COACHING Coaching focuses on the repetitive practicing of skills until mastery is attained. Athletes, musicians, artists and professionals of all kinds spend lots of time practicing the skills that will make them proficient. Good coaches know how to break down skill sets into distinct, learnable segments that can be practiced over and over until they become second nature. In a coaching relationship, the coach may be teaching some valuable information; however, the onus is upon the student to learn this new skill by doing it over and over, assessing her performance after each attempt. Potentially more complex than teaching, coaching requires the vigilance to observe from the sidelines while the student practices the skill, patience to revisit mistakes and successes to solidify skill development, and prudence to re-evaluate strategy when progress is stalled.
Coaching application: Contemplate the skills and attributes you want in a manager that require practice and refinement to achieve mastery. Such skills might include handling a tricky personnel issue, managing project teams, creating and presenting reports for company brass and running efficient meetings. These skill sets can be more complex than the technical skills referenced in the teaching section above. A proficient manager must be adept at a range of primary, rudimentary skills in order to be effective in any of these scenarios. For example, competency in communication (listening, oral and written), negotiation, conflict management and political acumen are required to do these tasks well. In addition, the discipline to establish goals, work plans and deadlines, and to hold oneself and others accountable, is equally important.
Before you glaze over at how to accomplish this coaching feat, consider these questions. Who on your staff already does some of these things, including yourself? Who is best suited to coach a promising employee on these sophisticated skills? What small actions can the student take to acquire and enhance certain skills? What kinds of events and activities can a student attend that showcase these skills in action? What mechanisms exist that allow for students to evaluate and be evaluated on their performance of a given task? The opportunities for practice are likely part of everyday business - it's identifying coaches that may require effort.
MENTORING Mentoring enables a person to tap into his or her own internal resources in order to mature and virtuously develop as a human being. A mentor/protege relationship is the most complex, generally containing elements of both teaching and coaching. More than skill acquisition and knowledge transfer, mentoring denotes cultivating the whole person - one's values, passions and goals. A mentor commits to a protege and vice versa because both are looking for a sustained professional relationship that serves a higher purpose.
For the mentor, it is the opportunity to influence and support the human resource potential in others: What does this person need to excel here, or anywhere? For the protege, it supports authentic personal development: With the support of another, am I willing to look within myself for the answers? A successful mentor/protege relationship necessitates a shared connection and should never be imposed without joint agreement. The rigours of this progressive relationship require a foundation of mutual commitment, honesty and respect.
Mentoring application: The human energy investment required for an effective mentoring program can be prohibitive in our 24/7 workplace of weighted quarterly reporting and short-term results. You may ask: How can a leader invest this time when there are so many other priorities? The answer lies in the fact that human resources are a leader's most important long-term resource. Turnover, incompetence, lost knowledge and a lack of preparation are expensive and inefficient. The wrong person, poorly groomed, in a position of influence and responsibility, can significantly damage any department or organization, requiring years of recovery.
Successful mentoring is one of the best, time-tested methods for developing the skills, know-how, self-confidence and critical thinking abilities that leaders need. Yes, it takes time, commitment and intention (most worthy things do); however, it does not necessarily take a lot of money. You may already possess the resources in the form of experienced, seasoned staff.
Good mentors see their role as drawing forth the wisdom and inherent knowledge of the protege. A mentor enhances this process by asking good questions, pushing proteges to look inside themselves for the answers and any personal biases or assumptions that may obfuscate their success, thus deepening capacity and broadening awareness. The mentor is not in the relationship to talk about his own successes, give unwarranted advice or otherwise tell the protege what to do. Instead, he probes the protege for the greatest learning, adding insight where appropriate. The focus must always be upon the protege; a mentor who wants attention for his own accomplishments must find acknowledgement in other venues. A good mentor is prepared to relinquish the field to a new cadre of star players, content to sit back and be the coach who relishes in their success - which ultimately becomes his own.
Accomplished mentors become a self-sustaining development system for their departments and organizations, ultimately preparing new mentors by their efforts. You will find that some proteges leave for different organizations or vocations, while others stay to become future stars. Regardless, your department will reap the many benefits of added bench strength. And, instead of being the CIO trying to locate and recruit these high calibre employees, you will be the one cultivating them.
Jonathan Gilburg of Gilburg Leadership Institute has been developing leadership for 20 years. His background in education and management, and the experiences and insights of his clients, have helped him diagnose and treat the succession dilemma faced by many leaders today. For more information visit www.gilburgleadership.com
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