Coaching & Mentoring Skills Course for Doctors and Healthcare Professionals

Understand the difference between coaching and mentoring

Coaching and mentoring overlap, but they place different emphasis on expertise, advice and ownership of the conversation.

Coaching is generally more non-directive. The coach uses questioning, listening and reflection to help the other person develop their own understanding and identify their own way forward. Mentoring may involve more guidance and use of the mentor's own experience and professional knowledge.

The course helps you understand these differences so that you can choose the right balance between asking, guiding and advising rather than using the same approach in every situation.

Know when to coach, mentor, teach or advise

Not every developmental conversation should be handled as coaching.

Sometimes somebody needs clear instruction, particularly when they lack knowledge or experience. At other times they may benefit from advice, mentoring or an opportunity to think through the problem themselves.

The course compares coaching with training, counselling and consulting and helps you recognise when a coaching approach is useful and when another form of support is more appropriate.

Understand directive and non-directive approaches

A directive approach assumes that the coach or mentor has the answer and should provide guidance or instruction. A non-directive approach assumes that the other person may be better placed to understand their own situation and can often generate more useful solutions when given the opportunity to think.

You will explore the advantages and limitations of both approaches and consider how experienced coaches and mentors move between them according to what the individual needs.

The objective is not to become completely non-directive. It is to avoid providing solutions simply because doing so feels quicker or more comfortable.

Adapt your mentoring style

Different people need different levels of support, challenge and direction.

The course explores different mentoring styles and how the balance between support and challenge can be adjusted according to the mentee, the issue being discussed and the stage of the mentoring relationship.

This helps you avoid assuming that the style that works well with one person will necessarily work equally well with another.

Ask questions that develop thinking

Effective coaching depends heavily on the quality of the questions you ask.

You will explore the difference between questions that simply gather information and questions that encourage somebody to analyse, reflect, test assumptions and generate possibilities.

The course considers open and closed questions and how careful questioning can help somebody move from describing a problem towards understanding it more clearly and deciding what they want to do next.

Use the GROW model to structure coaching conversations

The GROW model provides a practical framework for structuring a coaching conversation around four areas: Goal, Reality, Options and Way forward.

You will learn how to help somebody clarify what they want to achieve, explore their current situation, identify possible options and commit to practical next steps.

The model provides structure without turning the conversation into a script. The emphasis remains on helping the coachee develop awareness, responsibility and ownership of the outcome.

Listen without taking over the conversation

Listening is one of the most important coaching skills and one of the easiest to underestimate.

Experienced clinicians and managers are often used to identifying problems quickly and offering solutions. In coaching, this instinct can become a barrier if it means the other person never has enough space to think through the issue themselves.

The course explores active listening, reflection, summarising and the use of silence, helping you become more comfortable allowing the conversation to develop without immediately filling every gap with advice.

Help people take ownership of their development

One of the central purposes of coaching is to increase awareness and responsibility rather than creating dependence on the coach.

You will consider how to help another person identify their own goals, generate options and commit to actions that they have helped create.

This can make developmental conversations more meaningful because the individual is not simply complying with somebody else's solution; they have greater ownership of what happens next.

Use action learning effectively

Coaching skills can also be applied in groups rather than only in one-to-one relationships.

The course introduces Action Learning Sets, in which a small group helps an individual examine a real problem through structured questioning and reflection rather than immediately offering advice.

You will explore how careful questioning from the group can help the individual challenge assumptions, consider alternatives and develop their own actions or solutions.

Give feedback that supports learning

Feedback is an important part of both coaching and mentoring, but poorly delivered feedback can quickly become defensive or judgemental.

The course explores how to make feedback more useful by focusing on observed behaviour and by balancing support with appropriate challenge.

You will consider structured approaches to feedback and the importance of encouraging the other person to reflect on their own performance rather than simply telling them what you think they did well or badly.

Develop greater self-awareness as a coach or mentor

Good coaching requires awareness of your own behaviour as well as that of the person you are supporting.

You may have a natural tendency to solve problems, fill silences, reassure too quickly or steer somebody towards the option that you would choose yourself.

The course encourages you to recognise these habits and consider how they may affect the conversation. Greater self-awareness allows you to make more deliberate choices about when to question, when to listen and when your own experience genuinely adds value.

Structure a mentoring conversation effectively

A productive mentoring relationship benefits from clear expectations and structure.

You will consider how to establish the purpose of the relationship, clarify what the mentee wants to achieve, agree how you will work together and ensure that conversations lead towards meaningful actions rather than becoming a series of informal chats.

The course also explores how mentoring sessions can be reviewed and developed over time as the needs of the mentee change.

Build trust and manage confidentiality

Trust is central to an effective coaching or mentoring relationship.

The person you are supporting needs to understand the boundaries of the relationship, what will remain confidential and whether there are circumstances in which information may need to be shared.

The course considers confidentiality, role boundaries and potential conflicts where the coach or mentor also has managerial, supervisory or assessment responsibilities.

Clear boundaries at the beginning of the relationship can prevent misunderstandings later and create a safer environment for honest discussion.

Recognise when coaching is not the right intervention

Coaching is not the answer to every problem.

Some situations require training, direct management, specialist advice, counselling or another form of support. There may also be circumstances in which the coach cannot remain sufficiently independent or impartial.

The course helps you recognise the limits of your role and when referral or a different form of intervention is more appropriate.

Understand how people learn differently

People differ in the way they reflect on experience and turn that experience into learning.

The course introduces approaches including Kolb's Learning Cycle and Honey and Mumford's learning styles to help you consider how individuals may engage differently with reflection and development.

The purpose is not to label people rigidly, but to encourage greater flexibility in the way you support somebody else's learning.