For the purpose of this blog, we are looking at both mentoring and coaching in an organisational learning and development context. Coaching is a trained and practiced skill that helps high-performing employees set and reach personal goals that are in line with organisational objectives, taking their skills and leadership capabilities to the next level. Mentoring is based on the experiences of the mentor and focuses on the development of the mentee as a whole person.
Mentoring does not require any specialised training, and can be undertaken by anyone senior or junior, in some cases to the mentee. Coaching and mentoring can be beneficial to employees for a range of reasons and in a range of contexts. One persistent myth surrounding coaching is that it is a remedial intervention, only given to those with shortcomings, missing skill sets and knowledge gaps.
In reality, coaching is most effective when used to reward high-performers, giving them the space and guidance to set and achieve goals and become the best version of themselves at work.
Mentoring can be an open-ended intervention, developing the mentee as a whole person, and draws on the personal experience of the mentor. Mentoring can be appropriate in certain situations, however it often lacks the structure of a good coaching program, and can be inappropriate in situations when guidance from a professional coach would better serve the individual. Coaches work with their coachees to set goals that are significant to them, relating to challenges and opportunities present in their working lives.
The opportunity to work with a coach allows high performing employees to explore and meet their potential, through guided goal setting and action planning. A good coach will help their coachees set achievable goals but will also challenge a coachee when setting goals that are too safe, or that can be achieved though business as usual activities. This encouragement and challenge from a coach serves to energise the coachee and remind them of their capabilities and ability to reach ambitious goals.
Coaching goals may also involve input from the organisation, particularly where the organisation has arranged for leadership coaching to occur.
Mentoring goals are often much broader, and the ownership of goal setting often rests with the mentee. As mentoring goals can be less clearly defined, challenge and feedback surrounding these goals can be less impactful coming from a mentor with no formal coaching training.
External and professionally trained coaches will often be the most impactful solution for coachees. These coaches create a safe, yet challenging environment within which coachees can work to understand their own motivation and behaviours, and identify strengths and opportunities for growth alongside their coach. Finding the right coach is critical to the success of the coaching program. Mentor can open doors to activities and opportunities.
Coach and client are equals working in partnership. Mentor has more experience than client, and shares it with more junior or inexperienced employee. Coachees develop their self-awareness and awareness of their impact on others. Can sometimes enable client to achieve transformational behavioural and attitudinal change. Can be informal and meetings can take place as and when the mentee needs some advice, guidance or support. From this, Hawkins concludes that mentoring is less about creating precise and focused behaviour change, and more about helping mentees build an appropriate larger picture that will animate their future career choices.
As Table 4 shows, there is clear water between coaching and mentoring activities when we look at their different processes and outcomes. Pushing means being assertive and telling people what to do. Pulling means drawing people towards you, making a link with them, for example by creating a vision they can relate to, or by empowering them.
Both styles have their place, depending on the situation. Traditionally, mentoring has been seen as a push style, whereas coaching has been seen as a pull style. If we use this as a framework, the activities predominantly used in coaching and mentoring fall roughly into this sort of continuum Downey, Although mentors will undoubtedly listen and question, the traditional picture of a mentor is of someone who gives advice based on his or her own experience.
The speaking ratio between client and coach or mentor reflects this in that the mentor typically talks more than the coach. The traditional picture of coaches was that they did not give advice, but asked questions to enable the coachees to find their own solutions. Where things get muddy is in the middle of the continuum. As coaching has developed and different methods have proliferated, coaches do, on occasions, make suggestions or give information.
Anne Scoular, managing director of the coaching firm, Meyer Campbell in Renton, , sees it this way:. In practice, good mentors can coach as well as mentor. Good coaches will, unquestionably, put in some information, tools or data, where they believe it is in the best interests of the client, but judiciously.
Feedback is an interesting area. And coaches can use it too, to give feedback about how they experience the coachee impacting on them during the session. Are you interested in managing a community project for your company?
When you decide what your need is, find an appropriate coach or mentor. Trust and respect your coach or mentor. Every meaningful relationship is built on the foundation of trust and respect. Establish ground rules. Determine how often you will meet, how long your relationship will last, outline of roles, importance of confidentiality and preferred methods of communication and feedback. Determine your outcome. What do you want to have happen to you at the end of the relationship? Discuss this with your coach or mentor.
Open your mind and heart. Learning from someone who has more experience than you do and who can share successes and failures openly is a tremendous gift. The key to getting the most out of the relationship is your ability to enter into the relationship with as open a mind and heart as possible.
Expect the unexpected. Christine Zust. The Center for Corporate and Professional Development. Division of University Communications and Marketing. Street Address. Contact Us. YouTube YouTube. Sports used to be only within the realm of coaching. But in the s coaching began entering the business world. Thomas Leonard , a financial planner, saw that his clients were following his financial and life advice. Thomas made the idea of life coaching a respected profession.
Coach Carter was more than a basketball coach. He was also a mentor because he helped them become better individuals and players.
A mentor helps their mentees with their personal and professional development. They are more concerned with their mentee's holistic improvement rather than specific skills that can be learned through practice. Coach Carter, for example, cared about his players and wanted to help them become mature and confident adults as well as great players.
He was a role model for them as a mentor should be. For that reason, a mentor is usually in a more senior position that the mentee wants to grow into. So the mentor's experience is invaluable to the mentee. Their relationship extends beyond finite training and is more of mutually beneficial relationship where they share their diverse experiences with one another for the purpose of mutual learning and development. In short, mentors can coach their mentees, but they go further and offer them advice and guidance drawn from their own experiences.
It could become a conflict of interest if a manager is also a mentor. They have a direct incentive to increase their mentee's performance. What if the mentee is trying to transition out of their current role? Instead, a mentor can help their mentee work towards their goals regardless of how it affects their current position. A coaching relationship is one-sided. But to build a successful mentoring relationship you need trust, an acknowledgement of each other's goals, and a commitment to helping each other grow.
Although we can use the terms mentorship and coach interchangeably, there are clear distinctions between the two. Just as Coach Carter wanted more for his players than winning a championship, a coach can transition into the role of a mentor.
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