This concept of career-long learning means that people in pre-employment education and training, new employees in orientation and training (or induction), experienced employees, middle managers, and executives should all have mentors.
That list suggests that the goal is for everyone to be learning and working with a mentor. That is exactly what we are trying to define when we use the term “learning organization.” The fast-paced, competitive, and global nature of information flow, changes in business and other professional transactions, and new models for decision making require that we all be actively and continually learning. Such continual learning is not the norm, and so, it requires a high level of support to attain and sustain. That is why we all need to be mentored.
Who would be the mentor for all those people?
Just as we all need to be mentored so that we are continually learning, we all also need to be a mentor. That is necessary because of the high level of support needed to sustain continual, organization-wide learning and growth. It is also needed because the very best way to be a learner is to be a teacher, too. Anyone who has ever had to teach another person something knows that is when you really have to know and be able to do that thing well. We learn through teaching others.
In other words, we all need to be mentored and be mentors, if we are in a learning, continually improving organization that expects individual, continual performance improvement.
How is coaching different from mentoring? Is it best to do both?
Coaching is the support for learning job-related skills that is provided by a colleague who uses observation; data collection; and descriptive, non-judgmental reporting on specific requested behaviors and technical skills. The coach also must use open-ended questions to help the other employee more objectively see his or her own patterns of behavior, and to prompt reflection, goal-setting, planning and action to increase the desired results.
Mentoring is the all-inclusive description of everything done to support protégé orientation and professional development. It includes creating the relationship, emotional safety, and the cultural norms needed for risk taking for the sake of learning, and the desired result of accelerated professional growth.
Coaching is ONE of the strategies that mentors must learn and effectively use to increase their protégés’ job skills. Therefore, we need both to maximize employee learning. Read the next item below for more on this.
How are coaching and mentoring different from supervision?
Supervision is the process of employee development, management, and evaluation that is used by a boss. People can grow as a result of supervision, at least to the point that the possibility of losing one’s job is a motivation for growth. Learning in a supervisory situation is often a very high risk circumstance. If employees share their weaknesses or needs with a supervisor, they risk poor evaluations and dismissal. That is why supervision often is not very effective. The risk-taking needed for learning and growth are not likely to occur.
Very progressive managers, who are also effective leaders, can be somewhat more successful in prompting professional growth in their employees, but leadership requires “followership.” Leadership implies an “attracting” or “pulling” influence, and followership suggests that employees are drawn toward something, but have some degree of choice as to whether they follow the leader and whether they grow or not. Anyone who has tried to lead others knows just how true that is. Marilyn Ferguson states it so well: “The gate to change is locked on the inside.”
High Impact Mentoring and Coaching is designed to be very separate from supervision. This approach to mentoring and coaching frames the mentor/coach as a highly effective leader WORTH following. In other words, “High Impact” mentors and coaches are MODELS and MAGNETS of best practices, increased performance, and greater results. People are attracted to them.
Also, this concept includes explicitly understanding that the employee who works with a mentor or a coach must choose:
- To defer to the greater experience of a mentor
- To learn through others experiences and mistakes and avoid learning by trial and error
- To take the risks of discussing their own weaknesses and needs and of learning in front of someone more senior
Choosing to act that way takes a very special circumstance and relationship, and that is why mentoring and coaching must NOT overlap evaluation and supervision. Certainly, supervisors MUST be trained and expected to also act as mentors and coaches. Those skills will improve their ability as supervisors and the results of their supervision. However, non-supervisory relationships between mentors/coaches and the employees who are their protégés are needed also if we expect to dramatically accelerate learning and performance within our organizations.