Mentoring Strategies
Mentoring is an essential process in the workplace to improve the relationships among the staff members and facilitate their practices of learning. Consequently, the role of the instructional coach encompasses effective leadership, the creation of values, and setting an example for learners. Mentoring strategies might differ depending on the context, but the coach should always consider the objectives and personal qualities of the mentees. Ultimately, the current paper examines three effective mentoring strategies and their effect on the ongoing development of adult learners.
Transformative Learning
At present, one of the most prominent mentoring strategies is transformative learning. This theory redefines the learners’ perception of various concepts by presenting new information (Biasin, 2018). In other words, it facilitates the ongoing development of adults by emphasizing their prior experiences as the groundwork for personal and professional growth. For instance, new employees adjust to the organizational specificities in the workplace by adding the acquired information to their life experiences.
In this strategy, the mentor should facilitate the learning process by teaching their mentees soft skills, such as self-reflection and self-directed learning. Thus, the teachers should not necessarily provide adult learners with specific answers but encourage them to understand the problem from within (Biasin, 2018). To implement this strategy, the mentor should have a comprehensive understanding of the human psychology and learning process of adults. However, if implemented correctly, transformative learning can directly affect the learners’ capabilities for self-reflection and self-efficacy. Ultimately, a transformative learning strategy allows students to understand their motivation, fostering ongoing development.
Andragogy
The second strategy revolves around the concept of Andragogy – a set of teaching principles for adult learning. In general, this strategy implies that adults have an extensive “reservoir of experience” that can be used to facilitate their ongoing development (Merriam, 2017, p. 23). Furthermore, people become more self-directed with age which helps them define their objectives, desires, and values. According to Sharan Merriam (2017), coaches can utilize these principles to further facilitate the self-directing component of adults’ learning. In the process, mentors should reveal the internal motivation of their mentees and introduce a more problem-centered approach. Similar to transformative learning, instructional coaches should have a clear understanding of psychology and significant communication competencies to implement this strategy effectively.
Andragogy strategy focuses on the adults’ internal motivation to learn, making it an effective method to facilitate their self-direction and self-reflection competencies. The mentor should foster this process by asking critical questions, being transparent in communication, and forming a trusting relationship with mentees (Merriam, 2017). In turn, this approach allows learners to understand the connection between their internal motivation and the ongoing development. The learning adults would achieve a better understanding of problem-centered thinking and utilize it to accomplish their goals.
Modeling-Oriented Strategies
Lastly, the third examined approach concerns modeling-oriented strategies of mentorship. It is a prominent technique of instructional coaching that allows the teacher set an example for behavior patterns or decision-making (Woulfin & Rigby, 2017). This approach utilizes the concept of a “role model” to demonstrate the importance of socially accepted rules in the workplace for adult learners through example (Woulfin & Rigby, 2017). To implement this strategy, the mentor should be conscious of their own behavior patterns, communication, and leadership competencies. Moreover, this approach should be used as a complementary strategy to other types of transformative coaching (Woulfin & Rigby, 2017). The theory supports the learners’ trust in the mentor and facilitates their ongoing development. Combined with transformative learning, the mentor can significantly change the learners’ understanding of self-reflection and self-direction significance.
References
Biasin, C. (2018). Transformative learning: Evolutions of the adult learning theory. Phronesis, 7(3), 5-17.
Merriam, S. (2017). Adult learning theory: Evolution and future directions. PAACE Journal of Lifelong Learning, 26, 21-37.
Woulfin, S., & Rigby, J. G. (2017). Coaching for coherence: How instructional coaches lead change in the evaluation era. Educational Researcher, 46(6), 323-328