles for successful action.

Blog Categories

Accelerated Learning (6)

Accelerated learning techniques are special methods of organising information, so that you can more rapidly memorise and more accurately recall it on demand. Accelerated learning also includes mind mapping and creative thinking techniques.

Assertiveness (5)

Assertiveness is a both a communication style and a mind-set which, when combined, allows a people to express their meaning using just the amount of forcefulness, in relation to their body language, voice tone and spoken language.

Change Management (16)

Change management training is how to use the fact of continuous change, to work FOR you, rather than against you. It is a fact that all improvement implies change, but many people hate change. Change management is about training people to love change as a means of making the future better.

Coaching, Mentoring and Developing Staff (8)

There is a pressing need to develop the next generation of leaders, managers and technical experts. One way to develop staff is through coaching and mentoring. To be an effective coach and mentor is not an easy skill to master. These blogs discuss the skills of coaching, mentoring and staff development.

Communication - Clear Communication (80)

One to the most important facets of communication is clarity. Whenever you write or speak, your words should denote only one possible meaning. If your words can be properly interpreted in multiple ways, then you are creating the conditions for confusion, error and misunderstanding. These blogs discuss the nature of clear communication.

Communication - Listening Skills (6)

Communication includes the ability to attend to, understand and memorise what people say to you. Effective Listening is an active, not a passive process. These bloggs discuss what it takes to be a good listener.

Communication - Nonverbal Communication (8)

Communication includes a large visual component. How you appear, as you speak, makes a big difference to how your message is received. These blogs are about how to best use your body language. (Eye contact, posture, dress, hand and arm gestures, etc.)

Communication - Persuasive Communication (41)

Persuasion is the art of convincing others that your ideas are good, right, fair and practical, and in addition, persuasion includes motivating people to put your ideas into action. Persuasion is a key communication skill that everyone should study. These blogs discuss how to be more persuasive.

Communication - Written Communication (5)

A part of your communication is in the written form. Writing well is a skill that most people do not study, though it is of immense importance. These blogs discuss how you might improve your written communication.

Conflict Management and Handling Difficult People (28)

Conflict is inevitable, and when it occurs, you need to resolve it quickly and efficiently. Conflict management (and handling difficult people) is about managing your communication and your emotions, so that you arrive at a negotiated solution as quickly as possible. This series of blogs discusses the various ways you can best manage conflict.

Decision Making and Problem Solving (22)

Decision making is the skill of selecting the best option from many options. And problem solving is the skill at determining the causes and implications of a problem and finding efficient remedies. This series of blogs discusses the elements of effective decision making and problem solving.

Goal Setting (8)

Success is the achievement of a worthwhile goal. And therefore, the first step to achieving a goal is to set it. Goal setting is the starting point of all achievement and is one of the most important topics you could study. This series of blogs discuss the elements of goal setting.

Leadership and Management (151)

Leadership is the art of setting a clear goal and inspiring others to achieve it. Management is the art of organising resources so as to most efficiently achieve that goal. This series of blogs discuss the details of leadership and management.

Mental Health (12)

Mental health is the skill of managing your own mind so as to achieve mental stability and a high degree of rationality. Mental ill health is the opposite, mental instability and irrational actions. This series of blogs, discusses how you might manage your mind.

Motivation (34)

Motivation is an emotion that induces action. Without motivation, nobody would achieve anything of value. This series of blogs discusses the various ways you can motivate yourself and others.

Other (36)

Whilst interesting and informative in their own right, these blogs don't fit into a category.

People Management (13)

People management is a combination of skills including goal setting, communication, planning, handling conflict and motivation skills. This series of blogs discusses people management skills.

Personal Development (73)

The best investment you can make is in your own personal development. If you develop your skills, knowledge and experience, then you will maximise your potential to produce excellent results. This series of blogs looks at the details of personal development.

Personal Effectiveness (87)

You are not paid for how hard you work; you are paid for your effectiveness. It is possible to improve your effectiveness and get more valuable work done in less time and effort. This series of blogs discusses how you might improve your personal effectiveness and therefore speed up your rate of progress.

Positive Thinking (9)

The quality of your results is based upon the quality of your actions. And your actions are controlled by your thoughts. To simultaneously improve both your material results and your mental health, it is vital to develop the skills of positive thinking.

Stress Management (4)

Stress can be both good for you and bad for you. Good Stress triggers improvement. Bad stress grinds you down. Stress management is about using stress to help you to improve, and to avoid the negative effects of too much stress. These blogs discuss the various aspects of stress management.

Supervisory Management Skills (4)

Supervisory management skills are a combination of five major skill sets, setting goals, communication skills, planning, performance management and motivation. These blogs discuss the details of supervisory management skills.

Team Leadership (7)

For the most part, we all work in teams. Leading the team effectively can make all the difference to the performance of the team, as a whole. This series of blogs discuss the details of team leadership.

Teamwork (19)

Teams are often composed of people who have very different personalities and skills. In order to perform well, the members of the team must work well together and play to each other’s strengths. This series of blogs covers the importance of team work skills.

Time Management (16)

Time management is about prioritising, planning, organising and delegating, so that, at any moment, you are always adding the most value, and setting the conditions for your future success. This series of blogs investigates how you might better manage your time.