Having an experienced, trusted supporter to give you valuable advice and help you realise your career, business or life goals is invaluable. The ACT provide support to members via their mentoring scheme, Mentor Me, and through career coaching via Renovo.
Let’s start with the similarities. Both coaching and mentoring provide a mechanism for you to discuss your goals with an experienced practitioner. In seeking a coach or mentor you are entering a relationship where you are committing to an open and honest dialogue and where you will set time aside to work with your supporter; analysing where you currently are, setting clear goals and planning a route to achieve those goals.
Whether you are working with a coach or mentor all parties are working towards achieving a common goal.
The main difference between coaching and mentoring comes from the focus of your relationship and from the type of supporter you are likely to have.
With coaching the focus tends to be on performance – the objective is to make you more efficient and increase your performance. The coach is often not a subject specialist but a professional coach who uses a variety of techniques to help you to achieve your goal. The relationship is usually more formal and involves a lot of active listening and intuitive and focused feedback. Coaching is normally short-term and task-orientated – both parties are working towards a structured end goal.
A mentor is normally a subject specialist who can advise from a position of experience and who acts as a guide to the mentee. The relationship tends to be more informal and the mentor provides support, guidance and practical help based on their own experience. The focus with mentoring is on career development and individual improvement – looking at how to make you more effective in your working environment. Mentoring relationships tend to be longer-term and relationship orientated.
We speak to Margaret O’Riordan, an FCT member who now works as an executive coach and communication specialist about the advantages of working with a business coach. Margaret is one of the coaches providing free pit-stop sessions for members as part of the Time Critical Conversations initiative.
What do you like about being a business coach?
Coaching is extremely rewarding as it provides an opportunity to collaborate with thoughtful people and to unleash their resourcefulness. I strongly believe that busy people are more effective when they step back from day-to-day issues and take an honest look at their strengths and areas of shortfall and consider options to meet their objectives. Open questions and being challenged can create great clarity. When the coachee is motivated to take responsibility for actions and follows through between sessions, that forward momentum and sense of energy and self-belief is powerful.
Why do you think it’s important to take time out to work with a coach, especially at times of crisis?
The COVID-19 crisis has impacted our needs at all levels including physiological, safety and love and belonging. It is a challenge to respond in the best way to our own personal and professional needs and those of others around us. Leaders are working to understand how companies can maintain operations and manage all stakeholder expectations. Team members are looking to do their best job and be most responsive. Coaching provides the opportunity to stand back and check in with our own basic needs and stability first of all and, in some cases, take time out to address family and mental wellbeing. It provides the platform to focus on strategic options, empathy, and a clear communication plan. A key part of coaching is reflecting on what is and is not working and adapting when needed, which is critical at present.
What do you think the key role of the coach should be?
Tim Gallwey, Author of The Inner Game of Life, tells us that-
‘Coaching is unlocking a person’s potential to maximize their own performance. It’s helping them to learn rather than teaching them’.
The key role of the coach is to create a safe space, build trust and support the coachee in achieving clarity around goals and actions. This is achieved by non-judgemental listening, incisive questioning, and challenge with curiosity. The coach empowers the coachee to articulate goals and commit to strategies and techniques to achieve those goals.
When working with teams, the role of the coach is to aid and facilitate the team members in understanding their respective strengths, their roles, the purpose of the team and how to align team members to work effectively.
How do you think a coaching relationship should work?
Successful coaching relationships arise where the coachee is committed to finding ways to develop and bring about change supported by the coach. The parties contract at the outset around a set of objectives and each session will focus on a goal that works towards the overall objective(s).
In response to powerful questions and feedback from the coach, the coachee gains fresh perspective on feelings and behaviours in different situations and can identify ways to change or adapt these for more positive outcomes.
It is important that the coach hold the coachee accountable. Actions agreed should be articulated at the end of a session and identify any support or resource the coachee might need.
How can a coachee help ensure they get the maximum benefit from a session?
The coachee maximises the benefit by fully engaging in the process of discovery in sessions and committing to trying out new behaviours or skills between sessions. Responding to probing questions and honest challenges requires openness and energy from the coachee. Finding time to follow through on agreed actions between sessions is key to progress towards goals. Each subsequent session should focus on what actions or behaviours worked well and where any adjustment might be needed. Studies have shown that coachees who take responsibility in this way increase their commitment, engagement, and productivity within their companies.
What areas do you tend to focus on?
The joy of coaching is that each coachee brings a unique set of goals and these might relate to more effective performance in their current role or to personal and career development needs and aspirations. The following are a number of common topics that I coach on:
• Identifying skills, strengths, and areas for development to work towards a promotion
• Strengthening work relationships and dealing with conflict
• Improving communication skills and developing a communication plan
• Increasing personal impact and influencing skills.
• Successful transitioning to a new role within an organisation including having an immediate positive impact and building credibility.
• Developing leadership capability by exploring styles of leadership and what might work best for the coachee
• Identifying career goals and developing a plan
Coaching and mentoring may be beneficial to you at different stages in your working life, helping you to increase your efficiency and effectiveness and reach your career goals. Whether you choose a coach or mentor depends on whether you are looking to increase your performance (efficiency) or your career (effectiveness). Either way the relationship will help you to develop yourself, focus on the areas you would like to develop and increase your productivity.
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Author: Louise Tatham, Head of Professional Development, ACT