Course description

Been asked to coach a new team leader or mentor an apprentice, and not quite sure how to do it well? This course shows you, step by step, how to have conversations that help people think for themselves, grow in confidence and make real progress, without taking over or simply telling them what to do.

It's a full course, not a list of tips. There are 10 sections and 50 written lessons, each with a practical task. You follow a warehouse shift supervisor in Wakefield through six months as he learns to coach a newly promoted team leader and mentor an apprentice, with every session, question and decision along the way, including the mistakes. Every section has a worksheet, model answers, a cheat sheet and ready-to-use templates and tools.

What you'll learn

• Getting started: what coaching and mentoring are, how they differ from managing, training and counselling, and when coaching helps.
• Listening and questions: listening to understand, open questions, summarising, silence and building trust.
• Structuring a conversation: the GROW model, goals that matter, exploring options and agreeing actions, plus other simple frameworks.
• Setting up coaching: first meetings, coaching agreements, confidentiality, notes and involving the line manager.
• Running sessions: first sessions, keeping momentum, getting unstuck, supportive challenge and ending well.
• Mentoring: setting up a mentoring relationship, sharing experience well and mentoring new starters and apprentices.
• Everyday coaching: ten-minute coaching, coaching your own team, coaching online and building a coaching culture.
• Boundaries and growth: emotions, referral, ethics and inclusion, reflective practice, supervision and your next steps.

The final project

You'll put together your own coaching and mentoring plan: a full GROW session plan for someone you could coach, a mentoring agreement and first meetings for someone you could mentor, a review of a practice conversation and a development plan for your own skills. A project brief, a plan workbook and a self-review checklist are included.

Who this course is for

• Supervisors, team leaders and managers who want to coach their people.
• Experienced staff asked to mentor a colleague, new starter or apprentice.
• HR, learning and development people and volunteers who support others' growth.

How the course works

Read each lesson, then do the practical task using the templates and tools in the practice pack. Many tasks are short conversations to practise with a colleague or friend. Go at your own pace and keep lifetime access, so you can come back whenever you take on someone new to coach or mentor.

What will I learn?

• Explain the difference between coaching, mentoring, managing, training and counselling
• Listen closely, ask open questions and summarise so people think more clearly
• Structure a coaching conversation with the GROW model and set goals that matter
• Set up a coaching relationship with a clear agreement, confidentiality and the line manager involved
• Run a series of coaching sessions from first meeting to a good ending
• Mentor colleagues, new starters and apprentices by sharing experience without taking over
• Use short coaching conversations in everyday work, and know when to tell instead
• Handle emotions, boundaries and ethical dilemmas, and keep growing as a coach

Frequently asked questions