Increasingly, today’s leaders are seeing the need to implement a coaching and mentoring audit of the people they lead. The reason being that this will identify any deficits in their workforce, be it in a corporation, non-profit organisation or small team. They can then implement a coaching and mentoring programme or urgent training intervention as required, knowing that it will deliver.

Gone are the days when companies can just assume what training is needed. It is only by having forethought and proper planning that success is achievable. This is why a coaching and mentoring audit can be hugely helpful. Nothing in life or in business ‘just happens!’ Everything that is good and great has been clearly defined, well thought out and strategised. This is success by intention.
Here is a coaching and mentoring audit checklist that will provide you with helpful steps forward in determining where appropriate training may be helpful in your organisation. These are based on core concerns that most leaders share and I hope that you will find them useful.
Coaching and mentoring audit checklist
1. Understanding: Do all stakeholders have a clear understanding of the unique differences and advantages between Coaching; Mentoring; Consulting; Training; Therapy; Counselling; Leading and Managing. This is critical for the success of any coaching and mentoring process or training intervention.
2. Buy-in: Does your proposed coaching and mentoring programme have the approval of top management in your organisation? Evidence of this is having someone prepared to lead the process and champion its outcomes. Do you have a project manager in mind to oversee this?
3. Inclusivity: Are you focused on developing a company-specific, measurable process that clearly evaluates all facets of the business? This includes:
- All stakeholders;
- Coaching and mentoring effectiveness;
- Key performance criteria for each person being coached;
- Strategic objectives;
- Company values and vision criteria;
- Project specific outcomes for each person receiving mentorship;
- Competencies and skills and personal growth;
- Leadership / management impact;
- Developing Teamness; and
- Achieving the high performance criteria of your organisation.
4. Budget: Have you allocated sufficient financial resources? Does your proposed coaching and mentoring programme include everything needed to achieve success? Part of this could be applying for grants and learnerships to link all resources into the proposed aims of your coaching and mentoring process. Have you undertaken a Return on Investment (ROI) exercise to measure the coaching / mentoring process will meet the appropriate financial criteria of your organisation? There are many books available that will assist you in calculating ROI specifically for training. For example, Measuring Roi in Mentoring and Coaching by Marius Meyer.
5. Selection Criteria: How will you decide on which coaching service provider to use? Do they have the necessary qualifications and local experience? Have they helped you consider the outcomes and assisted you in determining the skills and required knowledge to develop the course material? You will need to determine how you are going to appoint your coaches and mentors as well as the recipients of coaching / mentorship. This will require matching coach to coachee and mentor to mentee. What criteria will you use for this process? Have you focused on developing the roles and responsibilities of all concerned and are these linked to the outcomes?
6. Organisational Issues: Have you considered the possible challenges, risks and ‘what ifs’, that will influence the process and people negatively? What are the organisational issues you need to pay attention to? How will company politics affect the process and the people involved? What are some of the games people play that will add value or detract from the outcomes? What are the passion killers that you need to identify?
7. Support System: Do you have an appropriate support system in place? Have you focused on developing this for the coaches and mentors? Do you have a knowledge base and learning process engaged so you can collect the learning experiences of all concerned? Have you linked the entire process to your skills development programme?
8. Discipline: What is your plan around discipline within the process and how will it work when people do not comply or act out their commitments? Have you established a process to record the lessons learned during the initiative and can you align and re-structure based on this information? Do you have a basic administration process in place to handle this?
9. Outcomes: Can the outcomes be easily measured? Is the process linked to you HR system? What are you going to do with these measurements and how will you align the gaps discovered? Have you created timelines with milestones and measurements?
10. Closure: What do you have planned at the end of your coaching and mentoring programme or intervention? Will there be a celebration and graduation? How will you reward the recipients and honour them for what they have achieved? Where does this fit in to your ongoing skills development programme?
If mentoring and coaching are to be successfully implemented in your company or organisation, you will need to look at the entire big-picture, purpose, process and outcomes of a coaching and mentoring programme or intervention. All stakeholders need to be involved and the success of the programme linked to the focused passion as well. I wish you well in carrying out this Coaching and mentoring audit as well as with the planning and implementation of the programme.
Also read: Propel Your Leadership Skills Forward with these 4 Cogs of Management Proficiency