Transforming Together mentoring and coaching conference

The beautiful gigantic Lord of the Rings statue in the international airport in Auckland, New Zealand 

Although mentoring is part of the key performance areas for academics at our university (Unisa) for about ten year already, coaching was incorporated only in 2015. Being a great fan of coaching I am often asked what the difference is. The example of sport is sufficient to explain. The mentor is like the captain of the team. S/he is a senior player, has lots of experience, is playing alongside the mentees, in the same team and in the same sport, and is usually on the field and in the battle the whole time while the coach is watching from the side, pointing you towards improvement after carefully watching you play/work/perform. Coaches often (but not always or only) work on short term goals and achieving immanent improvement. Personally, I gained a lot from having an excellent mentor when I was a junior academic but recently I gained much more from the coaching sessions than the mentorship programme.

The Centre for Educational Leadership Research at the University of Waikato in Hamilton, New Zealand will host the second Transforming Together coaching and mentoring conference from 11 to 13 October 2017. Registration is open and early-bird registration costs $695 (New Zealand Dollar I assume) with a 10 % discount for three or more people registering as a team from the same institution. 

The web page states that '[t]his international conference is for coaches and mentors, researchers and practitioners, students of coaching and mentoring, and interested parties working in all fields. It seeks to provide a platform for participants to connect; to deepen their knowledge of coaching and mentoring; and to contribute to the generation of quality research, theory, knowledge and expertise about coaching and mentoring.' David Clutterbuck will be the keynote speaker at this year's conference. 

The design of the web site makes it clear that cultural and language differences as influential in both mentoring and coaching, is fully recognized. South Africans, as part of the rainbow nation with its more than 30 languages (11 official) and wide range of cultures, can surely benefit from this opportunity to learn and present on our experiences.