This week a friend of mine asked some questions that provoked my thinking about the difference between “coaching” and “mentoring.” Most people (including myself) seem to use these words synonymously, but is there a difference? I believe there is a difference, as does most of the literature on the subject.
The NASA Business Coaching Handbook gives a good distinction between business coaching, training, mentoring, consulting, traditional supervision, and counseling. See http://nasapeople.nasa.gov/training/coachmentor/businesscoachingHR.pdf.
Their definition of “Business Coaching”: A coach concentrates on personal and professional success. How effective is the individual at achieving their goals and getting what they want out of life? Coaching is future-focused, aimed at identifying and understanding barriers and designing strategies and action to eliminate those barriers and improve effectiveness. Knowledge resides with the individual being coached.
Their definition of “Mentoring”: A mentor provides knowledge, information, and personal advice based on his/her experience. The focus is on passing on guidance that helped the mentor be successful in a similar situation in the past. The experience resides with the mentor.
I like this distinction and it is consistent with other literature on the subject. This is what I teach in our basic course for church planters “The Essentials for Starting a Missional Church.” However, in practice, I am realizing that I probably do more “mentoring” than “coaching.” When I work with experienced pastors and experienced church planters, my role is more of a coach. When I work with inexperienced church planters (which is the norm for me), my role is more of a mentor and trainer. When I am working with churches and organizations that want to become more effective in church planting my role is more of a “consultant.” For more on this see the NASA Handbook, page 4. There you will find an excellent chart describing these various roles. Another good resource is the book Connecting by Paul D. Stanley and J. Robert Clinton (NavPress).
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2 comments:
First off Glenn, how did you score a business coaching manual from Nasa?
"the force is strong with this one"
A friend of mine who is a coach to coaches, Tom Wymore, put it this way in his training...
a MENTOR goes BEFORE and POURS IN -
a SPONSOR stands BEHIND and PUTS FORWARD -
a COACH stands BESIDE and DRAWS OUT
much like in Proverbs 20:5 which says, "the purposes of a man's heart are deep waters, but a man of understanding draws them out".
I believe the most effective coach is one who learns to ask really good questions in order to draw out what the Holy Spirit is saying to the individual or group they are coaching.
According to Tom, statistics show that 70% of the time, the solution for an issue is within the leader we are developing. They don't need someone to give an answer, they need help indiscovering what is already in them.
I couldn't agree more Bob. Thanks for your comment.
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