Coaching and Mentoring Are Fundamental Lifelong Commitment

Coaching and mentoring are fundamental lifelong commitment for graduate nurses. They are a key competency for nursing practitioners, researchers, and educators. This is because coaching and mentoring help nurses engage in relationships and conversations directed at promoting career commitment and professional development. Nurses are coached and mentored to advance their career practice and opportunities (Hamric, Spross & Hanson, 2009). In addition, coaching and mentoring will help me, as a nurse increase satisfaction and enjoyment with my current roles.

Coaching activity

A learning contract is a common activity in coaching. It involves negotiating learning between the nurse and the coach. In any contract, the coach and the nurse must sign a written learning agreement enabling the nurse to participate in many decisions about components of learning and objectives. Thus, it is often a coaching activity where the coach and the nurse (student) agree of objectives and the nurse's responsibility in attainment of the objectives (Hamric, Spross & Hanson, 2009). In this case, the objectives and requirements set by the nursing profession must be met. In this activity, the coach and the nurse agree and discuss on what the nurse intends to learn, learning strategies and timetable for learning.

They can incorporate learning approaches based on nurse journeys as a methodology to achieve objectives. However, some nurses may see learning contracts as a chore. On the contrary, others treat it as a mere formality. In either case, researchers have reported the value of learning contracts (Grossman, 2013). For instance, studies indicate that such activities enhance the performance of nurses. A crucial activity involved in learning contracts is the coach facilitating knowledge and self-assessment by the nurse and establishing inherent learning needs. As a nurse, when the contract is established I will be required to ascertain whether the objectives identified in the contract have been achieved and the activities undertaken. The time for review will have been established at the beginning of the activity during the discussion and documentation of the content.

I will have to develop understanding and knowledge about the use of learning contracts, as well as how they can help me deliver my roles. Researchers demonstrate that learning contracts endow the nurse the chance to study aspects they desire to pursue, which they find interesting. Such an activity is also a medium of resolving any doubt pertaining to the nursing profession. This activity can only be accomplished if the nurse and the coach collaborate to achieve the intended objectives. This collaboration would motivate and reinforce the achievement of objectives while enabling the nurse to develop (Grossman, 2013).

Coaching strategy

This strategy will be adapted and adopted to accomplish the above coaching activity. My role as a nurse emphasizes on the strategy of advancing practice and interpersonal communication. The ultimate goal of this strategy is to have physicians and nurses working collectively as teams to offer comprehensive care. Working collaboratively demands more above knowledge concerning teamwork and teams; it demands preparedness for any inter-professional team to be developed and sustained. Coaches and mentors facilitate team development by providing a forum for continuous action and reflection. As a nurse, I recognize the value of cooperating with my co-workers. I can assume a leadership role to mobilize interpersonal teams and ensure we achieve the set objectives (Hamric, Spross & Hanson, 2009).