Introduction and guidance

Exploring career mentoring and coaching is a free badged course which lasts 8 weeks with approximately 3 hours’ study time each week. You can work through the course at your own pace, so if you have more time one week there is no problem with pushing on to complete another week’s study. You’ll start this course by considering the differences and similarities between mentoring and coaching. Then, you’ll focus on developing your own self-awareness, an important skill for those wishing to gain the most from mentoring or coaching interactions. As you progress, you’ll understand how these approaches can enhance career development. You’ll explore the key skills and attributes of a good mentor or coach and learn how choosing the right individual can maximize the relationship. Along the way, you’ll consider whether you could become a mentor or coach yourself and reflect on how that might benefit your own career. It will explain what mentors and career coaches do and how a colleague or expert who can ask the right questions, challenge assumptions, and help an individual to find the best solutions for themselves, can make a significant difference in a wide range of situations and contexts. Working through this course will help you to: identify how a mentor or coach can support career development; understand the skills and characteristics of an effective mentor or coach; and find out how to become a mentor or coach when you feel ready to take on that role – whether now, or at some stage in your future career.

Course learning outcomes:

After completing this course you will be able to:

• Recognize the difference between mentoring and career coaching, and analyze how each can enhance your career development
• Understand the importance of self-awareness and how to develop your own
• Choose a mentor or coach with confidence
• Get the most from your relationships with mentors or coaches
• Reflect on your own experience and consider whether you could become a mentor or coach yourself.