The peer mentor is not necessarily older or wiser than the person they are mentoring. Typically, they have gone through a similar transition in the recent or distant past and can empathize with the person they are mentoring. Mentorship can also be established to help challenge an employee who wishes to change something about the way she is now operating in her job. Alternatively, the mentor can serve as an informational resource, providing the person being mentored with just-in-time knowledge about rules and regulations, appropriate data sources, existing models for a new program initiative and so forth.
Regardless of the form that mentoring takes, it usually is typified by three characteristics. First, it is an informal relationship. This means that meetings between the mentor and person being mentored are of varying length and occur in a variety of different places. The agenda for these meetings are set by the two participants and are readily adjusted given the emerging concerns and interests of both parties.
Second, the interactions between the mentor and person being mentored are confidential. It is essential that the person being mentored consider this relationship to be a sanctuary. The person being mentored frequently uses this opportunity to explore his own fears, struggles and aspirations. Thus, the mentor should never be the supervisor of an employee, nor anyone else who might be involved in any evaluation of the employee’s performance. As I noted above, the mentor serves in the role of favorite uncle or aunt, rather than in the parental role. Third, the person being mentored controls the mentoring relationship. The mentoring process is self-regulating. The effective mentor neither imposed an agenda on the person being mentored nor serves in a heavy advice-giving mode. The mentor is there to support, to inform when asked, and to serve as a guide and witness to their colleague’s growth and development.
Coaching is similar to mentoring in all three of these respects. It differs from mentoring, however, in its focus on specific issues and problems being faced by the person being coached. Furthermore, while, mentoring is usually unfocused and long-term, coaching tends to be both focused and time-limited. In that way, coaching more closely resembles the consultation strategy (Strategy Seven). Coaching, however, is to be clearly distinguished from consulting (and from therapy and counseling) in several important respects. To understand these distinctions, I will first provide a brief description of both the consulting and counseling roles, and then describe the role played by the coach in contemporary organizations.
Professionals with specific expertise, academic degrees and licenses in specific fields or disciplines usually provide consulting and counseling services. A certified accountant, professor of business or organizational psychologist usually provides consulting, while mental health professionals typically provide counseling. Coaching can be provided either by a trained professional or by a knowledgeable and skillful colleague. Coaching bridges the gap between informal working relationships, friendship and mentoring relationship, on the one hand, and consulting and counseling, on the other hand. Unlike either a consultant or counselor, a person providing coaching to someone can readily switch roles, if both people wish, and can become a recipient of the other person’s coaching. Roles are flexible and at times fluid. The primary role of the coach is to expand the availability of valid and useful information to her colleague. The coach also helps her colleague make informed decisions or take informed actions based on this information and a thoughtful consideration of all viable options.
