Ilm 5 Coaching & Mentoring Essay Example

methods firstly to help them gain the confidence they need to make their own decisions based on their training, knowledge & experience & therefore grow into the managers of the future & secondly, to train them as coaches so that they can use the models & methods I have learned to develop those in their teams & to expand the coaching culture within my organization. I believe a coaching ulture will benefit everybody by encouraging people to: 1. Identify their own solutions to issues. 2. Develop their skills & experience. 3. Tap into latent potential. 4. Change attitudes & behaviour of those I line manage & also those who line manage me. 5. Maximise the performance of individuals which in turn will maximise the performance of the team. 6. Most importantly to provide a better service to the vulnerable people we support. In my business unit of our organization I have up to recently used a more mentoring / directive style of management.

This has been necessary as the service was in crisis when I took post & was close to being closed down by our regulator, this meant that I had to pass on my experience, knowledge & skill set to others quickly in order to survive. I did not have the luxury of time to allow others to find their own solutions so had to speak with my seniors, find out what the burning issues were & then provide them with the solutions. I feel this is the fundamental difference between Coaching on one hand & Mentoring on the other.

Coaching has a more structured nature & needs regular planned meetings,

(unless engaging in ‘corridor coaching’ which is a different but still an effective & useful approach). Coaching is usually aimed at shorter term development of an individual or in overcoming specific areas of issue. A coach does not always need an in-depth knowledge of the client’s occupation in general coaching practice, however as a Manager / Coach involved in developing those within my organization knowledge of the job role is definitely a must.

Mentoring on the other hand is or can be of a more informal nature & is of a longer duration normally. A mentor passes on experience & knowledge to the mentee & the focus is usually on career & personal development goals & is essentially a more supportive form of development. A mentor is like a sounding board, they can give advice but the partner is free to pick and choose what they do. The context does not have specific performance objectives.

A coach is trying to direct a person to some end result, the person may choose how to get there, but the coach is strategically assessing and monitoring the progress and giving advice for effectiveness and efficiency. Mentoring is biased in your favour. Coaching is impartial, focused on improvement in behaviour. In summary, the mentor has a deep personal interest, personally involved—a friend or colleague who cares about the mentee and their long term development.

The coach develops specific skills for the task, challenges and performance expectations at work. Both methods use questioning, listening & feedback to help others but coaching specifically draws the answers & actions required to achieve a particular goal from the individual whereas

mentoring is more about imparting knowledge & experience to the individual to provide them with the answer & actions to achieve the goal. Coaching therefore is a low cost, low risk tool facilitating another’s development.