Business Coaching and Mentoring: Are They Worth the Effort?

Many people consider Business Coaching and Business Mentoring to be the same thing. Even though they are both organizational development terms, they are not synonymous. This issue of Astronology investigates the practicality of Business Coaching and Business Mentoring.

Similarities

It is easier to first identify the similarities between these two types of processes. According to coachingnetwork.org, an English-based coaching, and mentoring networking database, besides both being processes “that enable both individual and corporate clients to achieve their full potential,” both business coaching and mentoring:

• Support the client in setting appropriate goals and methods of assessing progress in relation to these goals,
• Encourage a commitment to action and the development of lasting personal growth & change,
• Evaluate the outcomes of the process, using objective measures wherever possible to ensure the relationship is successful and the client is achieving their personal goals, and
• Encourage clients to continually improve competencies and to develop new developmental alliances where necessary to achieve their goals.

-“What is coaching?” coachingnetwork.org.uk

To the untrained eye, one may think that if both offer these same benefits, it shouldn’t matter which an organization invests in. However, this is not the case.

The Difference between Mentoring and Coaching

Being able to determine who qualifies as a business coach and a business mentor could help save an organization money if they were to consider investing in either program. CoachingNetwork.org explains that Business Mentoring involves an individual who uses their business intelligence gained through years of experience to help another, more junior colleague. The senior individual could also use his or her influence to help open doors that would seem closed to the other person. With Business Coaching, however, the coach may not have any experience in the particular business area or skill set in which the client may need coaching. This is an important consideration, as there are many individuals that are actually Business Coaches advertising themselves as Business Mentors.

Further, internally taking account of on what your organization may need for healthy organizational growth will help you to determine if your organization needs coaches or mentors.

Should My Organization Invest in a Business Mentor or Coach?

At what point will an organization need some sort of mentoring or coaching program? Is it a luxury or a necessary investment for an organization? Should the program be long-standing, optional, or done on a maintenance level? Many individuals in the human resource and administration fields consider these questions when the topic of Business Mentoring and Coaching comes up in conversation. The core issue that many question is the worth of investing in an organizational business coach or mentor.

While it is true that many can individually find their own mentor or coach, as an organization asset, business mentoring and coaching can bring a balance and stimulate organizational growth. Psychotherapist Dr. Barton Goldsmith noted, “Tactics like ‘Employee of the Month’ don’t work because you only create one winner -- and dozens of losers. Making sure that everyone shares in ‘the win’ creates a team out of a staff.”

He adds, “As companies grow, the team members can suffer, because attention can be diverted from individual efforts. A good Mentor [Manager] believes in publicly recognizing the contributions of their entire team… and making the effort to mentor team members into positions that require them to become leaders. If the team members know their mentors [and managers] support them, they have the gumption to take risks, to try new ideas and experiment. These are the behaviors that help companies grow.”

Conducting an organizational evaluation of growth can help determine if your organization can benefit from creating or investing in a business coaching or mentoring program/consultant. Preliminary questions to consider include the following:

• What personal benefits or performance improvements are desired? If it is an organization program, think about what you want personally as well as what the organization is likely to expect you to achieve.
• Who will be paying for the program, will it be you or your organization?
• How much are either you or your organization able to spend, in total, on your development?
• What proportion of this budget can be allocated to coaching or mentoring?

-“Finding the Right Services” coachingnetwork.org.uk

If after going over these initial questions your organization decides it would like to get started in investing in a business mentoring program or coach, other aspects need to be discussed such as length of program and the delivery of the coaching or mentoring. Also, make sure to check references, testimonials, and, of course, qualifications. By taking these protective measures the organization will benefit by this extra support for growth.

Whether your organization finds it necessary to invest into some type of business mentoring or coaching, it is always a good idea to research all avenues for organizational growth. Sometimes the support needed to help an organization in becoming an impressive establishment is found on the outside. There’s no harm in inquiring as these creative feats, both small and large, help distinguish success.