Unleashing the inner being: The power of mentorship & coaching

THERE is nothing that intrigues me more than seeing someone grow to their maximum potential. I am a firm believer that all of us are on this earth for an intended purpose (Jeremiah 29 vs 11) and given the right environment, complemented by coaching and mentorship, we can blossom into the best versions of ourselves to fulfill our life purpose.
Being a product of coaching and mentorship myself, I have had amazing opportunities to equally mentor and coach a significant number of people, leading to the attainment of great career and life journeys that they had never thought possible in their lifetime.
The credit to such success is not necessarily to select actors in this movie, but key principles – defining and aligning to a purpose, understanding the strengths that you can leverage to fulfill your purpose and developing goals towards attaining your various targets.

Audrey Mlambo is the Head People & Culture Stanbic Bank Zimbabwe & South & Central Africa

Mixed together with the right levels of encouragement, guidance and challenge from people that have been put in your life to support your life journey, it can only lead to a winning recipe.
There is a popular saying on how “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”- unknown.
This aligns perfectly with the people management principles we learn on allowing people to play to their strengths. This is one thing that mentorship assists with (identifying your strengths and guiding you on leveraging the same). A combination of coaching and mentorship is about partnering with individuals in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.
The magic lies in helping people find themselves, to see them grasp their purpose and know exactly what they are about in life. There are so many opportunities lost, so many relationships broken because there was no one to intervene and direct.
So how exactly does coaching and mentoring help bring out this Best Version?
Self-Introspection – for one to become a better version of themselves, being self-aware is critical. Is the vision clear, what personal values does one hold, are the strengths and weakness clear.
Having recently taken a couple through a personality assessment, I discovered that the source of some of their challenges related to their internal make up. The female turned out to be a powerful choleric (doer, extrovert, “bossy”) while the male emerged as phlegmatic (easy going, calm) in a cultural context that expects males to take the leading role. This showcased the importance of personality in relationship dynamics, be they professional or social.

We may not change our inert traits, but we can surely control how we respond with enlightenment.
This was our collective discovery as we unpacked the various challenges emanating from this couple’s personality mix.
It’s important to unpack the foundational issues and assess how people can relate better from an enlightened point of view, in order to mitigate the potential end of critical relationships. Self-introspection is, therefore, key and we are fortunate to have various tools that can help us in different contexts including Myers-Briggs personality tests and Gallup’s Strength Finder.
These assessments provide an intentional guided self-review that can help one to align with their purpose, unleash a passion “unknown” and tips on how to relate with different personalities.
Guidance on next steps / Goal setting – a colleague once confessed that had she known then what she knows now, she would have never walked away from a past job opportunity in which she had felt that she was not equipped for.
Everyone around her could see the potential, but no one walked the journey with her on how to unleash such potential.
I have noticed that some individuals have simply given up because they did not have anyone to unpack the issue before them. It is such an encouragement to know that there is no insurmountable issue, someone has walked the road and they usually have a survival guide.
Cheerleader – everyone therefore needs someone who believes in them, an accountability partner who knows their struggles and what every win means.

There is a popular saying on how “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”- unknown.

I remember helping a colleague who was very good at bringing harmony in cases of dispute. At this point he was involved in back-office work which did not give him exposure to leverage this strength in the workplace.
We went through a journey where I supported him to develop the additional skills and certification that allowed him to land a job that called on the execution of this strength daily.
Today, he thrives in a powerful role within an international organization and his strength continues to shine through. He was open to the possibilities, he set goals and became accountable for attainment of his goals, presenting his progress to an accountability partner.
There is unprecedented power in mentorship and coaching. Our true greatness is waiting to be unleashed when we engage that person who influences us to self-introspect, helps us evaluate our goals and guides us on how to deliver.
After all, we all need cheerleaders to help us on the journey of being the best version of ourselves!  By Audrey Mlambo

● Mlambo is the Head People & Culture Stanbic Bank Zimbabwe & South & Central Africa