Welcome back! A key priority for people specialists in organisations is to have well-rounded development that allow employees to reach their full potential and increase their productivity. This is where coaching and mentoring can become powerful tools.

Both coaching and mentoring can help employees improve their skills and also achieve the goals of the organization. These approaches are powerful tools for professional learning and can have a big impact on learning and development. Using both coaching and mentoring together can help people succeed, be more committed, work more efficiently, and develop their abilities.

Both coaching and mentoring have different methodologies, but the end result is the same.

Let’s unpack what these two approaches are:

What is Coaching?

The main focus of coaching is to develop an individual and improve their performance while being a guide rather than a driver. Coaching also aims to have a direct impact on an individual’s personal attributes, such as social interaction and confidence. The secret is that both individual and organisational goals should taken into consideration when implementing any coaching activities.

Coaching is generally a non-directive form of development. This means the coach doesn’t interpret or explain but encourages the employee to talk freely.

Effective coaching is proven improve performance and relationships. Employees can become better communicators, and their confidence can increase by 71%. Additionally, research from the Human Capital Institute shows that 51% of organizations with strong coaching cultures report a higher revenue than their peers. Even better, nearly 67% of their employees rate themselves as highly engaged.

Key Characteristics of Coaching:

Some of the key characteristics of coaching are:

• It is mostly task oriented and all about improving and upskilling an employee.
• It should be done by line managers who have the required skills or by professionally certified coaches.
• Coaching focuses on various aspects of learning, especially related to self-awareness, problem solving, and decision making.
• It is also related to business development areas. Through coaching, development areas can be highlighted and can be worked upon to attain the desired end results of the organisation
• Coaching also provides an opportunity for employees to better assess their strengths, work on their areas of development and make the most of their abilities.

What is Mentoring?

Mentoring is all about sharing your experience and imparting knowledge to others.

The prime focus of mentoring is personal as well as career development. To further understand the importance of mentoring we can take the example of Mastercard.

Mastercard used mentoring as a tool to create bonds between peers and with people having similar interests. Mastercard used mentoring as a means to break down silos and help employees connect with co-workers across the business who have similar ambitions and interests. Their studies have shows that retention rates for those mentored are 50% higher compared to those who weren’t.

Research by the American Society for Training and Development states that “33% of employees who do not receive regular mentoring will look for another job.” This proves that in order to retain top talent, mentoring on a continual basis is essential.

Key Characteristics of Mentoring:

Some of the key characteristics of mentoring are:

• Mentoring focuses on a more holistic approach and is mostly related to the development of the mentee.
• It is a more directive approach
• Mentors don’t need much formal training. Instead, they share their own life experiences based on their own journey and their own development.
• Mentoring also provides employees with recruitment opportunities. A lot of millennials consider mentoring as a key tool to reach success in their careers.
• Mentoring is a learning opportunity for both participants. It encourages sharing between different roles in an organisation and can build lifelong connections.

In summary, HR should have a diverse approach that combines coaching and mentoring. If both coaching and mentoring are practiced and implemented effectively, then they can bring a wealth of positive changes for both the individual and for your organisation. This can result in increased productivity across the board and favourable results in the long term.

We hope that helps show you how coaching and mentoring can be a powerful combination to accelerate productivity and retention. For coaching and mentoring qualifications, take a look at our CMI and ILM qualifications!