Coaching and Mentoring. Kissing cousins or perfect strangers?

I was inspired to write this article by three separate people in two separate settings. The first was a response to my last article 'Read this before you appoint a coach!' from Dominic Chan and the second when I was invited to deliver a keynote speech to young entrepreneurs and startups this week.

In this article, I will try to explain why coaching and mentoring are different but at their heart have a DNA so similar to make them cousins of sorts. While most academic resources will attempt to define a separation, in my practice and experience it is more accurate to say that they sit on a short spectrum. What I term the 'Spectrum of Support'.

Over many coaching hours and mentoring interactions, I have seen that coaching and mentoring often only achieve a defined demarcation between approaches when the coach or mentor is appointed externally or as a minimum is detached from the direct working environment (or field of expertise) the coachee or mentee operates within.

Mentoring.

Mentoring is a process that can be described as an exchange of information from a subject matter expert to a person who requires the knowledge and experience of the subject matter expert to further their own aims. A mentor will often have a professional connection to the mentee, for example, they may work within the same company or they may occupy the same subject or operational space.

As a working example, I currently mentor a Head of Learning and Development for a large international legal firm who is in the process of implementing a coaching culture within their organisation. My key role as a mentor is to discuss specific areas of ‘how to’ and offer advice that directly relates to the situations she experiences. I do this by offering insight into what I have done and if she asks me directly for advice I ‘tell’. This gives actions the mentee can then implement in her own organisation.

Some key elements of mentoring:

An ongoing relationship typically lasting for a long period of time.

Less formal, can be done as and when the mentee needs.

A Mentor is usually more experienced and qualified than the ‘mentee’.

Mentors are often a more senior person in the organisation, who can pass on knowledge, experience.

The mentor provides support, guidance and answers to questions.

There are more dependant on the conditions and need but I am trying to keep this article shorter than the last (thank you, Dougie Brown, for the feedback).

Coaching.

A good coach should be a catalyst for an exchange of information where the coachee gives the coach a goal they wish to achieve, a self-assessment of the resources the coachee has to achieve their goal based on the coachee's current state, identification by the coachee of barriers to the goal being achieved. Furthermore, the coach often helps the coachee define a plan of action that the coachee commits to (that if taken will manifest the coachee's goal).

The main areas of context in most coaching models being;

Achieving specificity of the goal/ambition

Assessment of the resources available to support achievement, and what may be needed

Identification of any factors that may bring inertia to achievement

Assessment of motivation and/or sacrifice tolerance

This is the typical substructure of most coaching models.

Coaching Process.

The processes relating to coaching and coaching practice are many and can vary from coach to coach. Here I will describe some fundamental processes coaches should consider.

Duration; coaching interactions are typified by relatively short time spans. While it is true that some coaches work with clients for long periods of time most coaching interventions last for 3 to 6 sessions. This is seen often in the corporate world where coaching intervention is sought to be a tool to form a resolution to a specific challenge.

This contrasts with mentoring which is often typified by long term interactions. This longer duration is driven often by the mentor being senior to the mentee within a profession or indeed within the organisation. Mentors are often appointed from within the same organisation and the mentors are almost always subject matter experts in the specific field of mentorship.

The relevance of mutual experience.

A coach does not have to be experienced in the field of expertise that the coachee operates within. The coach needs to be able to implement coaching practice and thus needs to be an expert in coaching. As coaching is in purest form the art of achieving results through others it does not rely on the coach being able to offer functional empathy (the ability through experience to translate that experience as a catalyst for another person's improvement).

However, coaches with experience in the field of the assignment the coachee seeks support with seem to be gaining more popularity which speaks of a psychological attachment by the assigning body/individual of experience to benefit.

This may result in a blurred line between coaching and mentoring. Interactions of this nature are likely to require more guidance and experiential input from the coach. The coach should be aware of this and ensure the boundaries are clear. If the client requires high levels of exchanged experience it may well be best served by mentorship as mentorship relies on experience in the specific field of the coachee/mentee.

For example; a coach who is an HR Director who is coaching an HR Manager may find themselves being asked ’what do you think’, ‘what would you do’, ‘how have you…’ etc more often than a coach who may have no experiential equity in the specific field of the coachee.

This exchange of experiential information is key to the definition of mentoring. Where coaching drives change in achieving results through others, mentoring differs by delivering an exchange of experience to provide the key to positive change.

To summarise and simplify:

Coaching then aims to develop the coachees potential. The focus tends to be on developing and enhancing performance. It is most often aimed at the coachee's specific ambitions.

Mentoring tends to focus on developing the mentee professionally typically in their career development. A mentor answers questions and gives guidance.

(I know right, I could have saved you time and put this at the start, but then wheres the fun in that?)

Hope this article has added value, please share it if you liked it.

Mark Casey, Executive Director

www.thewaytosuccess.co.uk