Your personal development coach

Agree to the Best Helping Role

A main goal of a SMART helper is to help others become increasingly self-managing.

This may involve one or more of the following roles. Be sure you and the person you are helping have the same expectations of your role.

  • DIRECTOR . If the learner is very new to a learning situation, you may temporarily DIRECT the process, helping move quickly through the novice stage to take on more learning responsibility.
  • TEACHER . You may have knowledge and methods to share as a subject matter expert.
  • COACH . Your role may be primarily to support the person’s learning process. The Tip, “Match Your Support to the Person’s Needs will help you be a great coach.
  • ENVIRONMENT ENGINEER . Your biggest contribution may be through rewards, recognition, work redesign, and providing new tools, resources, and facilities for action
  • MENTOR . You may be a friend, sounding board, and cheerleader – someone who continually expresses confidence in the person
  • SPONSOR . You may be there to open doors when the person needs access to opportunities or resources.
  • CO-LEARNER . You may be in a reciprocal learning relationship where you and the other person have different learning support to offer each other, and where you both are competent in SMART learning. (Note, always be open to learning, even if you are more experienced and knowledgeable.)

All relationships are fluid – ever-changing

  • This is especially true for helping relationships where a key goal is for the person being helped to become more self-managing and self-transforming.
  • Always have two perspectives on the relationship: the perspective of your specific role and a focus on how increasingly capable and independent the “helpee” is becoming.

Notice when you need to add or shift to a new helping role. Discuss and agree any changes with the other person. Get his or her views as part of this shift.