The relationship of these two terms is also illustrated by the assumptions they hold. Coaching is a transformation process believing that people have the ability to change from one character to another. This also applies in mentoring where it is assumed that humans are capable of transforming. Therefore, an individual has to go through mentoring before being coached.
Finally, the relationship of coaching and mentoring is stressed by the fact that both take humans as the best choice makers. Mentoring is all about improving a person’s standards. As a person goes through coaching, he or she aims at attaining the best skills, which brings the aspect of mentoring.
Active Listening
This is a type of communication that involves both the listener and the speaker. The listener is expected to give feedback and prove that he or she has understood what was being communicated through paraphrasing the ideas. Active listening is vital in many ways when communicating to trainees.
Creation of Room for Response
This is one reason why active listening is necessary. The learners are allowed to ask for clarification and also give their responses about what they learn. This is important because it makes training transfer effective as the learners will be fully informed about the skills taught.
Minimization of Distractions
When engaging in active listening one is expected to pay attention to the speaker through maintaining eye contact and reading the body language. This is important because it ensures that the listener, who may be a trainee, gets all the information and instruction given by the trainer.
Three Techniques for Maintaining Interest in Training
While conducting training, the trainer needs to carry out the training in an organized manner to ensure that the set goals are achieved by maintaining interest of the trainees all through the session.
Asking Open Questions
The trainer must phrase the questions in such a way as not to limit the answers on ‘no’ or ‘yes’. When the questions are phrased as open-ended questions, the trainees are not limited to the set of answers expected from them. This helps them to think of the main meaning of the words and think deeper. This tends to improve the length and depth of the discussion (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2008).
Prepare Questions in Advance
It is advisable that the trainer prepares the questions on separate cards before the actual training day. This will help to avoid improvising while they watch. When the participants get the questions in advance, there will be no time wasted for them to think about answers.
Be Prepared to Answer Group Questions
When the trainees ask questions, it is always vital to make sure that a person passes through the question severally to understand them. In cases where the answers are known, the question should be re-directed to any group in order to facilitate full participation. It is important for a person not to argue the answers since this can waste time. Finally, it is best if questions are answered after the training if they are personal or private (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2008).
Peer support to the learning of new skills is important because it motivates the peers through informing them that what they learn will be accepted by their co-workers and supervisors. The peers will be motivated to get prepared for the learning activities before the training begins. During the training, they will also put more effort on acquiring skills from the activities. Finally, the peer support motivates the trainees to display the skills learnt at work.
Support from the supervisors entails how the managers reinforce the training activities. It is important in training transfer because it depicts that the materials and resources required in the process will be provided since the management and supervisors provide support. The supervisors also play an essential role in setting goals for the trainees.
Reference
Kirkpatrick, D. L., & Kirkpatrick, J. D. (2008). Evaluating Training Programs. New York: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.