The benefits of coaching and mentoring have been well-known throughout mankindТs recorded history. The trend now in the training world is to embrace these techniques more than ever. This is part of a wide spectrum of "informal learning" techniques, which includes various types of peer-to-peer knowledge sharing. The terms coaching and mentoring imply that someone with skills and experience is willingly sharing this with others, to helpаthem attain a useful level of competency quickly. For example, a programmer on a software development team may learn a new language or protocol for a specific business purpose. That person could later share their knowledge, through a coaching process,аto greatly reduce the learning curve of other team members when they were in a position to benefit.
Coaching and mentoring will occur much more readily in corporate cultures that encourage such interactions. In analyzing, from a high level, the training program in an organization, you should consider how the corporate culture does or does not encourage such efforts, and whether changes can be made to enhance the culture. Training professionals should take an advocacy role in promoting these concepts to management.