Similarities and Differences between Coaching and Mentoring - Coursework Example

Coaching and Mentoring Student’s Name Institution Affiliation Coaching and Mentoring Introduction Coaching and mentoring are not new concepts in the corporate environment. Over the years, managers have realized the benefits of coaching and mentoring in talent development and retention. In this 21st century, talent management has become a key variable for business growth and survival (Marrick 2014, p.2). Coaching is defined as a practice of offering support, instructions, and advice to subordinates in an attempt to boost their productivity or efficiency in the organization. On the other hand, mentoring is the transfer of professional or knowledge expertise by to mentor to a mentee in order to advance his/her success and understanding. The major difference between coaching and mentoring lies on the desired outcomes. The purpose of coaching is to help a subordinate engage in a self-enhancement in an effort to achieve greater efficiency. On the other hand, mentoring aims at assisting the subordinates advance via different hurdles allies with his or her career (Lardbucket 2012, par.1). According to CIMA (2002, p.1), substantial evidence shows that both mentoring and coaching have a significant impact on both organization and individual. This paper explores both approaches, describing each at its turn, highlighting their major similarities and difference, and their strengths and weaknesses when developing learners. Coaching Coaching stems from the sports, and it dates back to the ancient Greece where coaches were paid to train athletes who were competing when the Olympics games started (Lardbucket 2012, par.6). Typically, coaching is defined as a mechanism by which a manager or coach offers the subordinate or the coached a hand in learning ways of improving his or her outcomes. It is a task-centric relationship shaped to enhance an employee’s ability to carry out a specified task (Grice 2015, p. 21). Coaching emphasizes on attaining very specific targets within a stipulated time. The major strength of coaching is that, it assists subordinates to use available energy to obtain the best performance out of self. Moreover, the process naturally transfers knowledge to the learner; hence, it is an enhanced tool for developing successors and as a result, learners feel motivated and empowered when working with other teams. On the other hand, it does not work with large firms and teams; sometimes, it can cross a thin line in micro-managing and result in overdependence on managers (Marrick 2014, p.4). Typically, coaching focuses more on transformation. According to Roger (2004, p.7), managers coach employees to enhance their productivity. Today, coaching is being used by several organizations to promote the culture of learning as a tool for performance management and is regularly associated with leadership management programs. There are two types: professional or external coach and internal coach. External coaches work outside the firm, and they are independent. However, they provide value through their expertise and maintain confidentiality. On the other hand, internal coaches are specially trained to develop talent within an organization; for instance, line managers and supervisors (Marrick 2014, p.4). Mentoring The term dates back to the ancient times since it originated from the Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey. Mentoring has evolved from a gentle guidance to the developed mentorship program, which is common in the U.S. corporate environment (Lardbucket 2012, par.2). It refers to a relationship-based approach with a purpose of nurturing the potential of an employee for future responsibilities (Grice 2015, p. 27). According to Megginson (2006, p.4), mentoring is considered as offline assistance by one person to another making vital change in thinking, understanding, or working. Therefore, a mentor must be an expert, a senior manager, or professional. A mentor can be internal or external, and their services are offered and taken up voluntarily. Mentoring can either be short- term or long-term and it involves, career development, professional, and personal growth. There are two contrasting mentoring models: sponsorship and developmental mentorship. The mentor in sponsorship model actively supports the mentee with the main aim or professional or career growth. However, in a developmental model, the mentor may be an expert but not essentially more senior and with a goal of facilitating the learning process (Megginson 2006, p.6). Both models can be coupled to achieve desirable results. For instance, a study of an international gas and electricity firm, which was using both developmental and sponsor mental model, reveal that all subordinate staffs were satisfied with their engagements (Marrick 2014, p.6). According to Cima (2002, p. 82), the major strength of mentoring is that it contributes towards building knowledge. Consequently, it is regularly used to assist learners move between career stages. It is a vital tool because it supports employee who are being elevated to the senior leadership role. Nevertheless, it requires a highly skilled person as a mentor, and it concentrate more on career development (Marrick 2014, p.6). Typically, it is recognized as a unique type of relationship where honesty, confidentiality, credibility, trustworthiness, and objectivity are vital. It is an open-ended relationship, where the manager facilitates a group of subordinates or an individual employee over a longer period. The purpose is open and advances as time progresses. Majorly, a mentor aims at advancing wisdom by building the capacity to apply knowledge, skills, and expertise to new mechanisms and processes (Cim 2002, p.3). Similarities and differences between Coaching and Mentoring From the above discussion, it is clear that, both relationships involve learning. They assist employees to take responsibility of their self-improvement in order to utilize their energy in achieving valuable outcomes. For the purpose of this analysis, we will view mentoring and coaching as complementary because they assist people take full responsibility for their self- development. There are various similarities between mentoring and coaching. Both approaches offers insights, support, learning and transformation, which assist subordinates to identify potential, which they utilize to become reality and deliver tangible outcomes. They offer one-on-one relationship that enables employees to learn, grow, and reflect (Jarvis 2004, p. 19). The main goal for a mentor and coach is to enhance performance and deliver the outcome. However, a coach can put extra effort in attaining particular skill development and transformation. They both necessitate well advanced interpersonal skills, support with responsibilities, commitment, organizational know-how, and innovativeness. Both the mentor and coach are required to act as role model. They can serve as a career guide and enhance employee productivity (Zeus & Skiffington 2000, p. 18). 7) Both mentoring and coaching base their norms on the basic beliefs and value that, every person is capable of changing if best choices available are applied properly. In addition, learning is not a quick fix but a journey where important conversations of right question and answer take place in order to cultivate for personal and professional growth (Zeus & Skiffington 2000 p. 20) Differences There are major differences between coaching and mentoring. In mentoring, a relationship can continue for a longer period while in coaching, it has a set duration. Coaching is more structured, and meetings are regularly planned, while on mentoring, several informal meetings can take place. Mentoring emphasizes on professional and personal growth while coaching emphasizes on work development issues. In coaching, the target is to meet specified and immediate objectives while on mentoring, the mentee sets the agenda and the mentor offers support. In mentoring, goals are long-term and take a wide view of the mentee whereas in coaching, they are short term and focus on the specific area of development (Jarvis 2004, p.19). In order for mentoring or coaching to be effective, various factors influence the success or failure. They include interest and commitment of the parties involved, adequate resources and firm's support, and acknowledgment of the cross-cutting factors. Others are adopting a holistic personal model, implanting the process in the organizational culture, and creating an enabling environment, skill, and expertise of both the mentor and the coach (Dean & Oakley 2007, p.21). Tools for Assessing Individual Capacity to Coach or Mentor and Causes of Problems that Hinders the Process of Coaching and Mentoring Both the mentor and coach roles may be different, but there is a common ground where they meet. For instance, both are required to nurture the learner in order to develop new abilities. Nevertheless, coaches challenge the learners more directly than the mentor does, but they all act as allies. Some tools can be employed to measure their ability to coach or mentor others. They both require professional or business expertise in order to develop their credibility. In addition, they require intellectual abilities in order to conceptualize the situation of the learner and collaborate in setting achievable goals and exploring new ideas. They both require emotional intelligence (EQ) skills. A coach or mentor must understand his or her strength, motivations, and weakness to control his or her own behavior and be able to form a relationship based on trust. In addition, EQ necessitates a sense of proportion and humor. No matter how a coach or mentor is experienced, he or she must display ethical values. The values for a coaches or mentor include reverence for the learner's self-worth, equality, empathy, goodness and honesty (Martin 2006, p.8). On the other hand, organizational culture can cause some problems when either the managers are trying to mentor or coach subordinates. Some of the issues that may cause a problem in the mentor or coach relationship with the learner includes; 1) lack of organizational support and gender and diversity issues. 2) Perception of nepotism or resentment of those not involved. 3) Making false promotional hope and blurring boundaries role (Cima 2002, p.5). Stages for Mentoring and Coaching Managers can apply different approaches or frameworks in coaching and mentoring. The mentoring concept evolves over time and progresses as the relationship between the mentor and mentee progresses. Mentorship programs undergo three stages: The hierarchical stage; during this stage, the mentee is guided and directed by the mentor through organizational life; for instance, understanding the corporate culture. The period can last for three to five years. 2) The Junior or senior level; in this stage, the relationship involves goal and needs establishment. In addition, the approach changes from directly mentoring to a mutual and teamwork relationship. 3) The trusted Sage Level; this is the final level, which is marked with friendship where the union is founded on strong bond (Lardbucket 2012, par.5). On the other hand, the popular coaching model has an acronym name GROW. It was developed in 1970 by Alexander Graham and spread by John Whitmore all over Europe. It focuses on nurturing employee’s objectives and goals. The first stage is represented by Goal where the learner focuses on the goals he or she wants to attain in the long-term not only in the coaching process. The second step is Reality where both the coach focuses on real problem nature. However, this is not a problem-solving stage. The third stage is options, where they both explore the best possible actions or decisions that will yield best solutions. The final stage is Will or Wrap Up whereby the learner focuses on what to explore in order to achieve specific goals. In addition, they both evaluate the hindrances that may arise, strategize how to overcome them and agree on resources necessary and nature of additional support required (Ravier 2011, p.1). Implementing Coaching and Mentoring Program Setting up or implementing a mentoring or a coaching program in an organization involves the following levels: level one; goals that link to corporate plans. Level two; identifications and matching of partakers. Level three; processes and mechanisms required to support coaching or mentoring. Level four is assessment and feedbacks. Organizations implement these basic programs to their needs. For instance, a study conducted for Coca-Cola company reveals that their mentorship programs involve ten-step procedure, which include: 1) Identification of mentee; 2) identification of developmental requirements; 3) identification of a mentor; 4) matching of mentor and mentee; 5) mentors and mentee orientation; 6) contracting; 7) implementation of the plan; 8) periodical reports; 9) conclusion and finally assessment and follow-ups. On the other hand, their coaching program is less formal since it involves five different levels. These include modeling, guiding, improving performance, solving problem, and support and motivations (Cima 2002, p.5). Both mentoring and coaching programs serve as tools for supporting human resource development, and they are directly coupled to the company`s long-term strategies. Conclusion Coaching and mentoring are not new concepts, and managers have realized their benefit in talent development and retention. In this 21st century, talent management has become a key variable for business growth and survival. Coaching refers to the practice of supporting, instructing and directing learners in an effort boosts their productivity or efficiency in the organization. Mentoring refers to the practice of transferring professional expertise to advance learner success and understanding. Coaching emphasizes more on transformation, and its major strength is to assists subordinates to use available energy to achieve. Nevertheless, it does not work with large firms or teams, and it can result in overdependence on the manager. On the other hand, mentoring focuses more on career development, and its major strength is to assist building knowledge of subordinate on wide scale hence vital for nurturing leadership skill. Nonetheless, it necessitates a highly qualified person. Mentorship program undergoes the hierarchical or first stage followed by the junior or senior level and finally the trusted Sage level. On the other hand, the most popular approach for coaching is GROW or Goals, Reality, Options and Will. In order to execute either a mentoring or coaching, a company needs to link the goals with the firm’s goals, identify and match partake, support the process and finally evaluate and give feedbacks. References Cima. (2002). Mentoring and Coaching – An Overview. Technical -Briefing -Developing and Promoting Strategy, 1-8. Grice, M. (2009).Coaching, Counseling and MentoringDraft.Major General John H. Russell Jr.Leadership Conference, 420-2308. Retrieved from http://www.academia.edu/4468153/Coaching_Counseling_Mentoring_for_LLI_RLC Jarvis, P., & Jarvis, P. (2004).Adult education and lifelong learning: Theory and practice. London: RoutledgeFalmer. Lardbucket. (2012). Mentoring and coaching. Retrieved from http://2012books.lardbucket.org/books/an-introduction-to-organizational-communication/s09-03-mentoring-and-coaching.html Martin, G. (2006). Coaching and Mentoring. In Australian Master Human Resource Guide. 4th Ed. (pp. 953 – 968). Australia: McPherson's Printing Group. Retrieved from www.glennmartin.com.au/articles/CoachMentor.pdf Megginson, D., & Megginson, D. (2006).Mentoring in action: A practical guide. London: Kogan Page. MERRICK, L. (2014). How Coaching & Mentoring Can Drive Success In Your Organization. white paper, 1-9. Oakley, J., & Dean, C. (2007).Virtue ethics and professional roles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Oakley, L., & Dean, F. (2006). Coaching and Mentoring for Leadership Development in Civil Society. Intrac, 1-45. Ravier. (2011). How effective is the GROW Model? : Welcome to the coaching commons. Retrieved from http://coachingcommons.org/guest-contributors/how-effective-is-the-grow-model/ Zeus, P., &Skiffington, S. (2000). The complete guide to coaching at work. Sydney: McGraw-Hill. Read More