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Coaching vs MentoringWhat is the right choice for you? Do you need to choose?
The terms coaching and mentoring are often confused and used interchangeably. Whilst they are distinctly different, it is true to say they are both professional development techniques used to enhance an individual’s knowledge, performance and overall wellbeing. |
MENTORING
Mentoring is a scenario between two people where a more senior experienced person (the mentor) mentors a more junior less experienced individual (the mentee).
Certain companies have their own mentoring programme where a new employee is matched with a senior manager who can help the new recruit navigate their way around the organisation and provide encouragement for them to advance in a more harmonious manner. This is often used in succession planning also.
Mentors can be outside of an organisation too. The partnering would be a case of the senior executive making him/herself available to a younger cohort through a professional association, alumnae group, or networking connections. Otherwise a mentee may simply approach someone they admire and ask them to be their mentor.
Essentially mentoring is an ongoing exercise between the two parties entailing a transfer of skills and knowledge. The mentor would have travelled the path that the mentee is hoping to embark upon. It is a strategic philosophical relationship where the mentor shares his/her insights and experience, gives political advice, offers guidance, clarifies career aspirations and in some cases opens doors or even makes introductions for the mentee.
The mentor/mentee scenario works well when someone is starting out on his/her career or entering a new phase or role and works best when the mentor is outside the mentees chain of command. There tends not to be a time limit on
a mentoring relationship.
Example:
George was a financial controller in a small national company for 5 years before taking a role as financial controller in a division of a large public listed company 3 months ago. He currently reports into the Divisional CEO, manages a team of 4 and has been hitting some big goals, so much so that he has been recognised as one of the company’s ‘high potential’ employees.
Management has decided to team George with the Group Financial Controller, Tim, in a mentoring programme. Tim started with the company 7 years ago, has held the Financial Controller position in all three of the company’s divisions and for the last three years has worked at group level in head office managing a team of 7. Tim is reaching retirement age and has already expressed a desire to wind down to a four-day week within the next 12-18 months.
Tim and George meet on a monthly basis initially allowing them to get to know one another quickly and for the Tim to help George understand the internal environment. Moving forward they found a meeting timetable based on the financial reporting calendar more beneficial.
George is particularly interested in understanding the interplay of the three divisions’ financials at the group level and how Tim communicates with the CEO, Board and analysts. George finds Tim’s insights into how Group view the divisions and how he can enhance his profile with Group Executives especially helpful. Tim also invites George to accompany him to industry events and to take a backseat in analyst briefings.
The learning curve for George has been steep but very worthwhile. He has been an eager student and feels he has increased his profile in the company and industry. Tim, as well as being pleasantly surprised at how much he has enjoyed transferring his knowledge and skills, has garnered valuable information from George about anomalies on the reporting system at a divisional level that he has successfully rectified across the company benefitting everyone.
COACHING
Coaching focuses on skill acquisition in order to improve performance, as such a coach would be typically engaged when there is a specific issue to be addressed. Their contract would be for a defined period of time.
The benefits of coaching have been widely recognised and some companies now have their own team of coaches or are aligned with a coaching organisation. Otherwise coaches can be engaged through word of mouth or through one of the coaching bodies.
Coaching is a paid service and is a certifiable skill. The International Coaching Federation (ICF) certifies coaches and provides core competencies and a code of ethics.
The service can be specialised i.e. Executive Coach, Health Coach, Financial Coach, Life Coach. Although a thorough coach may feel it is necessary to provide a more holistic approach and take elements from each of these areas into consideration depending on the issue at hand.
Coachs work with defined issues and together with the coachee decide on the desired outcomes/goals that have been agreed upon. They strategize solutions and facilitate problem solving by asking open-ended questions. They do not give advice but rather provide encouragement and urge reflection and self- improvement. The coach/coachee relationship is collaborative, both agreeing on the task to be completed in order to achieved the desired results. And the coach then holds the coachee accountable.
Example:
Barbara works in a shared service department providing secretarial services for 5 senior lawyers. This is her first role in a partnership environment.
Having worked for 5 years with the CEO of a large rapidly growing global organisation, Barbara felt well equipped to take on her new role.
Within the first week of starting with the law firm, Barbara realised this was a very different environment and she was struggling to cope. A high achiever, she buckled in and was confident she would get to grips with the demands of the role.
As the weeks went by however, Barbara became more and more stressed, was working longer hours and the quality of her work was questionable. On top of that her manner with the partners was becoming defensive to the point of verging on the aggressive.
Things came to a head when she missed an important deadline. In frustration and feeling totally inadequate, Barbara left the building and did not return until the next morning.
Having been made aware of the situation, HR called her in for a meeting. Rather than loose an employee they felt was more that capable, the HR manager suggested she have a series of coaching sessions. Eager to find a solution, Barbara gladly accepted and selected the coach of her choice.
The coach delved into the problem using open-ended questions and Barbara quickly realised how much of a change this role was for her. She listed the differences:
• She has gone from one boss to five.
• Her 5 bosses were partners (owners) of the company, whereas her previous boss was not.
• Her previous boss was travelling the globe almost all of the time, which allowed her to manage her own time.
• Her new bosses were in the office most of the time.
• Previously her work environment was very casual, the law firm was the opposite, very formal.
• Half of her previous role was managing the CEO’s diary, the rest of the time was typing. Almost all of her new role was computer based.
The coach and Barbara decided to concentrate on three areas: Time management, Communication and Managing Up.
The coach gave her exercises and readings on each area with well defined objectives/timeframes agreed upon by both parties.
Barbara has been so busy doing and trying to cope she had not tried to find a mutually beneficial solution.
The coach teased out the situation, got her to reflect and in the exercises encouraged her to work on her strength and learn new techniques to become more efficient, manage her time, communicate more effectively and keep 5 bosses satisfied while keeping her sanity.
A COMPARISON BETWEEN COACHING AND MENTORING
Structured task based method with distinct professional related goals.
Less formal transfer of knowledge and skills affecting personal and professional advancement. Not goal specific.
Defined period of time On going long term relationship.
Paying.
Pro bono.
Could be peers professionally.
Mentor must be more experienced usually older.
Need not be an expert in coachees subject matter.
Normally an expert in mentees vocational area.
Normally formally trained. May be good natural coach.
Do not give advice – encourages coachee to find answers.
Gives advice.
Holds coachee accountable.
Acts as role model. Useful at any time in career. Best to start at beginning of career or at time of career or role change.
Next steps:
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We would love to have you in our community, you can follow us on Instagram, FB, Linkedin and Twitter:
We would love to hear from you, please send us any issue or topics you would like us to cover.
Mentoring is a scenario between two people where a more senior experienced person (the mentor) mentors a more junior less experienced individual (the mentee).
Certain companies have their own mentoring programme where a new employee is matched with a senior manager who can help the new recruit navigate their way around the organisation and provide encouragement for them to advance in a more harmonious manner. This is often used in succession planning also.
Mentors can be outside of an organisation too. The partnering would be a case of the senior executive making him/herself available to a younger cohort through a professional association, alumnae group, or networking connections. Otherwise a mentee may simply approach someone they admire and ask them to be their mentor.
Essentially mentoring is an ongoing exercise between the two parties entailing a transfer of skills and knowledge. The mentor would have travelled the path that the mentee is hoping to embark upon. It is a strategic philosophical relationship where the mentor shares his/her insights and experience, gives political advice, offers guidance, clarifies career aspirations and in some cases opens doors or even makes introductions for the mentee.
The mentor/mentee scenario works well when someone is starting out on his/her career or entering a new phase or role and works best when the mentor is outside the mentees chain of command. There tends not to be a time limit on
a mentoring relationship.
Example:
George was a financial controller in a small national company for 5 years before taking a role as financial controller in a division of a large public listed company 3 months ago. He currently reports into the Divisional CEO, manages a team of 4 and has been hitting some big goals, so much so that he has been recognised as one of the company’s ‘high potential’ employees.
Management has decided to team George with the Group Financial Controller, Tim, in a mentoring programme. Tim started with the company 7 years ago, has held the Financial Controller position in all three of the company’s divisions and for the last three years has worked at group level in head office managing a team of 7. Tim is reaching retirement age and has already expressed a desire to wind down to a four-day week within the next 12-18 months.
Tim and George meet on a monthly basis initially allowing them to get to know one another quickly and for the Tim to help George understand the internal environment. Moving forward they found a meeting timetable based on the financial reporting calendar more beneficial.
George is particularly interested in understanding the interplay of the three divisions’ financials at the group level and how Tim communicates with the CEO, Board and analysts. George finds Tim’s insights into how Group view the divisions and how he can enhance his profile with Group Executives especially helpful. Tim also invites George to accompany him to industry events and to take a backseat in analyst briefings.
The learning curve for George has been steep but very worthwhile. He has been an eager student and feels he has increased his profile in the company and industry. Tim, as well as being pleasantly surprised at how much he has enjoyed transferring his knowledge and skills, has garnered valuable information from George about anomalies on the reporting system at a divisional level that he has successfully rectified across the company benefitting everyone.
COACHING
Coaching focuses on skill acquisition in order to improve performance, as such a coach would be typically engaged when there is a specific issue to be addressed. Their contract would be for a defined period of time.
The benefits of coaching have been widely recognised and some companies now have their own team of coaches or are aligned with a coaching organisation. Otherwise coaches can be engaged through word of mouth or through one of the coaching bodies.
Coaching is a paid service and is a certifiable skill. The International Coaching Federation (ICF) certifies coaches and provides core competencies and a code of ethics.
The service can be specialised i.e. Executive Coach, Health Coach, Financial Coach, Life Coach. Although a thorough coach may feel it is necessary to provide a more holistic approach and take elements from each of these areas into consideration depending on the issue at hand.
Coachs work with defined issues and together with the coachee decide on the desired outcomes/goals that have been agreed upon. They strategize solutions and facilitate problem solving by asking open-ended questions. They do not give advice but rather provide encouragement and urge reflection and self- improvement. The coach/coachee relationship is collaborative, both agreeing on the task to be completed in order to achieved the desired results. And the coach then holds the coachee accountable.
Example:
Barbara works in a shared service department providing secretarial services for 5 senior lawyers. This is her first role in a partnership environment.
Having worked for 5 years with the CEO of a large rapidly growing global organisation, Barbara felt well equipped to take on her new role.
Within the first week of starting with the law firm, Barbara realised this was a very different environment and she was struggling to cope. A high achiever, she buckled in and was confident she would get to grips with the demands of the role.
As the weeks went by however, Barbara became more and more stressed, was working longer hours and the quality of her work was questionable. On top of that her manner with the partners was becoming defensive to the point of verging on the aggressive.
Things came to a head when she missed an important deadline. In frustration and feeling totally inadequate, Barbara left the building and did not return until the next morning.
Having been made aware of the situation, HR called her in for a meeting. Rather than loose an employee they felt was more that capable, the HR manager suggested she have a series of coaching sessions. Eager to find a solution, Barbara gladly accepted and selected the coach of her choice.
The coach delved into the problem using open-ended questions and Barbara quickly realised how much of a change this role was for her. She listed the differences:
• She has gone from one boss to five.
• Her 5 bosses were partners (owners) of the company, whereas her previous boss was not.
• Her previous boss was travelling the globe almost all of the time, which allowed her to manage her own time.
• Her new bosses were in the office most of the time.
• Previously her work environment was very casual, the law firm was the opposite, very formal.
• Half of her previous role was managing the CEO’s diary, the rest of the time was typing. Almost all of her new role was computer based.
The coach and Barbara decided to concentrate on three areas: Time management, Communication and Managing Up.
The coach gave her exercises and readings on each area with well defined objectives/timeframes agreed upon by both parties.
Barbara has been so busy doing and trying to cope she had not tried to find a mutually beneficial solution.
The coach teased out the situation, got her to reflect and in the exercises encouraged her to work on her strength and learn new techniques to become more efficient, manage her time, communicate more effectively and keep 5 bosses satisfied while keeping her sanity.
A COMPARISON BETWEEN COACHING AND MENTORING
Structured task based method with distinct professional related goals.
Less formal transfer of knowledge and skills affecting personal and professional advancement. Not goal specific.
Defined period of time On going long term relationship.
Paying.
Pro bono.
Could be peers professionally.
Mentor must be more experienced usually older.
Need not be an expert in coachees subject matter.
Normally an expert in mentees vocational area.
Normally formally trained. May be good natural coach.
Do not give advice – encourages coachee to find answers.
Gives advice.
Holds coachee accountable.
Acts as role model. Useful at any time in career. Best to start at beginning of career or at time of career or role change.
Next steps:
Please, feel free to share this article on your social media channels:
We would love to have you in our community, you can follow us on Instagram, FB, Linkedin and Twitter:
We would love to hear from you, please send us any issue or topics you would like us to cover.
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