Coach or mentor: which is right for you?

by Seth Sinclair

In my last post, I described the work of an executive coach by using the International Coaching Federation’s definition of the coaching process: “partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.”

One useful way to further explore coaching is to contrast it with another common   approach to leadership development – mentoring.  While both services can overlap and lead to results, it is important to understand the similarities and distinctions when evaluating which of these approaches will best serve you in achieving your goals.

Coaching

Coaching is a learning process.  Coaches don’t solve problems for their clients: instead, they use powerful questions and active listening to help their client gain insight through self discovery.  Coaches offer support and objective perspective to clients with a focus on gaining clarity on values and priorities, and better alignment of personal and professional goals.

Top-level coaches are professionally trained and may be certified by a credentialing body such as the International Coaching Federation.  Their educational backgrounds and career experience may vary widely.  Some coaches are experienced professionals who have transitioned to full-time coaching; others utilize coaching in the context of organizational development or psychology.  Because the focus is on the client, executive coaches don’t have to offer direct experience in the client’s work or industry to be effective. 

Coaching relationships are typically structured, with clearly defined goals and defined periods of engagement.  For example, a coaching relationship may include bi-monthly sessions over a six or twelve month period.   Coaching may be provided for an individual or programmatically for a cohort of leaders within an organization. 

Some situations where coaching might be especially effective include: a desire to reach a stretch goal, taking on a significant new challenge, an imbalance between personal and professional goals, a need to make a “breakthrough” in leadership abilities to meet goals, and a need to better manage conflict and relationships.

Mentoring

The Merriam-Webster dictionary describes a mentor as simply “a trusted counselor or guide,” but in a good mentor-mentee relationship, a mentor is much more than that.  A mentor shares his or her knowledge, experience, and wisdom with a mentee, in hopes the mentee will benefit from what the mentor has learned over the course of his or her career. 

Many mentors are role models, displaying the kinds of actions their mentees should adopt through their behaviors.  They often have specific knowledge of the industry mentees are in, and can both share that knowledge and use it to open doors for those with whom they are working.

Mentors can introduce their mentees to others who will help them get ahead; share information about the industry they are in; and advocate with senior leaders on behalf of their mentees.  They know the “politics” of organizations and industries, and can provide specific strategic advice. 

The relationship between a mentor and a mentee tends to be informal and in most cases is voluntary.  The frequency of contact and topics discussed may vary significantly.  Mentoring relationships may last many years. 

Situations where mentoring might be most effective include: the need to increase organizational knowledge, a desire for advice on how to solve problems, a need to expand relationships and political savvy. 

Summary

Both coaching and mentoring can offer significant benefits to a leader.  Coaching is focused on the client, with an emphasis on building leadership capacity.  Mentoring is centered on the transition of knowledge from the mentor to the mentee.  The table below provides a brief summary of some of the key differences:

	Coaching	Mentoring
Focus in on	Goal setting, learning, change	Transfer of knowledge
Provided by	A trained/credentialed coach	A respected, senior-level, role model
Methods	Active listening, reflection, exploration, accountability	Advice, problem solving, networking
Format	Formal, structured, time bound	Informal, long-term

Depending on your needs and resources, one or even both of these services together can effectively help you to reach your goals.

What an executive coach can do for you

by Seth Sinclair, Member

George Whitfield, Jr. calls himself a “quarterback builder.”  Every year, he works with about 70 quarterbacks, from middle-schoolers to professionals, helping them play better in the position some have called the most difficult in sports.

Mr. Whitfield does not roam the sidelines of any team on Saturdays or Sundays, however.  Instead, he is hired by individual players and their families to help young athletes reach their full potential.

“He sees every motion, every movement,” Drew Brees, the quarterback for the New Orleans Saints, told ESPN. “He makes sure that everything is perfectly organized, exactly in the right place.”

Although Mr. Whitfield wears sweatshirts and shorts to work, and his office is a playing field, he is a true executive coach; helping those who lead the offenses of football teams to do their jobs better.

What is an executive coach?  The International Coaching Federation defines the coaching process as “partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.”

At Sinclair Advisory Group, we believe the “partnering” aspect of coaching is of paramount importance.  Coaching is not a process in which the client has questions about particular issues he or she is facing, and the coach provides answers: instead, it is about the kind of work Mr. Whitfield does with young quarterbacks: offering support and objective perspective, helping clients gain clarity on their values and priorities, and building alignment between their organizational and life goals.

We believe coaches should be partners in the journeys of those they coach towards becoming more thoughtful leaders, helping them face their most challenging problems with a clear mind and with measured thinking.  Executive coaches help define goals, ask questions that help their client understand all aspects of issues, and support their clients as they develop a plan of action to “quarterback” their team to solve those problems.

Most clients know the answers to the problems they face at work.  However, their perspective on these issues may be limited, and they don’t have a clear view of how to use their knowledge to get the results they want. Good coaches do not solve their clients’ problems, but facilitate a thinking process that makes solutions evident to clients themselves.

Good coaches also look at their clients’ interactions with others: how their personalities, communication style, and actions help or hinder them in getting their work done.  No leader can succeed without the support of his or her teammates, including subordinates, peers, and supervisors.  If leadership style is getting in the way of that support, the coach can identify the problem and suggest possible changes.

And good coaches look at their clients’ entire life and lifestyle, and identify problems that are holding them back in those areas.  Wellness is an essential part of leadership effectiveness: someone who is in poor health or out of balance will not be able to maximize his or her leadership potential.  At SAG we consider it part of our job to help our clients understand and become aware of the relationship between leadership and wellness.

A good coach asks questions that can help clients’ themselves determine why they may be unhappy in their jobs, or with their career paths; and if they are unhappy, the coach works with them to explore the underlying causes.  The coach can foster better awareness of choices or opportunities that might be available, then work with the client to design actions that can get them out of the ruts they perceive themselves to be in.

Not everyone has the potential to become a professional quarterback—but the methods Mr. Whitfield and skilled executive coaches use can make anyone better able to maximize their professional potential.  Executive coaches make great partners in the game of life, and can make the difference between winning and losing in every field of endeavor.

Is There A Substitute for Experience?

by Seth Sinclair

On August 26, 2013, the Washington Post published a story that foretold a grim future for the operations of the United States government.  The story told of a “wave” of retirements among senior federal employees: nearly twice as many as four years ago.

By 2016, wrote the Post, more than a third of the federal workforce will be eligible to retire.  Nearly three in five members of the Senior Executive Service, and nearly half of all the senior managers in government, are among that group.  As a result, the General Accountability Office has put the pending loss of experienced workers on its list of high-risk future challenges.

This accelerated departure of experienced managers means that the government will lose exactly the type of people it cannot afford to lose.  In times of short funding, accelerated cycle times, and increasing demands on agencies and people, employees with proven management and leadership skills are vital to the success of every government agency.  Yet they are precisely the men and women whose years of service offer them the opportunity to retire.  Thanks to years of no pay increases, and fewer and fewer bonus opportunities, many senior leaders are taking that opportunity.

Those who will replace these retirees (if budget constraints permit them to be replaced at all), will inevitably be less experienced, less knowledgeable, and less able to respond to the challenges their predecessors routinely handled—at least until they gain their own experience.

The old adage “there is no substitute for experience” is true: but there is a way for these new leaders, and new managers everywhere, to fast track the process.  Coaches and mentors provide leaders—new and experienced--with the support and information they need to identify and implement their goals; to balance their work life with their home life; and to transform the way in which they think, feel, and act.

There is a difference between coaching and mentoring, however.  Most mentors have “been there, done that, and got the t-shirt.”  They directly transfer their experience to those they are mentoring, model positive behaviors, and help to guide career development.

Executive coaching, on the other hand, is a more subtle process, and can be accomplished by coaches without direct experience in the field those they are coaching are in.  According to Mary Beth O’Neill, author of “Executive Coaching with Backbone and Heart,” a trained executive coach helps leaders work through challenges so they can transform their learning into results for the organization.

In addition, coaches:

·      Share conceptual frameworks, images, and metaphors with executives;

·      Encourage rigor in the ways clients organize their thinking, visioning, planning, and expectations;

·      Challenge executives to expand their learning edge and go beyond their current level of competence; and

·      Build clients’ capacities to manage their own anxieties in tough situations.

The Sinclair Advisory Group has the depth to provide both experienced leaders to serve as mentors and professionally trained and certified coaches.  In many cases our resources are cross-trained and have the ability to “switch hats” between mentoring, coaching, and consulting in alignment with client needs.  We understand how to identify which approach will best serve the client; both together can offer a ray of light that can alleviate the gloom and doom the Post and others foresee.

In future blog posts, we will delve further into the subject of leadership coaching: how it can be done successfully; what it can accomplish; and what leaders should look for and expect from an executive coach.  We hope both new and experienced leaders will use this information to make informed decisions about choosing mentors and coaches, and to get the greatest value from the men and women they choose.  We’d welcome your thoughts, comments, and suggestions.