Effective learning strategies can be broken into four categories, which are:

• coaching
• practicing
• assessing, and
• feedback and reinforcement

Coaching

Mentoring techniques and learning strategies go hand-in-hand. A good mentor is a good coach, and a good apprentice is a good learner. Although coaching differs slightly from mentoring, it is a part of the mentoring process, in that coaches watch you practice specific skills and then identify areas to improve, without necessarily having to perform the act or process themselves as part of the work being done. Coaches incorporate their feedback, practice again, and repeat the process.

Mentoring involves more of a nurturing relationship where a more experienced individual provides guidance, advice, and support to a less experienced individual. Mentoring is more of a side-by-side long-term relationship and should be based on mutual trust, respect, and open communication. Mentoring can have a lasting and positive impact on the mentee’s career. Within mentoring, coaches must be able to communicate effectively on multiple levels. Coaches that prove successful are adaptive and insightful in providing information on how to develop oneself and fulfill goals. Here are some of the other key skills required for coaching:

• Active listening
• Effective communication
• Empathy
• Problem solving
• Goal setting
• Time management
• Patience
• Practical feedback

In summary, effective coaching leads to good mentoring.

Practicing

“Practice what you preach” cannot be overstated in the mentoring process. We’ve all likely heard the adage “if you’re not at least 10 minutes early for work, you’re late”, and setting a good example for an apprentice involves being on time or early for shifts and breaks. To not do so yourself, while telling the apprentice otherwise implies that you don’t respect anyone but yourself. In regard to practicing by the apprentice, this is normally done within their performance of the actual task, often with you right beside them. If the context warrants it, you may have them practice and demonstrate their understanding of the skill where the impact of a mistake is negligible and can be minimized or will cause no damage. This can help with the apprentice’s confidence if they know that a mistake will not put the project in jeopardy.

Assessing

In educational terms, there are two forms of assessment, which are formative and summative. Formative assessment is on-going and takes place while an apprentice is performing a task, with the journeyperson right beside them, offering guidance and encouragement. Apprentices can make mistakes and likely correct them at the time, allowing the finished product to be acceptable. With more practice, the outcome can be improved upon, both time and quality-wise. A summative assessment involves the apprentice being assigned a task, and once completed, it is scrutinized and critiqued by the journeyperson. This may be a good choice where there is a task that can be set up and practiced in a shop environment, with no immediate need for a high quality, on time product. Soldering copper pipe and fittings in a shop environment is a good example of both formative and summative assessments. Performance and demonstration are key elements of the journeyperson’s oversight for any new tasks or skills being passed to an apprentice. The journeyperson performs the task correctly and the apprentice demonstrates their understanding and proficiency by repeating it, while being guided by the journeyperson.

Feedback and Reinforcement

Effective feedback should be positive and carefully considered, to increase the apprentice’s motivation and reinforce their confidence. For example, in offering feedback, the mentor may choose phrasing like “what went well was…” and “even better would be…”. Although flaws in process, such as in the soldering process above, need to be pointed out, each flaw should be countered with a positive suggestion. Some apprentices may have pre-conceived notions (bias) that they are incapable of the expectations put upon them, generally termed a fixed mindset, and it is the mentor’s responsibility to navigate through the apprentice’s apprehension using positive reinforcement. If the apprentice has a mindset focused on growth, they will take the advice and improve their skills. Those with growth mindsets often climb the ladder to become supervisors and business owners. Those with fixed mindsets generally often don’t feel they can learn much and may feel they have always suffered setbacks in some form. Fixed mindsets may be a result of poor prior feedback, so it is essential that a mentor become familiar with the preferred learning style of the apprentice, in order to dissuade any thoughts that they cannot learn from their mistakes and reinforce in them the belief that their failures are correctable and not a reflection of their intelligence. Thoughtful and positive reinforcement from a mentor contributes to a growth mindset.

Now complete Self-Test 12 and check your answers.

Self-Test 12