|
Defining the Distinctions Between
Mentoring & Coaching
© 2008, Barry Sweeny
PAGE INDEX:
The
First "Mentor"
The function of mentoring has been active for a long time, but what
was the first use of the term? It began with an Greek man named
"Mentor", a friend of Odysseus. When Odysseus went to
fight in the Trojan Wars he entrusted his son Telemachus into Mentor's
care. Mentor was a tutor, guide, and protector to the boy over a
number of years. The relationship ended as mentorships should, and
when Telemachus started searching for his father, the Goddess Athena
appeared in the form of Mentor to help him in his search. Thus,
the spirit of Mentor lived on after him.
How
is coaching different from mentoring? Do we need both?
Coaching is the support for technical, skills-related
learning and growth which is provided by another person who uses
observation, data collection and descriptive, nonjudgmental reporting
on specific requested behaviors and techniques. Coaches must use
open-ended questions to help the other person more objectively see
their own patterns of behavior and to prompt reflection, goal-setting,
planning and action to increase the desired results. Although not
always the case, often the coaching is focused on learning job-related
skills and the coaching is provided by a professional colleague.
Mentoring is the all-inclusive relationship and process,
and includes everything done to support protégé orientation
and professional development. It is the whole set of strategies
for support. Coaching is one of the sets of strategies which mentors
must learn and effectively use to increase their protégés'
skills and success. In other words, we need both mentoring and coaching
to maximize learning and development.
Essentially then, coaching is technical support focused on
development of the techniques effective employees must know and
be able to do, while mentoring is the larger context and developmentally
appropriate process for learning of technique and all of the other
professional and personal skills and understandings needed for success.
For this reason, the author refers most often just to mentoring,
since by his own definition, mentoring includes coaching.
Is
Mentoring a "Peer" Relationship or Not?
In most mentoring pairs, their purpose
dictates that the mentor has much more expertise and experience
than the protégé. The difference between the mentor
and protégé is valued because it is the source of
learning for the protégé. I call such a relationship
expert mentoring or expert-novice mentoring.
In other cases, the differences
are downplayed and the support is framed as peer mentoring or peer
coaching. Though not always the case, often use of the "peer"
label is because mentors are not adequately trained to work with
other adults. As a result, they make mistakes, find themselves to
be less than the effective mentors they hoped to be, and they see
protégés that do not "take the mentor's advice".
The flaw is entirely one of inadequate mentor training.
When not prepared, mentors soon
begin to redefine their role as "PEERS, not supervisors".
In other words, mentors' discomfort and ineffectiveness in sharing
their experience leads them to either:
Adopt more an authoritative supervisory
role in which they would press for the desired changes, (usually
NOT preferred) or...
Downplay the differences between
the mentor and their protégé to increase their comfort
in this tricky relationship.
This one factor is the most common
reason why mentoring is typically ineffective at increasing performance
and results. As such, it becomes critical to our program's success
that we understand and effectively deal with these distinctions.
In fact, if handled well, the diversity
of experiences between mentors and their protégés
should be seized and celebrated as a strength and a necessity for
their learning from each other. That diversity, in any of its forms,
must NOT be down played, as it is the biggest resource available
to ensure protégé success and is the very reason that
mentors are selected for their experience.
|
