Jackie Arnold, author of one of our set books ‘Coaching Skills for Leaders in the Workplace’ defines coaching as follows:

“Coaching is a way of encouraging and supporting someone to achieve a goal or to develop or acquire skills.”  (Chapter 1).

If you have not already done so, read Chapters 1 & 4 of Jackie Arnold’s book. This will provide you with a good background to the concept of coaching and the differences between coaching and mentoring.

Coaching in today’s world of work is a rapidly growing practice. Simon Western, author of ‘Coaching and Mentoring, A Critical Text’, is interested in how coaching and mentoring have emerged as disciplines over the last 30 years and the influences that have come to create what is effectively a new profession. His conclusion is that “coaching” is a disputed term, with no one definition that is easily available or agreed upon. The student should therefore treat any claims to knowledge with a degree of scepticism. Quoting Joo (2005), Western observes:

“The coaching market is worth around $1 billion, a number that Harvard Business School expects will double in the next 2 years (Joo, 2005). Coaching has arrived, and appears to be stabilizing itself after a period of emergence that was recently described as The Wild West of Coaching’ (Sherman and Freas, 2004), highlighting the unregulated, diverse and hybrid nature of the practice. There is huge investment in coaching, and the capital being invested goes beyond financial; it is social capital as well. Individuals, businesses, public and ‘not-for-profit’ organizations and social enterprises are all investing in coaching and mentoring to improve either personal and/or organizational success”.

Coaching is very often proactive and you do not always need any knowledge of the subject being coached. You do however need a degree of competence in the field of coaching.

The knowledge of the mentor comes from past experiences. This is fundamentally different to coaching in so far as the mentor usually is someone more senior or knowledgeable, has experience in the field and has a degree of success in the context of work.

So, how is coaching different from other disciplines which use similar processes involving questioning, observing, listening and goals?

Read this short article, written by Jonathan Passmore, looking at the differences between executive coaching and mentoring. 

Read this article relating to the role of coaching psychology in defining boundaries between counselling and coaching

There are two key characteristics of coaching described here:

• Coaching is future focused.
• Coaching operates with the belief that the person being coached has all the required knowledge to solve his or her own problem.

Consider your own situation. Will your own practice be in executive coaching or mentoring? Will you use each discipline but in different situations? Critically assess the benefits of each approach. How will you distinguish them with your clients?

Executive coaching or mentoring?

Coaching and mentoring are key tools for organisational learning and development.

In this article, David Clutterbuck looks at three different approaches for top leaders and directors:

Executive coach

Elder statesman

Reflective mentor

What are the needs of the clients you will be working with? What approach will be most appropriate?

What will be the characteristics of your own executive coaching or mentoring programme or activity?  How will you ensure that your clients appreciate the benefits?

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