According to Lois J. Zachary, president of Leadership Development Services in Phoenix, “The mentee or protégé has gone from being a passive learner—where the mentoring is done to you as you sit at the foot of the master—to an active learner who directs the process. It’s much more collaborative now; there is more precision and structure.”
Many companies do not choose between implementing a coaching or mentoring program. They often implement both programs to meet different employee needs. When Jack Welch, former chairman of General Electric, stated that a strong mentor/mentee relationship is the basis of forging tomorrow’s leaders, I suspect that he recognized this as an outcome of both internal coaching and mentoring programs.
The chart below demonstrates some of the differences between coaching and mentoring.
COACHING
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MENTORING
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GOALS
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Improve job performance or skills
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Support and guide personal career growth
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INITIATIVE
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Coach directs learning
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Mentee is in charge of learning
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VOLUNTEERISM
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Protégé agrees to accept coaching; may not be voluntary
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Both mentor and mentee are volunteers
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FOCUS
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Immediate problems and learning opportunities
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Longer-term personal development
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ROLE
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Focus on telling with appropriate feedback
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Focus on listening, behavioral role model, making suggestions and connections
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DURATION
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Short-term needs; “as needed”
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Longer term
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Source: http://ehsdailyadvisor.blr.com/
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