Coaching and Mentoring: A Comparative Study

The article discusses the importance of coaching and mentoring in an organizational setting. Coaching helps individuals develop their career paths, manage stress, and increase productivity. Mentoring, on the other hand, fosters trust and respect between senior officials and junior personnel, leading to better communication within the organization. The article also highlights the key differences between coaching and mentoring processes, including goal-setting and evaluation methods. Additionally, it emphasizes the importance of setting boundaries, using effective communication tools, and creating a contract for both coaching and mentoring programs. Overall, the article concludes that coaching and mentoring are essential for organizational success and employee growth.

Coaching and Mentoring
Task-1- Presentation on Coaching and Mentoring
Learning is an important phase of human life. It is said that human being learns until
death knocks the door. Learning can take place either by self (observation, experience,
experiments etc.) or from some another person(s). In most of the cases, learning takes
place from other like for ex-teacher, parents, senior people in work, peer group etc. We
need learning when we have to fulfil a need which can be possible after learning.
Survival, growth and competitiveness are the three essential elements that motivates or
forces a person or organization to learn. One of such learning method is “Coaching and
mentoring”. It is the learning process that helps in improving performance and develop
full potential.
What is Coaching and Mentoring?
Coaching and mentoring though seems to be similar and their objective is similar in
nature but there is a difference between these two terms. There is no universal
definition of any of the two terms thus clear definition is not possible to give. Still we can
define both the terms in the following way-
Coaching- It is primarily concerned with performance and development of an individual
regarding is knowledge and skill. It is method of directing, instructing and training a
person or group of people with an aim to achieve something. It can be done with the
help of seminars, workshops, supervised practices, classroom teaching, examination
etc.
Mentoring- It is a long term relationship mostly professional in nature, in which a person
or group of persons are assisted by an experienced person to develop specific skills
and knowledge that will enhance the experience or skill of the person who is assisted.
Similarities and Differences
Similarities

 Both facilitate individuals to achieve a desired set of goal. They involve planning and
techniques to reach that goal.
 Both the method tries to understand the needs, problems and aspiration of
individuals and develop their own competencies instead of depending on coach or
mentor.
 Both the relationship exists in trust and respect.
 Both the Methods involve two-way feedback system.
Differences
Basis of differences Coaching Mentoring
Focus Developing awareness and
find out solutions on a
given structure.
Giving instructions and
directions.
Intention Asking client questions
and discovering solutions
Personal and professional
development
Expert in content Individual Mentor
Sector knowledge Low to medium Medium to high
Level of formality Formal contracts and
ground rule based
May be formal or informal
based on intention
Duration of relationship Fixed period (e.g. 12
months)
Not fixed, it can be whole
life mentoring
The principles behind coaching and mentoring
Here are the essential principles that describe the importance of mentoring and
coaching-
A learning conversation- It involves professional dialogues exchanged based on
learner’s experience and practice. A set of belief and practice will be carried to the
learners from coachers and mentors.
A thoughtful relationship- Building of trust, respect and emotion to develop professional
learning.

A learning agreement- Establish confidence about the boundary of relationship by
setting ground rules, accountability and power.
Combination of support from fellow professionals- Involvement of colleagues for
sustainable commitment to learn and seeking specialist expertise to extend skill and
knowledge.
Growing self-direction- Evolvement of learner to take control over developing skills,
knowledge and self-awareness.
Apart from the above, setting challenging goal, acknowledging benefits of coaches and
mentors, understanding different approaches of work and using resources effectively
are the base of coaching and mentoring.
Why coaching and mentoring useful? How it benefits individual, team and
organization?
Coaching and mentoring is a win-win situation for individual, team and organization as
the people who are getting knowledge and skill are getting benefit out of it and the
coach or mentor is enhancing the command over the knowledge, skill, experience
he/she is providing.
Let us see how the benefit comes-
For Individual and team members
 Improved individual performance- coaching and mentoring increase the skill and
ability of individual or team members from the present state, which help to increase
their performance in work.
 Increase motivation and morale- Individual when gets support from coaches and
mentors, it gives positive vibe among individuals to work better.
 Building relationship- Coaching and mentoring involve regular interaction and
discussion thus gradually seniors and juniors develop a relationship of trust.
 Transition of career- An individual gets good advices and guidance from coaches
and teachers. This gives the sense of growth in career path and also the area to
which growth is needed.

 Stress management- People feel work stress when they don’t have adequate
knowledge, skill or guidance. Coaching and mentoring help in reducing, maintaining
and helping stress level of personnel.
For organization
Recruitment, development and retention of key personnel- coaching and mentoring
make employee force stronger to take challenging tasks. These help to guide people
regarding their career path, knowledge and skill gap etc. which ultimately results in form
of retention of personnel.
Productivity- coaching and mentoring increases the efficiency and ability of individual
which in turn brings productivity to organization.
Succession planning- coaching and mentoring make an individual ready to take future
bigger challenges and higher responsibilities. By this way, individual evaluation is
possible to decide who’s going to be the next leader?
Enhance communication within organization- coaching and mentoring build relationship
between senior officials and junior personnel. It is similar to teacher and student
relation. This helps in better communication inside organization.
Company culture and ethics- the company culture and ethics are carried forward
through coaches and mentors inside organization. They help individuals to learn the
way to work.
Coaching and mentoring process- A comparison
The process of both learning method is more or less similar in nature. The difference
lies in the goal and basis of orientation. Coaching is mostly job focused thus its
processes are directed towards job. In case of mentoring, it is person focused thus
processes are directed towards person. Let us see each case-
Coaching Processes

Identifying coaching opportunity- the need will depend upon individual(s) current job
responsibilities. This may be due to gap in level of performance, competence, skill etc. It
also involves career advancement or development for future job opportunities.
Develop coaching plan
A coaching plan is a summarized statement that contains the activities and events that
are going to be performed under that coaching session. It includes-
 Assessment of employees to know the present situation (strength and
weakness0
 Goal setting
 Integration of coach and trainees for successful coaching session.
 Provision of things needed during coaching period.
 Evaluation process
 Reward and punishment
Coach
This the phase where the coach and trainee will interact for the first time. It will be long
session. All programs will be carried out as per coaching plan. It is the phase where
“learn-unlearn-relearn” theory will take place. The goal setting will be done as per
SMART framework. The coach may change certain activities (add or remove) as per
present need or situation. Finally an assessment will be done to evaluate the
effectiveness of coaching.
Follow up
After the coaching session over, the coach or the senior will give feedback on progress
and reward or punishment system will be implemented as per performance after
coaching.
Mentoring processes
Mentoring program information session- Employees will be informed about the
mentoring program. It depends on employee whether they feel it is right for them or not.

Orientation- In this case, at first the senior officials will understand the concept of
mentoring requirements before they set into the program. It will be a “meet and greet” of
mentors and mentees.
Mentoring orientation training- Once the mentor and mentee come into consensus, they
will go for the training session where the mentor will help mentee to learn the skills, gain
knowledge and experience.
Progress review and program evaluation- Both mentor and mentee will provide
feedback regarding the mentoring program. This will give the opportunity to know
progress, uncover problems and recommend improvement.
Meeting and connection with mentors-The mentee gets the opportunity to capitalize the
experience of mentor and wisdom. The meeting and connection develops personal and
professional relationship for organizational effectiveness.
Boundaries of coaching and mentoring
Boundaries are important for coaching and monitoring. It helps to avoid legal and ethical
issues. Coaching and mentoring is built upon trust and respect thus this becomes the
extreme boundary for both the methods. Anything beyond it will break the relationship.
The boundary can be set openly like who is responsible for this, how meetings will work.
The dos and don’ts must be laid clearly before coaching and mentoring take place. A
Code of conduct must be placed for both educator and client so that in future no such
disputes or disagreements arise. Competence, integrity and caring are the three
elements that decide the boundary.
Tools and techniques for Coaching and mentoring
FUEL and GROW model are the two popular coaching tools which are extensively used
in organization.
FUEL
F- Frame the convention- the agreement of the coach and the employee to be in the
same convention. (Purpose, process and desire)

U- Understand- explore the current state of employees and expand their awareness.
E- Explore- articulate the vision of success by providing path to achieve it
L- Lay out success plan- steps need to be taken and determine accountability.
GROW
G- Goal- what you want to achieve?
R- Reality- understand the present state of employees
O- Options- explore the routes and paths to the goal attainment
W- Way forward- set the journey as per plan.
For monitoring we have tools like-
One-to-one monitoring- it is the traditional monitoring process where the mentor shares
the expertise, knowledge, experience etc. to guide other person.
Mentoring circle- A group of people at a time get mentored by one mentor when the
group has to achieve similar goal.
Communication skill importance in coaching and mentoring
Effective communication ensures clear expectation between coach/mentor and
employees. Use of email, telephone, meeting etc. communication methods help to
understand the need of mentor and trainee. Use of case studies, videos, simulation etc.
help to clarify the learning materials. Communication helps to avoid misunderstandings
and confusions. For ex- written communication helps to follow the list of activities to be
done under coaching or mentoring session. Feedback is a part of communication
system which ensures the effectiveness of program and performance.
Coaching and mentoring contract
The basic reason behind contract is determining the obligation of both the parties and
also it keeps the liability of coach or mentor at minimum. It ensures the professional
relationship existence between coach and trainee though informal relationship may

exist. From the trainee point of view, it abides him or her to follow instructions of coach
and mentor within a given frame so that any misdeed won’t take place.
The contract should include schedules for coaching and mentoring session, cost
including anything extra expenses, payment terms etc. it must include code of ethics
and conducts for the session.
Coaching and Mentoring process Finish
Coaching and mentoring is a never ending learning. We can say it ends for one
particular skill, knowledge or experience. The process continues mostly for the given
period of time as per the contract but may be it can get extension if the learning is not
completely done. The end of the process lies in accomplishment and evaluation of
outcomes. If the outcome is positive, then there will be a casual partnership between
coach and trainee. In mentoring case, it goes into informal relationship between trainee
and mentors which can continue life long without any contract for future problems.
Success Measurement in coaching and mentoring
The success of coaching and mentoring depends on the initiatives taken under those
learning methods. These initiatives must reflect the objective. For ex- for improving
managerial efficiency, the initiative can be “competency-based monitoring”.
The next phase will identifying Key Performance Indicator or KPI. These KPI must
include acquisition of participants, behaviour within the program and outcome at
organizational level. For ex- to retain talent objective, the KPIs can be retention rate,
employee engagement and employee satisfaction after the coaching or mentoring
program.
This achievement will be matched with the target set as per SMART framework. For ex-
Objective – retain talents
KPI- Retention rate
Target- 95% employees for 3 years at least
Achieved- 98% employees retained this year after mentoring session last year.

Employees who didn’t attend program and employees who attended but left
organization are the two concern points of program.