Coaching and Mentoring on the job can help an individual to explore their limitations and develop further coping skills or character.
Coping Skills are just another way of looking at Character. We typically talk about introducing coping skills where the character trait is weak or absent. Coaching and Mentoring is an excellent way of building on a person’s existing character.
A generational challenge?
Generation X & Y, the produce of the last few generations have not had the same levels of feedback and guidance in character development that earlier generations had, because of changes in society and family structures. We live in increasingly anonymous communities, often out of immediate contact with family and old friends. The old feedback and reinforcement loops that once held communities together may well be gone for ever. A replacement mechanism is badly needed.
The value of Coaching
The McQuaig Self Development Report® is the ideal tool to kick off a Coaching Programme designed to help an individual to cope better with the demands of the job, where the skills and knowledge itself is not the issue.
In this report, a person has a clear and comprehensive description of their core temperament. This enhances their awareness of their potential. Most importantly there are tips and guidelines to help them make more of their inner strength while minimising the impact of their natural limitations.
We should regard these “limitations” as natural partners to their strengths. You cannot have one without the other. However, not all limitations are relevant to their job or role. It is important to point this out, because otherwise a person may become overwhelmed by the document. Equally, not all relevant limitations will be of equal importance to their job, some will rank higher than others.
By ranking a person’s development needs, you or they can plan a programme of personal development that is focused on the most important needs first. They can get some quick critical wins early on to give them the momentum to see the programme through. This type of development planning can over time bring an individual to a whole new level of performance. It can therefore provide the best protection against workplace stress.
Emotional Intelligence
The McQuaig Self Development Report® is also an important foundation of the pathway to that other business buzz word, Emotional Intelligence. EI is simply a combination of Ability, Character and Temperament, where their Self Awareness has led to the development of the Coping Skills to extend their potential.
This is the pathway to Leadership in its many forms.
About the Author: Cormac McGrane is the principal of THG Ireland and partner of Holst. To find out more about the McQuaig Psychometric System visit www.mcquaig.co.uk or call 0203 111 9292.
