Coaching and Mentoring Skills for Leaders and Managers – Paris, 18–22 Jan 2027

Programme overview

Technical depth: Practitioner · Practical mode: Role-play

Introduction

Most capability is built on the job, yet many managers still default to telling, fixing and checking rather than developing the people who report to them. The result is teams that depend on the leader for answers, high performers who leave for lack of growth and one-to-ones that never move beyond status updates. This Core Concept course equips leaders to coach and mentor with recognised models, structured conversations and clear agreements. Participants practise in observed role-play and leave with a Coaching and Mentoring Plan for their own team.

Course Objectives

• Distinguish coaching, mentoring and managing, and choose the right approach for each development need in a team
• Conduct structured coaching conversations using the GROW, CLEAR and OSKAR models
• Apply listening, questioning and SBI feedback techniques in day-to-day leadership conversations
• Set up mentoring relationships with clear agreements, goals and review points
• Handle resistance, ethical boundaries and the line between coaching and performance management
• Produce a Coaching and Mentoring Plan for the participant's own team

Target Audience

• Managers responsible for developing the capability and performance of their direct reports
• Senior specialists and team leads who mentor less experienced colleagues
• HR business partners and talent managers supporting coaching and mentoring programmes
• Learning and development managers building an internal coaching culture
• Project and functional managers who develop people through assignments rather than line authority

Course Outline

Day 1: Coaching, Mentoring and the Leader's Role

• Coaching, Mentoring, Training and Managing: Role Distinctions and Boundaries
• 70-20-10 Model and the Leader's Place in Workplace Learning
• ISO 30422 Learning and Development Process Overview
• Coaching Culture Maturity Assessment
• Team Development Needs Mapping with the Skill-Will Matrix

Day 2: Coaching and Mentoring Models

• GROW Model for Performance Coaching Conversations
• CLEAR Model and Coaching Contracting
• OSKAR Solution-Focused Coaching and Scaling Questions
• Clutterbuck Developmental Mentoring Model
• 2025 ICF Core Competencies and EMCC Competence Framework as Practice Benchmarks

Day 3: Core Coaching Skills

• Three Levels of Listening Practice
• Powerful Question Design: Open, Scaling and Future-Focused Questions
• Development Feedback Using the Situation-Behaviour-Impact Model
• Self-Awareness Development with the Johari Window
• Coaching Agreement and Session Record Templates

Day 4: Difficult Cases, Ethics and Impact

• Coaching Through Low Motivation Using Motivational Interviewing Techniques
• Coaching Versus Performance Management: Escalation Decision Tree
• Coaching Ethics: Confidentiality, Dual Roles and Referral Criteria
• Mentoring Programme Design: Matching, Mentoring Agreements and Review Points
• Coaching Impact Evaluation with the Kirkpatrick Model

Day 5: Role-Play Practice and the Coaching and Mentoring Plan

• Role-Play: Performance Coaching Conversation Using GROW
• Role-Play: Career Mentoring Conversation with a High-Potential Employee
• Triad Practice with Observer Feedback Against Competency Checklists
• Coaching and Mentoring Plan Drafting for an Own Team
• Peer Review and Plan Refinement

Skills You Will Gain

• Coaching Conversation Management
• Active Listening
• Developmental Questioning
• Constructive Feedback
• Mentoring Relationship Management
• Development Needs Analysis
• Coaching Ethics
• Learning Impact Evaluation

Why Attend This Course

• Return with a Coaching and Mentoring Plan for named team members, refined through peer review
• Practise real coaching and mentoring conversations with observer feedback, not only study the models
• Turn routine one-to-ones into conversations that build capability and ownership
• Learn from managers in other sectors and countries who coach and mentor within busy roles

Conclusion

Leaders who coach and mentor well build teams that solve their own problems and keep their best people. This course moves from the distinctions between coaching, mentoring and managing, through the principal coaching and mentoring models, to the listening, questioning and feedback skills that make conversations work and the difficult cases that test them. The final day puts every model into observed practice and turns the learning into a Coaching and Mentoring Plan that participants apply with their own team.