An Article by
Graham Y.
A Business Trainer from Woking, United Kingdom
Search Expertbase
Hire Graham
Virtually
Hybrid
In-Person
Coaching Or Mentoring - Does It Matter Which?
60 Claps
780 Words
4 min
Some differences and grey areas where Coaching or Mentoring overlap
The recent trend of a rise in the use of coaching, whether by external or internal coaches, is a great thing for encouraging greater development of individuals and groups. However, I do think it has also led to the pedants of the world leaping into worrying about the semantics of the difference between coaching and mentoring. My stand on this is that there are some differences and that there are frequently grey areas where they overlap. At the end of the day, does it really matter which is being used so long as the intent is to support and help to develop a person"
Some schools of thought suggest that mentoring is more about "pushing" and providing answers, and that coaching is a "pull" style encouraging people to develop their own answers. There may be some truth in this, and at the same time neither is absolutely the case. (Julie Hay, in "Transformational Mentoring" adds a very useful third option called "development alliances".)
Mentoring has probably been around longer than coaching! Although rooted in legend, the origin of the term comes from the name of an ancient Greek, called Mentor. He was entrusted with looking after Telemachus, the son of Odysseus, when the king went off to fight the Trojan wars. Mentor was chosen because of his wisdom and experience to guide Telemachus and encourage him to grow up and develop in the right way. Essentially, it was about the older, wiser person providing guidance for the less experienced "mentee".
The concept has worked very well throughout history. From apprenticeships with master craftsmen, the great artists with their studios of young "learners", knights with their squires we have many examples. Today many the of professions encourage a mentoring process as part of the development of newcomers and for on-going CPD too. A number or organisations have formal or structured mentoring schemes with various strengths and weaknesses to them.
Many people have had the benefit of mentors in their lives, or do currently. We often seek out someone whom we respect, or whose experience we value, to get their guidance. This may be an on-going process, or evolve into one. Another way we acquire a mentor is where someone who is older or more experienced, possibly a boss in our early career, continues to take an interest in our development and assumes the role informally. These situations just "happen" rather than being planned.
Mentoring has its own skill set and it does not involve telling the mentee what to do, or what you would do! Nor is it about taking responsibility for their actions. (Coming in to what I think of as one of the grey areas with coaching and mentoring.) Good mentors will adopt a supporting, encouraging, facilitative role and not a directing one.
For many years the idea of coaching was: "…instructing, training or guiding performers or players (or teams thereof) in a particular activity or endeavour."
Whereas now it is thought of as: "The art of facilitating the performance, learning and development of another." - The London School of Coaching
There might be times when a coach is offering some options or direction, but essentially the latter definition is about putting the accountability to the coachee.
Within organisations, the emphasis is increasingly on line-managers to use coaching to develop their staff. Commendable and logical in itself " but not always practicable! Some years ago, when doing a project to identify what makes great coaches, I discovered that a key component of these top coaches was their sense of purpose, coupled with their own beliefs and values. These influenced their whole approach to what they did " and how. When taking this model into organisations, I find that many line-managers would need to make some real personal change to achieve this. They did not, and often do not, sign up to be coaches! Many of them can make good mentors though! Some will become effective coaches with the right skills training and support - and role modelling from above. How often do these factors all come together"
Although there is a strong argument for continuing with the growth of coaching, and improving the skills of those involved, there is a case for encouraging the use of mentoring too. Many managers will find this easier to do and for people at all levels we can benefit from someone helping our development, whether through coaching or mentoring. At the end of the day, does it matter which is being used, so long as the focus is on providing support and development"
This Article is authored / contributed by ▸ Graham Y. who travels from Woking, United Kingdom. Graham is available for Professional Training Work both Virtually and In-Person. ▸ Enquire Now.
Comments
What's your opinion?
23 more Articles by Graham
POP
Leadership - Do You Use Or Abuse Power?
6 min. How do you prefer to "control and influence" others?You May Be Taking The Wrong Approach To Selling!
8 min. Are you hitting or beating your sales target or quota? If not, are you blaming the market, the customers or your competition? If you are making your target ...Who Do You Talk To?
7 min. When you are a leader in a business you face a number of challenges at different levels. Ask yourself how much focus you put on to these...Presentation Paranoia - Prevention And Cure
17 min. Have you had this feeling before? Rest assured you are not alone. You might be one of the many who would rate your fear of public speaking alongside or ...The Cost Of Stress - The Need To Monitor And Manage The Risks!
10 min. Not only are there a lot of potential risks arising from the spread of stress within an organisation, it costs a great deal of money!Can Nlp Help Or Harm Your Business?
15 min. The simple answer to the above is, "both"! It depends on a number of things. Perhaps the first thing to explore is your reaction to seeing those three ...Think Before You Speak!
9 min. How many times have you said something and realised that the person, or people, on the receiving end have not fully understood what you meant or headed ...Building Your Personal Resilience To Reduce Stress
7 min. A look at why developing greater resilience matters.You Think Absenteeism Is A Problem? Worry About Presenteeism!
6 min. It is estimated that about 60% of GBP 23bn in lost productivity in the UK is from presenteeism!Ask For More - You May Get More!!
7 min. If you are involved with sales, how do you feel when you hear phrases such as, "Can you do anything about your price" or, "You'll have to do better than ...Does Your Culture Support Or Sabotage Your Strategy?
8 min. When a company's culture is not right with what is needed for strategic success, the culture has to be changed as rapidly as can be managed!Sales Success In Tough Time
9 min. It is not about having some new magic method for selling, it is about applying the things you have perhaps forgotten.Are It People Wimps?
6 min. Decent management communication and support, plus personal development for the people can combine to help prevent a lot of the issues which lead to pressure ...Coaching Can Get The Boss In Shape
8 min. Who tells the boss that they can improve their management or leadership? How do they look at themselves objectively and identify what areas they can improve and the benefits of doing so?Manage Stress And Mental Health To Improve Performance
6 min. Stress and mental health are not issues which managers should ignore. They cost the organisation money, both directly and indirectly.Implementing Change Successfully
10 min. A challenge for most managers is to initiate or implement change programmes - and lead people through them, whether in the way they work or what they do. In this, lies one of your major challenges...Why Leadership Matters In Professional Practices
7 min. Too many organisations are "over-managed and under-led" to quote Warren Bennis. There is a difference between leadership and management.Be A Successful Sales Manager Not A Super Seller!
8 min. How many sales teams suffer because their sales manager is not doing their job at the right "level"? Sales figures suffer, sales people suffer and the ...60