News
Do you need a coach or a mentor?
June 3, 2011
What is the difference between coaching and mentoring? DeakinPrime has the answer!
Coaching is the partnership between the coach, the individual and the organisation.
Mentoring is about providing support to ensure that individuals are able to achieve their highest potential for themselves and for their organisation.
Both coaching and mentoring have a significant impact on the translation of learning from classroom to the workplace—in fact, both of these approaches are embedded in the 70:20:10 principle.
Both coaching and mentoring add value to people's workplace performance and productivity, but they are often confused. Our understanding and approach is to clearly distinguish the differences between these approaches and, more importantly, know when to apply each within a workplace situation.
Coaching can be one-on-one or a group activity and is usually related to identifying and reaching goals and objectives regarding performance in the workplace. This is sometimes conducted by someone outside the organisation, usually a specifically qualified workplace or executive coach to work with the individual to design an action plan for development and then work closely with that person to reach those goals. A coach may not necessarily have experience in a role similar to the coachee, whereas a mentor usually has a role similar to the mentee. What is becoming more common is the need for team leaders and managers to have a coaching capability and skill set to effectively coach team members toward their best performance and productivity.
A mentor is more often within an organisation or a similar industry and has professional knowledge and experience that they can share with another person to assist them in their role and career. DeakinPrime's Programs and Services Portfolio Manager, Fiona Gringel, acknowledges;
'In many organisations mentoring happens in a haphazard, informal way. Our program is focused on providing would-be mentors with the structure, confidence and skill for what is often an ad-hoc process so that the real benefits can be reaped by the organisation and the individual.'
Did you know ...?
DeakinPrime has extensive experience in integrating and co-ordinating the development of mentoring skills and coaching programs with a range of organisations and industries including FMCG organisations, government agencies, large automotive companies and major retailers.
Awards
The Coles Group Institute's Constructive Coaching program, developed and implemented by DeakinPrime in conjunction with Coles staff, was awarded the inaugural International Coach Federation (ICF) award for excellence in promoting a workplace coaching culture at the 2003 ICF national conference.
DeakinPrime's Master Coach, Noel Posus, was awarded the ANZI Coaching Coach of the Year Award in 2009.
Additional Information
If you need the answers to your coaching and/or mentoring questions please contact DeakinPrime or phone +61 3 9918 9000
