DO YOU NEED MENTORSHIP, COACHING, OR A BLEND?
I recently presented at the Supporting Champions Virtual Summit. My talk focused on how I have supported practitioners on their journey of personal development, and what I’ve learned about the process along the way. I also shared what I’ve observed as typical traits in those practitioners who seem to progress at a faster rate towards the next step in their career, or landing that next job. Ill share these later in this short article.
For now - I want to share my thoughts on differentiating your own needs as a practitioner. I want practitioners to understand how mentorship, and will result in added value more often than not, but do you need more to drive your development in a more intentional way to take you further?
We all have mentors who we look to for support and help. We all know the role this has on our own development. Some of us may have an excellent employer who helps drive personal development, and by contrast, others may be self employed and fully dependant on themselves.
But how do you know what you need, based on where you are, and where you need to go? It begins with a purpose, and sometimes I feel mentorship lacks this intentional need of the practitioner. i.e it can often be focused in the wrong direction, even though you are learning.
Mentorship can be defined as: “A process where a mentor shares their knowledge, experience, wisdom, and skills to help mentees develop and grow over time”
The key characteristics of a mentoring relationship can look like:
There is trust and rapport between mentee and mentor, which can even happen in group environments
The relationship is or has the potential to be long term in nature
Topics discussed are likely wide ranging in nature
The mentor uses their experience and “skin in the game” to share wisdom, information, solutions and advice in a direct manner
The mentee likely drives the content of discussion and frequency of conversion, or need for “touch points” with their mentor.
I am sure you have the ability to pick up the phone or grab a coffee with your mentors whenever you need it. This is a fantastic solution to check and challenge our own thoughts, curiosities and more in an ad hoc manner.
But - is it intentional to your needs in focus and frequency?
Do we as mentees tend to shape our conversations and questions with/to mentors with bias, perhaps orientated towards our strengths or particular skills we enjoy? This is my concern with mentorship, it can miss the mark based on your intended outcome. In contrast, another option in the personal development toolbox is “coaching”..
It can be defined as “a process where a coach provides guidance to a practitioner in order to help them reach their full potential in key areas of personal development”.
This happens in a more formal sense, with learning occurring in an open manner, often using reflective questions or tasks to drive the thought process and upskill the practitioner. It has a very specific end point in mind.
The key characteristics of a coaching relationship can look like:
The relationship can be short term in nature, and could even be a single/sole coaching session
Rapport isn’t a pre requisite - but trust in the coach to help the practitioner develop is evident
Focus is on targeted a specific problem/area of development
The coach uses specific strategies in questioning and tasks to raise awareness
Occurs more formally, often within course content or scheduled sessions.
Feedback will be provided on how effectively the skill is being developed/applied during the learning process
Both are vastly beneficial to you as a practitioner.
What is most important to understand is that we don’t confuse mentorship with coaching, and coaching with mentorship.
This is where we as practitioners need to take control of our own personal development. If you resonate with the key characteristics described in mentoring relationships, and see this as the main way you are learning from others, you could be missing out on specific development.
This is why I believe bespoke coaching is such a good option for practitioners, and have enjoyed taking this approach with the practitioners I work with. Using a blend of mentorship styles, as well as coaching strategies, I can help clients develop very specifically. Equally, I can connect them with other potential mentors, and direct them to more directive learning/courses for areas that may not be something I can support them in.
All of this is done with purpose in mind.
Where do you want to be in 5 years? 10years?
Where are you strong technically and strong in the area of personal skills or leadership?
Where are your blind-spots, what do others see that you dont?
In performing personal “needs analysis” with practitioners, we are able to collaboratively create a plan of action. The investment in time I give clients, and the investment a practitioner makes in me, means there is something so important to personal development often missed in mentorship alone…
Accountability.
Upon going through this process of Bespoke Coaching in the last 18months, I’ve been fortunate enough to be entrusted with supporting 20+ practitioners from the field of strength and conditioning, nutrition, physiotherapy, athletic training, sports scientists, and technical sports coaches. Each one was interested in seeking help, but didn’t necessarily know how to structure or focus themselves. So we collaboratively developed appropriate plan of actions over a 6month period, and those who succeed, always respond well to the accountability embedded within the process. We adhere to the plan of action, use online communication platforms to share info, and create a semi formal space where practitioners can brain dump reflections and I can check for clarity, and agree next steps in their journey.
In this time, I’ve observed with interest what differentiates practitioners who get the most out of their bespoke coaching processes, and have no doubt it transfers to all types of personal development for practitioners. Common traits I’ve identified are:
A thirst for self improvement
They want help / support and act on it (look for solutions)
Maximise the “get out what you put in” narrative
Willing to invest (money, time, transactional return value)
Growth orientated / open minded
Willing to stretch / “comfortable being uncomfortable”
With this in mind, I developed the following tips for practitioners to reference themselves against with respect to understanding; do you need more support, or if you have it, how do you ensure it gets you exactly where you need to be?
Be clear about where you want to go (purpose driven)
Create (or seek) a personal needs analysis (technical and personal skills)
Where are your gaps? What do you perceive as strengths/weaknesses, but more importantly, what do others see that you may miss?
Who or what do you need to guide or teach you? Do you need someone, something, or a blend?
Understand where you need structure (or help) to create accountability - and ensure regular reflection and check points in this process
No question is a silly question, be brave, and ensure your do get as much out of the process as possible.
Invest - time, money or something else transactional with those you seek support from.
Long term success will require long term buy in as a practitioner
Bespoke coaching is needed in high performance environments, but only a small number of organisations drive an intentional focus towards it. I can say with confidence, that most if not all of the bespoke coaching clients I work with, have each commented on how their work environment is exceptional, but they still struggle to get time to focus on themselves as a practitioner with a dedicated individual or support system. The focus is always on staff impacting other peoples performance, like the athletes or clients they work with. Either that, or they are out there working alone, with no support network to even use as a sounding board.
If this all resonates with you, bespoke coaching could be the very intentional solution you need. Each and every relationship forged in bespoke coaching has come from a conversation based on curiosity. “Could this relationship support MY needs?
If this is something you are interested in understanding more about, and how a bespoke coaching relationship can benefit you, reach out to talk about the option with me, or click below to understand more:
