As I have moved up the ladder, I have been asked to become a coach and help others develop. But I am not sure if I am ready to be a mentor as I have only 4 years of experience, but at the same time, I fear that my career progression will suffer if I say no. What is the right thing to do? When is the right time for one to be ready to be a coach?

If your managers believe that you have the requisite experience and knowledge coupled with the ability to coach, I don’t see any reason why you should have any apprehensions. It is a responsibility of the seniors to coach the juniors to help them succeed. In coaching, you have to provide timely feedback, both positive and negative, in a constructive mode; advice/guide a person and help him/her move towards becoming effective and efficient; provide ongoing encouragement; and keep the person motivated. If you yourself are an excellent performer, you know the company culture and the expectations from the roles of the people who have to be coached, so just go ahead.

Vivek is a Senior HR professional with over 35 years of experience, ranging several leadership positions, in India and abroad. He leads his consulting practice since 2003 and presently works as a Strategic HR Advisor to Reliance Industries, and is also an independent Director on the Board of Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd. Prior to this, he was based at Singapore for several years where he was Director HR - Operations at Hewlett Packard for the Asia Pacific Region.
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