Earlier this year, I received a special assignment to build a workshop about coaching and mentoring. My audience was a group of experts and leaders from my revenue enablement department at SAP. The exact focus for the session was left to my discretion.
Based on early consultations with the team, I opted to use the time for two goals. First, to build awareness around the free internal coaching and mentoring services available to employees. Then, to share coaching philosophies and techniques that can be applied in multiple team scenarios.
My argument: You don’t have to be a coach to think like one!
In the span of sixty minutes, our group:
- Brainstormed about and shared our familiarity with the concepts of coaching and mentoring.
- Clarified the differences between coaching and mentoring in SAP’s peer learning programs.
- Explored the “coach position” mindset and brainstormed non-coaching scenarios where it might (and might not) be productive.
- Discussed the concept of open-ended questioning and practiced posing open-ended questions in ways that foster creative problem-solving.
- Learned how coaches use wheel exercises to help clients prioritize, and discussed how similar exercises can help with project planning.
I used Mural to create a virtual collaboration space for this session. The screenshot below shows our workspace before the session began.
The group feedback from this session was very positive. The team felt there was a good balance of instruction and action. They also appreciated the Easter eggs peppered throughout the session. Several leaders suggested that I repeat the workshop for a larger group.
If I had to do it over again, the biggest change I’d make would be the timing. A ninety minute session would have offered more opportunities to exchange feedback during the open-ended questioning exercise. It also would’ve allowed us to practice working with wheels.
Curious about the session contents? Want to bring it to your team? Let’s connect to discuss!
