Coaching, Mentoring or Sponsoring?

With the best will in the world, there are not many people who get into and sustain roles of leadership in SME and large organisations without the benefit of coaching, mentoring or sponsoring. And even though I have spoken about this for years I still get asked the same questions by emerging and existing leaders, what the difference is between the three.

So herewith a short summary for those who are not quite sure what the difference is and how it applies. I will use my own experience as a benchmark if I may.

Coaching.

The process of coaching is very much driven by tasks and specific performance or development goals. As an executive coach, my role varies from helping leaders to speak and present better whether that be around staff meetings, sales, fundraising or investor calls. Or it could be around helping them to lead change, handle conflict, manage time or even better understand the business landscape and make better decisions. This process can be one to one or very often with a small group of leaders, so that the thinking and accountability to meet those tasks are shared.

The whole process involves is specific to the client meeting specific needs. So I discuss what outcomes are required, make sure all stakeholders keep my client accountable in reaching those goals. We plan a roadmap for our sessions and then I provide the questions and a toolkit to help my clients move to the next level. This is usually fee based.

Mentoring

Now this is slightly different in that it more of a client, or mentee, looking for guidance and experience, from the mentor to help them in their personal development. It is not a one way street as most people assume, as both parties should benefit from this experiene, but more often than not, rather than it being as task oriented or driven by questions like coaching is, mentoring is more of a conversation and gleaning of experience from someone who has skin in the game and is helping an upcoming leader to get to the same space.

Examples may include, how to negotiate deals, executive presence, how to start a business, etc. which the mentor would guide the mentee in doing. So more relationship than task oriented and less time pressured than coaching, although it is always good to have a specific frame you would like to work in. Mentoring is mostly free but in many instances outside of an organisation, there are examples of where mentors will charge for their time and expertise.

Sponsoring

The final one sponsoring is essentially the next level of mentoring. This is where a person in a senior role in an organisation or industry, not only mentors but looks to specifically provide career pathways for the person they are sponsoring. They advocate for their self development but also make introductions and bring awareness to the person they are sponsoring of what opportunities are available and how they can attain them. Sponsoring is usually non fee based. I have yet to hear of it being paid and would not encourage anyone to pay for a sponsor, per se.

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Now coaching, mentoring and sponsoring can happen within an organisation or industry. Very often the latter tend to happen more in an actual company as most people like to hire external coaches for that little bit of separation, but whether in house, across industry or whatever they all play an important role in the development of emerging and existing leaders.

I hope that helps someone, and if you or your organization need help on how your organisation can develop frameworks and processes on how this can work for you, I run a programme called THE SUITE SPOT, where I can provide bitesize workshops, lunch and learns or full on executive retreats to guide you on how it can be done.

Feel free to contact my team on office @ narratively dot co uk, if this would be of interest.