Something we have noticed is that many professions and sectors are advocating mentoring or coaching schemes in the workplace to help employees attain the best of their skills and abilities and potentially progress into senior roles.
The security sector has seen a growth in mentors helping those new to the industry as well as those that need an extra boost in developing skills. With workforces becoming more diverse, mentoring has certainly allowed there to be a level playing field that allows everyone to better themselves and even attain progression or promotion. For those considering a mentor in their job role or considering taking up a mentor role, we thought it would be ideal to highlight some of the positive aspects which you can gain from mentoring/coaching schemes.
Leadership skills
For those considering a mentor/coach position, taking someone under your wing enables you to gain an insight in leading and guiding individuals. For many of you who take up coaching or mentoring, it is a way to help express your thoughts on workplace initiatives and encourage training which you feel employees would benefit from to help improve performance in job roles. For those who are considering getting a mentor or coach, having a leading figure can help you understand the skills and attributes ideal for leading and delegating a team.
Networking and connections
in recent years, everyone has gained the same qualifications or similar. Be it at school, university or through apprenticeships. Employers now looking at CVs and job applications want to see beyond academic and employment skills. Most of you may have heard the saying that nowadays ‘it’s about who you know’, which tends to be the case in majority of job roles. Having a mentor or coach in these circumstances allow you to build a network of contacts, which is beneficial particularly if you want to progress your career within the company. Building a network in general allows you to gain references and contacts that can help you achieve a position in other companies and sectors.
Character building
Whether you’re new to the industry or you have been working for a company for years, sometimes old habits get the better of us. Sometimes we need to unlearn things we may have used in previous job roles or adapt to new formats and ways of working in our environment. A mentor allows you to gain new skills and understand what is required from an employee at the workplace. Alongside understanding leadership management, a mentor sets an example of workplace expectations of an employee. Instead of feeling intimidation that usually occurs with a manager, you’re able to learn without extra pressure. Mentors allow you to learn as you go along and enables you to develop progress at your own rate, hence allowing you to build and improve on skills and attributes which are desired for your company in addition to employability overall.
These are just some of the main advantages of mentoring/coaching and generally employees across sectors have expressed satisfaction from these types of services. We feel mentors and coaches particularly in the security sector have enabled people to attain targets and positions which may have been difficult in the past.
