Starting the New Year, “resolution” is always a big buzzword. What are we going to do this year to make it better than last, both personally and professionally? It’s often at this time of year that people begin to think about where they are job wise and what they want to change/achieve over the next year. This is where I think coaching and mentoring can come in.
We all probably know someone who’s being coached or mentored or maybe someone who is a coach or a mentor, but what do these terms really mean?
There are a number of key differences between coaching and mentoring. A coach is someone who helps you move towards your goals - exploring obstacles, options and actions to get where you want to go. A mentor, on the other hand, draws on their own experience and will give advice. The main difference tends to be that a coach will ask questions but won’t offer suggestions, whereas a mentor will offer examples of how they would deal with the situation.
As both a mentor and a coach I find it really challenging to achieve a good balance between the two. I work with university students who are developing projects internationally, as well as in their local community, to improve the livelihood of others. When I started mentoring three years ago I would give advice based on having been involved in setting up and running similar projects myself. Over the last three years however my style has started to shift towards coaching.
This happened naturally as I moved further away from running similar projects and focused on the personal development of the students as well as the impact of the projects themselves. As a coach you can have limited knowledge about the area you are coaching in whereas as a mentor you need to be considered ‘an expert’ in the field. So, can those who start as mentors become effective coaches?
Personally, I believe you can, and here are some tips I have picked up along the way:
- If you’re not sure if someone will benefit from a coaching or mentoring approach, start by explaining the key differences and how you work. Then go through the different areas they are working on (e.g. managing teams, recruiting partners, working with service users) and see which areas they are more confident in and where they need help. This will give you a good indication of which approach will work best.
- In my experience, the best way to work with someone you are coaching and mentoring is by encouraging the person to set clear expectations about what level of input they would like. To strike the balance between questioning and giving input, it is key to agree how you will work together over the established timeframe.
- Know when/if you need to shift from being a mentor to being a coach. I have seen some of the students I work with start to develop on a personal level and this has been the biggest motivator for me to shift from purely mentoring, to more coaching. Supporting them to find their own solutions rather than offering all my ideas.
As a coach, you have to learn to bite your tongue and believe that the people you are working with will come to the best conclusion themselves. So what is the perfect balance? Unfortunately I don’t have a magic answer but there are a number of factors including: the personalities of everyone involved, how confident they are in what they are doing and how much direction they want from you which should help you decide on the best approach.
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