Coaching vs. Mentoring

Coaching and Mentoring; the talent retention journey

Are your leaders ready to navigate the complex business challenges of today? Do you have a strong future supply of leaders being developed to deal with the challenges of tomorrow?

According to the DDI Global Leadership Forecast 2023, confidence in leadership is the lowest it has been in a decade. And the most critical skill gap for leaders is in identifying and developing future talent. 

Leaders want to prepare for uncertainty. The top five skills they want to develop in the next three years reflect a desire to clearly communicate strategy to their teams and engage teams and stakeholders to meet the challenges ahead. DDI Global Leadership Forecast 2023.

What are the most effective methods fore developing skills (according to leaders)?

A decade ago we wrote an article on the efficacy of coaching and mentoring as vehicles for leadership development. All these years later and these two methodologies remain in the top five sought-after learning experiences for leaders, alongside formal training, assessment and development opportunities (DDI Global Leadership Forecast 2023).

In the report, 85% of HR professionals report that coaching skills will be critical for leaders to develop in the next three years. But for leaders to become effective coaches, they need to have a deep awareness of how their style is perceived by others and be a part of a larger culture that supports coaching. Currently the biggest skill gap is in leaders’ ability to identify and develop future talent, in the following four areas:

• Encouraging team members to challenge old ways of doing things

• Listening and responding with empathy.

• Providing opportunities for team members’ growth and development.

• Maintaining high trust and confidentiality

And when team members get this kind of attention, they are 4.3X more likely to feel they have a clear development path and 1.5X less likely to feel they have to change companies to advance.

Coaching and Mentoring; what is the difference?

Effective coaching and mentoring include the four skills mentioned above, which makes a strong case for ensuring they are working well within your organisation. We know that they are both incredibly powerful leadership competencies that form part of an effective talent development journey. They are often used side by side, supporting each other to develop leaders at all levels across the organisation. Yet the words and practices of "coaching" and "mentoring" are often confused. What are the differences and when should each be used as part of a learning and development strategy?

What is coaching?

Coaching is a structured and question based conversation with a measurable outcome. It is a collaborative conversation that assists the coaching counterpart (the person being coached) to identify and remove any interference that limits the expression of their potential. Coaching is an iterative process of:

• Setting clear, meaningful goals

• Exploring their current landscape and thinking differently about this to identify opportunities 

• Taking actions towards achieving these goals

• Reflecting on the progress towards these goals, by thinking about the actions taken, the results achieved and the insights and insight gained.

IECL focuses on a very practical and experiential approach to coaching. We recognise that the essential qualities of an organisational coach are the ability to listen, to ask powerful questions, to be curious and to build trust.

For learning and change to occur, a coach balances the dichotomy between trust and tension, works with the client’s desire for change, and encourages accountability to their commitment to action and sustainable change.

What is mentoring?

Conventionally, a mentor is a wise advisor who shares their knowledge and experience with a less experienced and usually younger person. Reverse mentoring (where a younger person mentors an older one e.g. in social media or new technology) is now also commonplace in forward-thinking organisations. The mentoring relationship is built through a special kind of conversation in which a mentor shares their knowledge and experience and acts as a guide in a particular field of endeavour with the mentee. The mentor listens and facilitates learning as well as fostering the mentee’s career through guidance and sponsorship. Trust and reciprocal relating are the basis of a successful mentoring relationship.

What is the difference?

Mentoring and coaching are closely related roles and they tend to overlap in many organisations, and often sit side by side supporting each other. Some leaders have both a coach and a mentor.

The corporate mentor differs from the organisational coach in the following ways.

Mentoring

• Traditionally mentoring was an ongoing relationship. More recently mentoring has become a time bound practice, but it often continues informally.

• The mentor is usually senior and very experienced, is in the same field of expertise as the "mentee" and is able to pass on knowledge and experience as well as sponsor the mentee into otherwise out-of-reach opportunities.

• Typically long-term and targeted at the "whole" person.

• Can be more informal and meetings can take place as and when the mentee needs some advice, guidance or support.

• Focus is on career, onboarding and/or personal development in terms of guiding the person to walk in the shoes of their mentor.

• The conversational practices that a mentor has are the ability to listen, and share experience where relevant. Advice giving and story-telling are an essential part of mentoring.

• The agenda is open ended and set by the mentee, with the mentor providing support and guidance to prepare them for future roles. The relationship is personal and shaped by both people.

• Mentoring revolves around guidance and sponsorship.

Organisational Coaching

• The coaching encounter is structured and contracted around a set number of sessions - usually six to ten.

• Coaches are experts in the learning and developmental processes. They do not need direct experience of the coaching counterpart’s occupation or industry.

• Time bound with identified organisational goals.

• Meetings are scheduled on a regular basis with little contact in between sessions.

• Sponsor input is sought at the beginning, middle and end.

• The focus can be career but is often targeted to individualised development and growth.

• The conversational practices of the coach are in listening and questioning to draw out and empower the coaching counterpart to think differently and address challenges and goals by drawing on their own knowledge and potential.

• The broad agenda is contracted through a three way relationship between the coach, coaching counterpart and the organisational sponsor. The coach then has the role of personalising this to the coaching counterpart’s context and through this managing the accountability and ethics of this three-way relationship.

• Coaching focuses on individual development, agency and growth.

Organisational coaching and mentoring should be a critical component of your organisation’s leadership development mix. Both are proven to be effective ways of managing many contemporary organisational issues such as talent retention, working at pace in a changeable environment, heightening engagement and improving productivity and wellbeing. 

Find out more about the IECL’s portfolio of coaching and mentoring options of individual coaching, customised programs to develop internal coaches and mentors as well as the International Coaching Federation accredited Coach Education pathways: www.iecl.com.