Professional Mentoring and Coaching

Posted on July 07, 2021 by Korey Peters, One of Thousands of Life Coaches on Noomii.

The demand for mentors and coaches has increased significantly in recent years. The factors that contribute to this are as follows: executives, managers, and other specialists are increasingly expected to demonstrate significant professional development; the workplace and business employment environment are becoming more competitive; and the influence of emerging industrial nations is forcing radical changes in the skill mix required of managers and other professionals. As this demand has grown, so has the variety of roles and services offered. Indeed, there are so many varieties and combinations of mentoring and coaching that it is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish them and nearly impossible to categorise the various variations.

Despite appearances, workplace mentoring is a systematic, organised component of an organization’s training and development activities. It is, however, often distinct from organised training activities and from the line manager’s formal appraisal procedure. This formal, hierarchical connection between an employee and their line boss is typically unsuitable as a vehicle for mentoring. Mentoring is typically a confidential one-on-one relationship in which a more senior individual, at least one position above the line manager of the person being mentored, assists a more junior individual in making progress, typically as part of a planned development programme, such as management fast-tracking, preparing for a more senior position, or leading a phase of workplace activity, such as a change management initiative. The mentor provides assistance and counsel in a supportive and non-threatening manner, but in a format and style determined and overseen by the organization’s human resource department. The objective is to provide the recipient with support that enables them to move forward confidently and to accomplish both their personal working goals and the organisational goals.

In an organisational setting, coaching has historically been associated with line managers or more experienced employees who demonstrate to less experienced colleagues how to perform an activity, or set of actions, successfully. By default, this is a part of the line manager’s cyclical process of growing an individual’s skills, reviewing their performance, and rating their growth. If the line manager does not personally deliver the coaching, they will have arranged for an experienced employee, usually from the same team as the individual receiving the coaching, to do so. In this context, coaching is effectively the teaching of a skill until it is mastered and can be routinely performed to the needed standard independently. Although the majority of this form of coaching is offered by more experienced individuals, this is not always the case. Often, because the coach is teaching or demonstrating a skill or procedure, the coach is a younger individual, but one who is capable of passing on their knowledge to others who are less experienced in that activity.

Today, mentors and coaches continue to perform their traditional tasks. However, significant change has occurred in a number of organisations, most notably in the majority of business sectors other than heavy industries and manufacturing. The most significant developments have been a broadening of the spectrum of coaching approaches and a fusion of mentoring and coaching into a single approach, which is often referred to as Coaching. Despite the best efforts of some academics and management gurus, senior executives in some organisations, and human resource purists, the terms mentor and coaching, as well as their associated functions, are now used interchangeably in a wide variety of business sectors. The primary reason for this is that individuals expect and demand that their mentor-coach possess a diverse set of abilities that encompasses the best characteristics of both categories. Numerous organisations are also implementing mentor-coaching programmes that combine the best practises of the two. As a result, the terms have become more synonymous, and what one individual or organisation refers to as a Mentor, another refers to as a Coach.

Additionally, many people are arranging to work with a personal coach, who serves as both a mentor and a coach. This is analogous to the relationship between a sportsperson, such as an athlete, and their personal coach, as well as the interaction between persons and their personal fitness trainer. The consequence in the world of business and professional development is a mix of mentoring and coaching that the majority of people now refer to as Personal Coaching.

The ideal mentor is someone who has received mentoring training and possesses a unique combination of relevant job experience, credentials, and general business knowledge that can be used to assist and advise a particular mentee. Additionally, it is critical that the mentor possess an excitement, if not a passion, for assisting others in developing, realising their potential, and accomplishing their own and the organization’s objectives.

The ideal coach is someone who has received coaching training, possesses a breadth of experience and expertise, is knowledgeable and aware of current business activity and trends, and has an understanding of how an individual’s career and professional development should be tailored in order to assist that individual in successfully achieving their development objectives.

As can be seen, the two roles share a great deal in common, and as a result, the distinctions between them are often imperceptible, and they are commonly mixed. Both are expected to have the necessary knowledge and experience, and both must be skilled in the following: active listening; communication techniques; comprehension of the coachee’s work and personal environment; rapport-building and relationship development; appropriate questioning; directing the coachee to other sources of assistance when appropriate; and identifying, agreeing, and setting goals.

A coach assists individuals and organisations in achieving greater levels of performance and/or achieving specified goals. By necessity, the coach will consider past performance and occurrences, but will focus on future actions and goals. The method is action-oriented, focused on the client’s current situation, their desired future state, and the most effective means of getting there. This framework is well-known to those involved in strategic planning or project management, as both are built upon it. The coach relies on this straightforward, structured approach to design a plan of action that will enable them to assist their client in achieving their objectives.

For individuals, the benefits can be numerous, including assisting them in avoiding mistakes in their business or personal lives; achieving more in less time; minimising current problems; effectively preparing for potential difficulties; being happier in their personal and/or professional lives; achieving career or personal development goals; changing career or career direction; becoming more effective and

The benefits are comparable for organisations. They include the following: learning from someone with a broad range of knowledge; obtaining independent, unbiased, objective advice and guidance; increasing productivity, quality, customer satisfaction, and shareholder value; increasing operational and management staff commitment and satisfaction levels; improving staff retention; and supporting other training and development activities.

Mentoring and coaching have taken on a new significance in recent years. However, the changes are widely regarded as positive, and coaches are now considered a vital part of the growth process for both individuals and organisations. As is always the case, considerable care must be taken to ensure that the coach and any process used are appropriate for the client, but with this caveat in place, it is now obvious that coaches play a critical role in the growth of individuals and organisations in today’s corporate environment. Coaches will undoubtedly continue to play a critical role in assisting individuals and organisations in managing change and complexity more effectively as the pace of change and complexity grow.