Coaching and Mentoring is a new focus area of Stay and Serve – HFI’s answer to the ongoing reality of international air travel restrictions and complexities to/from countries where our delivery partners operate. Connecting regularly with a young adult who’s learning the hard and soft skills necessary to secure a job in the global digital economy can make a huge impact on the success of their learning journey, personal transformation as a leader and becoming a well-qualified digital skills professional.
Our STAY & SERVE Goal:
Helping our Delivery Partners launch high quality candidates who are ready to successfully land a digital skills role in the local and global economy.
Answering WHY first..
When you cannot go to serve in person, the next best thing is to connect using available technology to deliver services to people that need them most. And there is no time like now – assuming 2022 represents another calendar year of very limited and challenging international travel.
⇒ The power of Belief
- Having someone believe in you can make all the difference, when you doubt whether you have what it takes to get through the training and transform into a high-quality candidate for a digital skills career;
- Being an international professional who will simply listen to a student as they walk through their transformational learning journey and relay their challenges, carries a lot of weight; and
- When mentoring is done well, students and their mentors drop their defenses and their economic, social, racial and faith differences dissolve in the context of relationship.
⇒ A sense of Reciprocity
- Not only will the mentee receive huge value from their coach, the mentor also gains a deep sense of fulfillment;
- A great coach steps into the shoes of the student, and helps them build a healthy identity; and
- Mentors encourage new ways of doing things, new ways to innovate and bring new ideas to challenge the status quo, learnings and insights flow in both directions.
⇒ It’s about Developing People
- By mentoring, we mean growth-focused relationships of a student and a seasoned business or technical professional who meet outside of their daily learning environment;
- Mentors help learners, who are looking to develop hard digital and soft business skills, outside perspectives (especially working with international clients), identify opportunities, partnerships, future risks and potential; and
- By committing to and making happen a defined, bi-weekly time invested in the iHub learner’s life and career aspirations, it communicates value, worth and dignity for a promising Digital Marketing learner.
⇒ Today’s leading companies focus on Mentorship
- Many corporations have developed comprehensive mentorship models that help their teams and individuals perform better, collaborate and integrate;
- Whether innovation or thought leadership, we’d love to have our partner’s learners be exposed to these proven industry principles and best practices that allow the best organizations to thrive; and
- Our partner Innovation Hub Africa provides coaching scripts and guidelines that, combined with seasoned commercial experience, helps coaches remain focused, culturally intelligent, supportive, appreciative of the learner’s context and avoids a “West to the rest” attitude coming across.
Being a Coach-Mentor with HFI: HOW IT WORKS
HFI’s volunteer Coach-Mentors are focusing on a specific Project: Innovation Hub Africa, with a specific Delivery Partner: Hillsong Africa Foundation, operating out of South Africa.
The project was launched in 2019 and has already graduated students who are now in traineeships with international employment partners. Twenty-two students graduated recently from the 2021 program and the current Intake process intends to offer 50 new students seats in the 2022 program to be launched in March. The program will continue to operate out of two hubs with learners located at the Philippi Village iHub in Western Cape and at the Media Mill iHub in Gautang Province. Students will be assigned either an international coach from the HFI Stay & Serve program or a local (South African) business professional coach. We look forward to your application today so that we can offer as many Coach-Mentors from Canada and the USA to supplement the pool of local coaches and thereby provide many iHub student learners perspectives on international clients and business.
⇒ Interests and Qualifications “Checklist”
- A heart for helping young, adult learners in their pursuit of a career in the global digital economy.
- Embrace and follow the iHub Coaching Standard Operating Procedures (download a copy here)
- Schedule and deliver a 30-45 minute coaching/mentoring session with your assigned student once every two weeks
- Committed to support your student through all three phases of the iHub training program (10 months, March through November, 2022)
- Willingness to be time flexible to schedule coaching sessions in South African time zone (this means sessions will be scheduled between 6-9 AM depending on your Canadian/USA time zone)
- Make use of an Online Learning Management System (LMS) to input and capture all student feedback, as well as track your students progress outcomes in real time.
- Participate through collaborative Coach’s online forums.
- Participate in a monthly Zoom call hosted by the iHub Coach Coordinator and joined by all local and HFI international coach-mentors.
- Prior experience coaching young business professionals is an asset but not a must have.
- See Stay and Serve volunteer checklist for other general Terms and Conditions
⇒ Will I receive Onboarding?
Yes! The iHub Coach-Mentor SOP contains all the information and tools you will need to successfully deliver your coaching/mentoring sessions. This self-study Coaching Onboarding / Reference will provide you:
- comprehensive templates that guide each coaching/mentoring session;
- links to the Learning Management System (LMS) to help you track the progress of your student and capture you observations as you spend time with them in each session;
- learn about and build Cultural Intelligence (CQ);
- connect with, build a deep relationship, understand and be sensitive with a student who comes with context, conditions, background, and limitations that are different than yours; and
- How to lead the coaching-mentoring conversations and communicate positively while avoiding common pitfalls such as “West to the rest”, etc.
⇒ Outcomes of the Program
Success looks like this…. You’ve:
Built a trust-centered relationship between the Coach and the Student that supports them through their learning journey and attainment of their goals.
Conveyed and Supported Values of: Integrity, Excellence, Innovation, Diversity, Compassion, Communication, and Personal Responsibility
Utilized best practices of Listening, Feedback, Vulnerability, Idea Sharing, Networking, Flexibility, Ownership, Self-improvement, Celebration and Vision
Delivered faithfully bi-weekly coaching sessions throughout the 10-month iHub Student’s learning journey.
Conveyed your best guidance based on your knowledge and experience and been a faithful sounding board for your student.
Assisted your student in whatever practical ways possible so that by the end of the program, they are ready to enter the business marketplace as a placed intern employee or freelancer.