To provide employees with development opportunities, an increasing number of organizations are turning to coaching and mentoring programs. Some companies incorporate coaching and mentoring as stand-alone tools; others use them to supplement formal training. Regardless, because they often utilize internal talents and resources, these programs can be a cost-effective way to improve employee performance.
In this and a subsequent article, we’ll briefly look at coaching and mentoring, helping to define the concepts and exploring how they’re alike, how they’re different, and how you can use them together to get the most out of your employees. To start, we discuss below just what coaching and mentoring are.
Coaching
The premise of coaching is that those receiving it have inside of themselves all the answers they need in order to close the gap between where they are and where they want to go—but that for some reason they find themselves stuck. These people do not need advice or a role model. They don’t need a therapist to help them deal with the past. They simply need someone to dig beneath the surface, ask the right questions, and help them move forward to reach their development goals.
This idea of helping the participant to find his or her own answers is the foundation of coaching. The participant is the one with the expertise, and the coach (who has no vested interest in the outcome) is completely focused on him or her. Coaching engagements can range from a single conversation to a multi-year engagement. Coaches master skills such as asking powerful questions, staying curious, listening empathically, reframing situations, celebrating successes, and giving feedback. The coach can be a colleague within the organization, or he or she can come from outside the organization.
| Coaching can help participants: |
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Better assess strengths and weaknesses |
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Establish development goals and achieve them |
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Align their work with organizational needs, strategies, and goals |
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Feel a sense of support from the organization and become more engaged |
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Improve their confidence as they overcome challenges and obstacles |
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Develop analytical skills, problem-solving skills, and more |
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Become better leaders |
Mentoring
Mentoring centers on a relationship between an employee who has potential (the protégé) and a colleague with expertise (the mentor). The protégé seeks the support and training of the mentor in order to learn and to grow specific skills. The mentor, passing on knowledge and insight and offering direction, serves as a subject matter expert and a role model for the protégé. Mentoring relationships can range anywhere from a three-month engagement to an entire professional career. Protégés may have several mentors over their professional life or one mentor they find to carry them throughout their career. The mentor often works within the organization, although he or she could be a professional contact outside of the organization.
| Mentoring offers several benefits to the protégé. It: |
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Shortens the learning curve for professional growth |
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Helps the protégé develop new professional relationships within the organization |
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Provides a sounding board and safe place to share ideas and thoughts |
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Challenges the protégé to go further, take risks, and set new goals |
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Offers a rich and customized learning environment |
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Enhances the protégé’s network of professional role models |
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Improves the protégé’s self-awareness |
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Demonstrates that the organization is committed to the protégé’s professional growth and development |
| The mentor also receives many benefits from the relationship. Mentoring: |
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Allows the mentor to share knowledge and experience |
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Helps the mentor learn from new ideas and different viewpoints |
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Gives the mentor satisfaction knowing he or she helped someone be more successful |
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Improves the mentor’s self-awareness |
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Is professionally rejuvenating for the mentor |
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Allows the mentor to shape his or her legacy |
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Enhances the mentor’s leadership, teaching, coaching, and communication skills |
With these definitions in mind, the next article in this series will contrast and compare coaching and mentoring and offer ideas on how to incorporate them. For further information about how FlashPoint can assist clients with coaching and mentoring programs, contact us. You can also find more information at our website, on our coaching and management and leadership development pages.
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