Mentorship and Coaching: The Role of Both in Professional Development

Summary:

Mentors and executive coaches have an important role to play in both personal and career development. While the terms “mentor” and “coach” are often used interchangeably, they have distinct differences. Having been fortunate enough to have been both a coach and a coachee, as well as a mentor and mentee, this article explores the role that each have to play and the impact they can have on us.

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In today’s fast-paced world, it’s crucial to keep learning and growing, both personally and professionally. One way to achieve this is by seeking out a mentor or coach who can provide guidance and support as you navigate your career path. Most successful people have benefited from a mentor at some point in their careers. The concept of mentorship is broadly understood. For most people I’ve spoken to, a mentor is someone who shares advice based on personal experience that is wider than the mentee’s. A mentor has been there and done that, which is why having them share their learnings and knowledge can be invaluable. 

Enter the coach

When we think of coaches in the context of sports, it is easy to visualize what they do: push their athletes, develop a structured training program and come up with different plays to respond to different situations.  Many elite athletes have more than one coach to address different aspects of their game. Lebron James has a chief human performance advisor, a strength & conditioning coach,  and has had multiple other coaches and assistant coaches over the years. Tiger Woods had both swing coaches and mental coaches. 

If executives are expected to consistently perform at their best, why isn’t it more common to have executive coaches? And if coaching can help athletes improve their craft holistically, can the same be done for business leaders?

Executive coaches can help business leaders with a wide range of issues, from improving leadership skills to increasing productivity, to building relationships and improving team dynamics. I personally paid more attention to executive coaching after reading the book The Trillion Dollar Coach: The Leadership Playbook of Silicon Valley’s Bill Campbell in 2020, and got more into it when I listened to the podcast No Bull: Life-Changing Conversations with Bill Campbell, hosted by two of Bill’s coachees. Bill Campbell coached many successful CEOs and founders including Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos and Eric Schmidt. 

Eric, former CEO of Google, recounts his experience with Bill in this interview with Tim Ferriss, in which he shares how he was initially hesitant and even upset about the idea of “needing” a coach. He goes on to credit Bill for encouraging him to lead by example and focus on building a great team. Eric also credits Bill with helping him create Google’s culture.

Jeff Weiner, Executive Chairman of LinkedIn, has spoken about how he worked with Fred Kofman, a coach and author, who encourage him to focus on empathy and communication and to lead with a sense of purpose. Jeff credits Fred with helping him become a more effective leader and creating a culture of compassion at LinkedIn. 

I also personally met two co-founders who shared how they worked with their coach to grow their startup from US$200 thousand in revenues to US$200 million when I met them five years ago. They now generate close to a billion dollars in annual revenue. 

A key point to note is that executive coaching can benefit the organization as whole, not just the coachee.  

Mentoring vs coaching

While coaching and mentorship both encourage self-improvement, the approach is somewhat different. 

·        Executive coaches are not unlike sports coaches. They both have specific goals and identify actionable steps to reach those goals. Just as sports coaches drill their athletes to build muscle memory for a game, executive coaches identify scenarios with their clients and discuss different ways to tackle a specific problem. The best coaches co-create the action steps with the coachee by asking thought-provoking questions and by working on strategies together. The best coaches also promote a sense of self-awareness, making coachees reflect, instead of instructing them on what to do. 

·        Whereas mentor-mentee relationships are typically longer term, coaching is punchier (three to 12 months) and has near-term, actionable outcomes in mind. While mentorship can be informal without specific timelines and may span a mentee’s career, coaching is more structured and focused on a specific on-the-job concern. 

·        And, while the mentee is likely asking most of the questions in a mentor-mentee relationship, in a coaching session, the thought-provoking questioning is mostly done by the coach to nudge the coachee into coming up with her own solutions and rationalizations. 

Recently, a mentor shared with me his style of leadership and how he built his career. I was a student, listening intently. In the same week, I spoke to a coach about how I could have led a management committee meeting better. It was a meeting where the team was not providing any direct answers, making it very difficult to draw any conclusions or solve the problem at hand. Through coaching questions like: “If you were the presenter, how would you have answered the question? What does a direct response mean for you and how would that response be structured? How did you start the meeting; did everyone know that the purpose of that meeting was to solve problems?”, we were able to co-create an alternative approach for the next management meeting which worked well.

Both mentors and coaches – whether embodied by one person or many – play important roles in our personal and professional growth.  They can be used in tandem. While a mentor provides a broader perspective and shares their knowledge and experience, a coach can help identify specific areas for improvement and provide practical advice on how to achieve specific goals. By combining the benefits of mentorship and coaching, individuals can achieve a more holistic approach to their development.

Don’t outsource all the thinking

While having a mentor or coach can be incredibly beneficial, it's important to find the right fit for your situation and personality. I’ve always believed that all advice is autobiographical. They stem from someone’s past experiences which are affected by a multitude of factors that are unique to that person, such as their thought pattern or specific circumstances. The advice may therefore be based on implicit assumptions and biases not relevant to you. Since mentors and coaches have authority – which is why we seek them out in the first place – the wrong advice can be more harmful than no advice if the receiver is young and impressionable. Sometime ago, I spoke with someone with over a dozen more years of experience than me. Unfortunately, underlying their advice was an inaccurate representation of the situation. Despite my gut telling me it was the wrong advice, it took me time to deconstruct where they were coming from, what their implicit belief was and why they came up with the conclusion they did.  The biggest negative effect it had was to lead me to doubt my own actions at first. Their advice was not only autobiographical, it came from 20,000 feet off the ground.  Most of the time, mentors and coaches aren’t colleagues and aren’t able to observe you in your personal working environment. As a result, they will never know your situation as well as you, regardless of their experience. You need to use your own judgment.

Executive coaching is not a regulated profession and therefore taking the time to find a mentor or coach who is experienced, knowledgeable, while sharing your goals and values is the most important factor.

The value in being both a mentor and mentee

I learned early on the value of having a mentor and a mentee at every stage of my career. It’s not just about giving back, it's also about personal growth and development. Being a mentor or coach can enhance your skills, solidify your own experiences and grow your leadership capacity.

Reflecting on our own achievements can be a fruitful exercise. Sometimes, however, it can be challenging to discern which successes were the result of luck and which ones are replicable. By mentoring and coaching, by sharing our experiences to an audience, we gain perspective and can develop a more comprehensive understanding of our own strengths and limitations.

Acknowledging that experience comes from all around us is critical. Reverse mentoring is an incredibly powerful tool for executives looking to better understand the younger generation and their needs – as well as to adapt to changing trends. Younger employees can share their knowledge on areas such as social media and technology, and executives can gain valuable insights into the changing landscape of the industry. This collaborative approach can be a source of learning and development. By challenging assumptions and sharing perspectives, mentees can help mentors develop new skills and strategies, provide a unique perspective, and foster a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement.

It’s common for people to feel like they lack the experience or knowledge to be a mentor or coach. However, even if you’re just starting out in your career, you can still make a difference. For example, by helping a high school or university student figure out their options after school. Sharing your own experiences and insights can be invaluable to those just starting their careers. As long as you maintain intellectual honesty, don’t underestimate the impact you can have as a mentor or coach, no matter where you are in your own journey.

Mentoring and coaching are powerful tools for personal and professional growth. There are a few suggestions I share to those who want to try it:

1.     Identify a mentor or coach who aligns with your goals and values.

2.     Reach out to them and express your interest in working together.

3.     Set clear expectations and goals,

4.     Commit to regular meetings or sessions.

5.     Take action on the insights and feedback you receive, and use them to drive your growth and development.

Happy trails.