Whenever I make a presentation, someone in the audience asks if there is a difference between mentoring, coaching, and counseling. Though the skills used for each are similar – asking reflective questions, active listening, summarizing, observing patterns, challenging assumptions, and providing support – they are fundamentally very different.

Here are some distinctions we use:

Mentoring– a developmental relationship between a more experienced “mentor” and a less experienced partner that typically involves the sharing of advice, resources and support for reaching specific goals. The mentor is experienced in a particular domain and shares that experience while bringing the protégé up the ranks.  It is a partnership between the two. Ideally, the protégé leads the relationship by asking for guidance and support. The relationship can occur in a formalized program or between two people who agree between them to work together for a period of time. In our work, the mentors and protégés work for the same company or belong to the same professional organization.

Coaching – a method of professional development that can be provided by a supervisor or a paid professional to attain a certain work behavior that will improve leadership, accountability, teamwork, sales, communication, goal setting, strategic planning and more. It can be provided in a number of ways, including one-on-one, group sessions and large scale organizational work. Business coaches often specialize in a specific practice area such as executive coaching, corporate coaching, small business and leadership coaching. A good business coach does not need to have specific business expertise and experience in the same field as the person being coached.

Counseling – counselors are professionals who are trained to diagnose and help a client with emotional problems, resolving issues from the past or a dysfunction. From time to time, a mentor or coach may find it useful to recommend counseling to a client or protégé.

If you’ve identified a need for strengthened leadership development programs for your employees or members, you could be considering a formal mentoring program. You know you have people who want mentors and you  have a group of more experienced people interested in being mentors. But, you also know being a mentor is not for everyone. Though your mentor candidates are willing – are they ready? Just because a person knows how to do something well and has years of experience doing it, doesn’t mean they have the skills to teach what they know.

For many people a mentoring session can become a game of Monkey See/Monkey Do: “This is the way I do this , it has always worked for me,  and this is how you should do it from now on.”

For others it becomes a trip down memory lane:  “Why, when I started in this industry, the computers still had green diode screens…”

Still others take on a Dear Abbey quality: “Now that I understand your problem, here is what you ought to do…”

These approaches do work in some instances, but they don’t  foster a culture of learning and open communication.  They don’t lead to the majority of people becoming proficient in breakthrough thinking and, ultimately causing increased productivity.  Rather, they can alienate the protégé/mentee, take too long to get to the point, and fail to produce lasting results.

What we have found to be useful in our programs, is to teach prospective mentors how to become keen observers, enhance their listening and emotional intelligence skills and for them to practice asking reflective questions that allow their protégés to dance with them toward insight and breakthrough.  These conversations can be so effective, that complex issues can be dealt with in just five to 15 minutes. Once learned in the context of the mentoring program, these skills will be useful for managers to use with all of their direct reports. Now that’s productive mentoring that leads a high return on investment.

For the most part, professional associations exist to educate their members. Most are very good at promoting relationship building among members by providing regular access to training and networking at meetings and conferences. Programs allow members to learn skills that will keep them employed, grow personally and professionally, stay current with industry trends, prepare for upward mobility, or enhance their marketability in these changing times.

The most effective training produces the best results when people incorporate new learning into their work immediately. Less experienced people may have difficulty in the day-to-day application of what they’ve learned because they need support and guidance to develop new habits. For many people, professional development workshops produce new insights, folders or notebooks full of notes that are never referred to again, and minimal change.

At Odyssey Mentoring, our clients report that more structured professional mentoring programs between young professionals and more experienced practitioners improve productivity and allow for richer relationships and breakthrough results. Program participants report relationships that are mutually satisfying to both mentors and protégés.

Generally, opportunities to receive one on one mentoring through professional association membership are accessible on an informal basis. This works when a member has an immediate, short-term need for coaching, advice, or brainstorming.

By offering a structured mentoring program through your association, you can provide a valuable member benefit that continually enhances the effectiveness of the training you currently provide, develops members’ careers regardless of where they work, and establishes your organization as the leader.

The Original Mentor

Have you ever wondered where the word “mentor” comes from?

In Homer’s epic poem, The Iliad, Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, left home to join the Trojan War. He left his son, Telemachus, with his trusted friend Mentor. For 20 years Odysseus’ military campaign and protracted journey home kept him away from his son, beloved wife, and country. Then in The Odyssey, the king returns and finds his son a grown and mature man he can be proud to call his son and the next king. Mentor’s wise and careful tutelage made that possible.

Screeeeech!!! Stop the presses! Here’s the part of the story that rarely gets retold.

It turns out, writes Homer, that Mentor was not a very good guide at all. He was so deficient, that Pallas Athena, the goddess of wisdom, who loved Odysseus, his family and kingdom, was moved to intercede. She went to her father, Zeus, received permission to inhabit Mentor’s body, and guide Telemachus herself.

And THAT is why Homer’s Mentor has become synonymous with teaching, guiding, and coaching. What we learn from this parable is that mentoring does not come naturally, just because someone knows how to do something. We also learn that for a mentoring program to be successful buy-in from upper management (Zeus…it doesn’t get much higher) is essential.

A mentor is a person who serves as a role model for leadership, personal growth and professional development. An effective mentor works with his or her protégé to develop and nurture new ways of thinking and acting that lead to breakthrough performance.

Anyone who wants to can become a great mentor.

At Odyssey Mentoring, we lead our clients on a journey where mentors and protégés are partners. Each dedicated to giving and getting the most out of their mentoring program. Each committed to making it work and becoming the person they are meant to be. No divine intervention needed, just good solid program design and training to set a solid foundation.

We help mentoring partners develop the skills they need to nurture breakthrough thinking and productivity. These skills include understanding how people think, learning to ask reflective questions, becoming a keen observer of patterns, and learning to share your network.

“We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.” – Winston Churchill

Developing Leaders With Professional Mentoring

“We cannot hold a torch to light another’s path without
brightening our own.”– Ben Sweetland

More than ever before organizations need to develop future leaders, managers and workers who can adapt to constant changes in the marketplace, competitive and environmental threats, and rapid advances in technology. Overloaded managers and flattened organizations mean there is no career ladder for young people to climb. An effective mentoring program provides the experience that climbing that ladder used to provide.

Mentoring is one of the most effective ways to ensure that once you’ve hired the best and the brightest, you retain them long past the training period. Mentoring enhances loyalty by placing high potential employees on the fast track with the extraordinary benefit of senior level guidance. Solid training ensures your mentoring program’s participants will be able to make the most of the relationship producing the highest possible level of results.

Professional associations that offer mentoring programs are providing a member benefit that sets them apart. Regardless of where members are employed, they can take advantage of this opportunity to grow and develop within their profession. Their mentors will be leaders in their respective fields, people they might never get to work with under any other circumstances.

“…we must become more capable of handling change than ever before if we are to survive and thrive in the twenty-first century.”– Alvin Toffler

Mentoring programs deliver three proven outcomes:

1. Research has shown that training improves productivity by an average of 22.3%. Training combined with effective professional mentoring improves productivity by 88% or more.

2. Protégés form stronger bonds with you and your company. That means you will be able to count on them during tough times.

3. Costly employee turnover will be reduced because employees will themselves as and integral part of the organization’s future. They will feel appreciated while they enhance their skills, develop their ability to step into senior roles and responsibilities and increase their confidence and sense of satisfaction with their job or career.

Unfortunately, nationwide, more than 90 percent of professional mentorship program participants when asked rated their programs to be ineffective. The primary reasons are a lack of training for mentors and a lack of structure for the overall program. Just because a person knows how to do something, doesn’t mean they know how to pass that knowledge along. In the most effective mentoring programs, mentors learn how to develop high-level thinking skills in another, how to overcome generational and cultural differences and how to effectively share their network with their protégé.