Who should be a Mentor or a Coach?
Counselling, Coaching, and Mentoring is not Alternate Profession! Nor should it be considered to be anyone's post-retirement plan. It is a serious commitment. It is a practice that requires constant research and learning, and it is for those who are genuinely equipped for it. Being a coach or a counsellor in any stream or field requires certain expertise. Having been a good or great player is not necessarily one of them A successful career or award-winning performances are not requisites and certainly won't suffice.
In sports, we have seen many horrible failures that bad coaches have caused to top teams, or players. Many of these coaches were excellent players and sportspersons in their hay days but didn't have the temperament of a good coach, while certain others have excelled in this role even though they had a less than average stint as a player. It is so because coaching is a totally different ball game, much like leadership is.
Things have only been going from bad to worse in the past decade or more. Show and pomp have risen to levels of vulgarity where flamboyance seems lacklustre. Everything is painted larger than life and technology is enslaved to serve the best interest of the ones with evil intent. Electronic media, social media, websites, video streaming, podcasts, radio channels.... quite an inexhaustible methods have been coined to con the aspiring.
In all this noise, the genuine contributors have been doing their work quietly and judiciously. But they are too few and far. Myths, misnomers, misconceptions, narratives, or whatever you want to call them, are having a free run. Their elan and enchantment are so impressive that the truthful ones seem like frauds or no-brainers!
Very have already reached a point where most goods and services that are sold are all packaging and no content!
Counselling:
Everybody with a few years of work experience of whatever kind seems to think that they should counsel others. A few books read a basic temperament to advise others, possessing decent communication skills, or attending a workshop of some kind is all it takes for one to dive into this complex, highly responsible role of counselling others.
Psychologist:
Psychiatry and Clinical psychology have been reduced to peddling drugs, only that these are legitimate and are camouflaged as medicines. But they cure nothing! They just numb certain lobes of the brain, that's all. It is a form of shock treatment that is given to patients in mental asylums to calm their agitated state. But this one is more dangerous as it can be peddled by even the less qualified practitioners and to the less deserving patient!
NLP Trainers:
Certified NLP trainers, who may not really qualify even as instructors have thus far done more discredit to this applied science than could fathom. A brilliant technology anyone for personal transformation has been reduced to cheap trickery.
Who certifies these pseudo practitioners is not the question but who, which authority has certified the certifier is the more serious one. What sells most here is a course on NLP that promises a great career, cons those who are desperately looking for a break, and these desperados, who do realize that they have been conned, are usually not left with any other choice but to turn in to a con too! The course has cost them quite a heavy sum and they are now desperate to recover or earn something back.
Yoga Gurus:
A yoga teacher should limit oneself to the role of an instructor and not get into delivering sermons, but what to do? Taking the alter of a guru is so enticing! The worst is that many of these yoga instructors merely translate Sanskrit - Hindi words into English and that too either incorrectly or often totally out of context. Yoga is an experience that you can only lead the other to. Each one to his or her experience! A yoga instructor is neither a yogi nor is a spiritual practitioner; much like a Taichi Instructor is not a Taoist. A genuine Yogi does not give sermons for he knows differently through his practice.
Healers and Therapists:
A Reiki Master or a faith healer, even a sincere one, should stick narrating the original legends and stories that have been passed on, introducing concepts and context of Energy Healing or Faith Healing, removing doubts and fears with meditation, care, warmth, and love (i.e reiki), teach the symbols and all its variants, and lead the student into the state of attunement through a silent transmission. That will do! Putting on that benign smile and role-playing a spiritual guru is too elating to pass!
Gurus and Godmen:
Godmen, cult leaders, and other spiritual quacks have been on a roll for a good part of this century. Many have done well for others, most have done good for themselves, and a few have done no good at all. Your alarm should be going off the moment any group or cult puts a hook to keep you bound to them and their way of life. Spirituality is what a man/woman does in his solitude, rest is religion or a cult. The whole idea of spirituality is liberation and a true spiritual master sets you free not bind you.
Career Counselling:
Such a frivolous, opportunistic approach is not only discrediting one's profession and practice but is extremely detrimental to oneself. The thoughts you pass on to others, particularly when they have placed their trust in your counsel should only be the ones you live or are willing to do so.
