Coaching and mentoring conference

The Foundation for Human Resources Development is holding a half-day conference on 'Coaching and mentoring: How they enhance performance', on May 18, in the Portomaso Suite at the Malta Hilton.

Coaching and mentoring offer the person at work a special and intensive opportunity to address thoughts, emotions and spiritual factors directly and strongly linked to performance and output. It is an extremely efficient and effective way to address core competencies that directly influence an organisation's current and future performance.

Enhancing the individual performance of key players and major stakeholders within any organisation leaves a positive and rewarding impact on the organisation itself. In the Maltese context, coaching and mentoring are very fitting as people are extremely cautious as to with whom, how, where and when to expose their inner thoughts and emotions.

For managers, executives and directors coaching and mentoring is an ideal way to address competency and professional issues that normally then go on to influence heavily the performance of a larger number of people.

Professor David Clutterbuck, one of Europe's most prolific and well-known management writers and thinkers, who has written more than 40 books and hundreds of articles on cutting-edge management themes, will be the key speaker.

Professor Clutterbuck is also co-founder of the European Mentoring and Coaching Council, and runs a thriving international consultancy, Clutterbuck Associates, which specialises in helping people in organisations develop the skills to help others.

He is perhaps best known in recent years for his work on mentoring around the world. His books on mentoring and coaching include the classic Everyone needs a mentor, Learning Alliances, Mentoring in Action, Mentoring executives and directors and Coaching at Work.

Professor Clutterbuck has been responsible for the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of highly successful mentoring and coaching programmes in numerous organisations around the world, including Standard Chartered Bank, Goldman Sachs, Lloyds-TSB, the World Bank and Nokia.

He has worked with the Audit Commission in the UK, implementing a diversity mentoring programme that is now in its fifth phase. In October 2003, the Audit Commission scheme achieved a Gold Standard under assessment by the International Standards for Mentoring Programmes in Employment (ISMPE).

Professor Clutterbuck heads the UK research committee of the European Mentoring and Coaching Council and maintains an extensive and continuous programme of research in his own right. His latest research has been into the under-explored territory of team coaching, the results of which will be published as Coaching the Team this summer.

The broad scope of his work can be seen on the Clutterbuck Associates Website at www.clutterbuckassociates.co.uk. He can also be contacted by e-mail at david@clutterbuckassociates.co.uk.

Dr Clutterbuck's presentation will focus on 'Mentoring, coaching and the effective manager' - the differences between coaching and mentoring; how coaching and mentoring support the organisation in retaining and developing talent; the competencies of effective coaches and mentors; and how companies can ensure that their investments in coaching and mentoring deliver rapid and substantial results.

Dr Paul D. Micallef, a chartered clinical psychologist working as a consultant in staff training and deve-lopment at the Ministry of Health and a clinician by profession, will also be a speaker. Dr Micallef, 40, is married and spent the first 18 years of his life in Malta. When he turned 18, and after sitting for his A-levels in Pure Mathematics, French and Physics, he moved to the US to read for his first degree in psychology.

Dr Micallef then spent three years working as an assistant psychologist in health promotion and education. While performing his work at the Ministry of Health, he also worked in a hospice on a part-time basis and was actively involved as a volunteer trainer in the field of addictions.

During this time, Dr Micallef sat for and passed the qualifying examination with the British Psychological Society and obtained his graduate membership with the same professional organisation. Following this, he applied for clinical psychology training in the UK.

In 1992 he moved to Birmingham, UK, where he started reading for a doctorate in clinical psychology at the University of Birmingham and specialising in adult mental health. After completing his doctorate in 1995, he stayed on in the UK and continued working in two main areas performing a variety of roles and responsibilities.

Initially he started working in mental health but gradually grew more involved in staff training and continuing professional development as well as people at work (human factors).

For the last 10 years, he has maintained a personal interest and dual role in clinical practice and human factors at work. As a result, he has worked in the public and private sectors combining his experiences and skills in these two complementary fields.

Last November Dr Micallef moved back to Malta to work for the Ministry of Health as a consultant in staff training and development and opened a new private practice working with adults suffering from mental health problems.

Dr Micallef's presentation will focus on the 'Psychology of Performance' and will highlight how people and their softer skills are essential to the success and performance of any organisation, especially at times of turbulence, adjustment and change.

He will outline how coaching and mentoring allow direct access to the bed-rock of an organisation while tapping into people's beliefs, emotions, knowledge and value base.

The cost of the conference for FHRD members is Lm55 (including VAT) and Lm65 for non-members.

When booking, please indicate which workshop you wish to attend. Bookings are to be made with Ms Sandra Agius through e-mail: sagius@fhrd.org or by phoning 2137-8895.

Bookings will be confirmed strictly against payment. Cancellations are accepted till Monday, May 15. Should you not show up, then the full fee remains due. However, substitutions of delegates will be accepted. Professor Clutterbuck would like to meet HR directors and senior managers on the eve of the conference. The FHRD shall thus hold a reception at its premises in San Gwann on May 17 at 8 p.m.

Due to limited space, bookings for this complimentary event will be on a first-come-first-served basis, not exceeding 60 guests, provided these guests would have booked for the conference.