AMF WOMEN: Coaching, Mentoring and the Power of Shared Experience
Explore coaching and mentoring, learn the difference and discover how your experience could support others within AMF WOMEN.
The AMF WOMEN community brings together an extraordinary range of professional experience, practical knowledge, and different perspectives. This interactive session will explore how we can use that collective experience to support one another more personally and meaningfully.
Hosted by OsecoElfab, the session will be led by Rachel Mansfield, Kate Simpson and Professor Joanna Berry. Together, they will share personal experiences, practical guidance and techniques that can help people develop their confidence, navigate workplace challenges and take the next step in their careers.
Many of us have benefited from someone who listened, offered honest advice, challenged our thinking or encouraged us at precisely the right moment, even if we never formally called that person a coach or mentor.
Through AMF WOMEN, we want to create more of those trusted relationships.
Our ambition is to begin developing an informal coaching and mentoring network: a community of people willing to offer confidential support, experience and a fresh perspective to others.
You do not need to be a senior executive or a qualified coach to contribute. Sometimes the most valuable thing you can offer is your time, encouragement and experience of something another person has not yet encountered.
What will the session cover?
This will be a practical, informal and highly interactive session exploring:
- The differences and overlaps between coaching and mentoring
- When coaching or mentoring may be most useful
- The benefits for both the person receiving and providing support
- The qualities and behaviours of an effective coach or mentor
- Listening, questioning, confidentiality and healthy boundaries
- Real-life examples of coaching and mentoring in action
- How an AMF WOMEN coaching and mentoring network could work
Try coaching for yourself
Attendees will be introduced to the GROW coaching model:
- Goal – What would you like to achieve?
- Reality – What is happening now?
- Options – What could you do?
- Will / Way Forward – What will you do next?
You will then have the opportunity to put the model into practice through a friendly, structured exercise based on a realistic workplace challenge.
We will also explore a potential “mentoring speed-matching” activity to help attendees identify what they could offer others and the areas where they might value some support themselves.
Coaching and mentoring: what’s the difference?
Mentoring is about sharing experience.
A mentor draws upon their own knowledge and career journey to offer guidance, encouragement, and perspective. They may share lessons they have learned, suggest possible approaches, or help someone navigate a particular challenge or opportunity.
Coaching is about helping someone find their own answers.
A coach uses thoughtful questions, active listening, and constructive challenge to help someone think more clearly, identify their goals, and decide what action to take. The coach does not need to be an expert in the other person’s role or industry.
A simple way to explain it is:
A mentor may say: “Here’s what I learned when I faced something similar.”
A coach may ask: “What do you think is holding you back, and what could you do next?”
Both approaches can be incredibly valuable, and many effective professional relationships naturally include elements of each.
Whether you would like to support someone else, find a mentor or coach of your own, or simply develop skills that will help you become a better listener and colleague, this session will give you practical tools, useful connections, and plenty to think about.
Join us at OsecoElfab from 10:00 am on Tuesday 13 October and help us shape the next stage of the AMF WOMEN community.
