Week 7: Coaching and Mentoring Models for Change

Topic Goals
• To understand what coaching and mentoring is.
• To understand the role of coaching and mentoring in
Leading Change.
 Introduction

"I absolutely believe that people,

unless coached, never reach their maximum capabilities."
Bob Nardelli

Defining Coaching
As a discipline, coaching draws from a number of areas of study including
psychology, sports coaching and business (Lane, 2006 cited in Morgan and
Rochford, 2017). Coaching is a Socratic based future focused dialogue between a
facilitator (coach) and a participant (coachee/client). It consists a helping
relationship between a coachee who exercises managerial responsibilities within an
organization and a consultant who applies a range of behavioral strategies to help
achieve a collaboratively defined set of goals (Kilburg, 1996). The purpose is to
stimulate the self-awareness and personal responsibility of the participant
(Passmore & Fillery-Travis, 2011).

Coaching is also defined as "a form of leadership development that takes place
through a series of contracted one-to-one conversations with a qualified coach,
resulting in a ‘relevant, actionable and timely outcomes for the coachee" (de Hann
& Duckworth, 2013, p. 7).
Coaching and Leadership

A coaching approach to leadership means the leader’s focus is on enabling other

people to develop their capabilities and find their own solutions. It means
listening more and trying to comprehend points of view rather than imposing your
own views and approaches. Coaching can also provide valuable support and
challenge to people who are in formal and/or informal leadership roles by helping
them explore their issues and concerns in a collaborative, supportive way.

There is a clear link between using a coaching approach in leadership and the
leadership capabilities outlined in the Strategy for developing leadership capacity
in Scotland’s social services, 2013-2015 (Scottish Social Services Council, 2016).

Formal coaching
Formal coaching can be used for learning, development or performance
improvement. The purpose of the coaching is agreed between the person being
coached (coachee) and their coach. The coach discusses and agrees a contract with
the coachee, which includes the focus or purpose of the coaching, the coaching
process and how the boundaries around the coaching will be managed. It can be
one-to-one between a coachee and an internal coach working in social services
who has undertaken formal development as a coach. Alternatively, it can be one-
to-one between a coachee and a coach who works external to the coachee’s
organisation and is formally qualified as a coach. It can also be with a team or
group of people who are being facilitated by an internal or external team coach (or
team of coaches).

(Scottish Social Services Council Coaching Learning Resource, 2016)

Informal Coaching
In an informal coaching approach, you have the positive intent to focus on the
other person, on their strengths and their challenges and on the qualities they
bring. Using a coaching approach is about providing the space in which you and
others are able to reflect and understand more about each other’s points of view. A
genuine coaching approach is based on trust and mutual respect.

(Scottish Social Services Council Coaching Learning Resource, 2016)

Core coaching skills

For a coaching approach, you need to use a core set of coaching skills.

• Attending to the other person involved in a coaching conversation, building

rapport with them and seeking to understand what is going on for them.
• Listening carefully to the other person and paying attention to what
they are saying and how they are saying it.
• Summarising or paraphrasing what the other person has said as a way
of helping them reflect on their own situation.
• Using open questions which encourage the other person to say more,
to reflect and understand more about their own situation.
• Being prepared to give honest, clear and specific feedback while
making sure the relationship stays positive and open.
• It is important to be clear about the purpose and nature of a coaching
conversation and it is the choice for the person (or people) involved.
• Is helpful for those involved to be clear about what they are hoping to
get from the conversation.
 • Clarity about expectations will help everyone make the most
useful contribution.
• The coach will not typically provide advice or solutions to the person (or
people) being coached. This might feel strange at first and it is important
to acknowledge the difference.
• Being clear about the boundaries of a coaching conversation is
particularly important when it is taking place between a line manager and
a member of his or her team. Both people need to be clear about the
purpose of the coaching.

(Scottish Social Services Council Coaching Learning Resource, 2016)

Coaching in Schools
According to Lofthouse (2016) coaching is a process that can change educational
practices and affect educators’ relationships with other educators (p. 34) through a
formative process which brings them closer through dialogue and engagement in
collaborative processes. It also promotes continuous professional development and
reinforces the self-efficacy of the participants as it helps teachers and leaders
confront challenges and deal with dilemmas, professional interests and the pressure
of performing (Lofthouse, 2016, p. 34).
Characteristics of effective coaching in schools and in workplace
Seven common elements of effective coaching practice:
1. The coaching relationship: characterised by trust, direct communication, mutual
commitment, support and collaboration.

2. The coaching cycle and learning process: Understanding coaching as a goal-

oriented and person-centred, non-linear learning process.

3. Feedback and evaluation of outcomes: Using multiple methods to assess

the effectiveness of coaching.

4. Context, environment and organisational governance: Paying attention to

the whole context including governance arrangements.

5. Essential coaching skills and techniques: Developing coaching expertise

through a combination of techniques, skills and capacities and maintaining these
through ongoing development and supervision

6. Qualities and attitudes of an effective coach: Coaching as a dispositional

aspect of being, thinking and feeling.

7. Ethics in coaching practice: Professionalism, confidentiality, consent

and boundary management in coaching contracts which are embedded in
the International Coaching Federation (ICF) coaching competences.

(source Morgan and Rochford, 2017).

Coaching in Schools: Evidence from the empirical literature
The term ‘coaching’ means different things to different people and finding a
single agreed definition across the schools was problematic. However, the six
schools shared the following views. Coaching is a leadership approach that can be
used flexibly to meet the needs of individuals and groups. The coach should focus
on the goals of the individual or group and/or the school and use questioning to
establish an agreed plan of action. The process is based on the three generic skills
of listening, questioning and promoting action. Coaching fits best in a school
culture that is predicated on shared leadership rather than a command and control,
hierarchical structure.

(Sugget, 2006 p. 5)

Defining Mentoring
According to Morgan and Rochford (2017) mentoring typically involves two
parties (a mentor and a mentee or protégé), a relationship (formal or informal), and
the transfer of skills, knowledge and attitude with the objective of development and
growth of the mentee. It can be defined as ‘offline help by one person or another in
making significant transitions in knowledge, work or thinking’.

The role of mentor is usually undertaken by someone in a more senior position

than the mentee, with the aim of supporting the professional development of a less
experienced person.

Some of the core characteristics of mentoring are:

• It can have both personal and organisational focuses.

• Provision of guidance, feedback and confidential discussion to raise self-
awareness and develop potential.

• Focusses on future career management and development offering information

and signposting.

• Outside of the line management relationship.

Mentoring can be a formal matching arrangement, like coaching, or more informal

and organic, such as when a mentee seeks out a mentor, a mentor seeks out a
protégé or vice versa (Morgan and Rochford, 2017).

Categories of Mentoring
According to Thorndyke et al. (2008) mentoring can be a formal matching
arrangement, like coaching, or more informal and organic, such as when a
mentee seeks out a mentor, a mentor seeks out a protégé or vice versa. There are
different categories of mentoring according to the nature of the mentoring
relationship, which include:

1. One-on-one mentoring where the mentor works with one mentee over
a sustained period of time.

2. Team mentoring is when one mentee has team mentors who meet
collectively to provide mentorship to a mentee. This approach is helpful for
eliciting multiple perspectives and availing of a more diverse skillset. Likewise, a
mentee can have numerous mentors who he/she meets with individually.

3. Peer mentoring is another approach where colleagues, who are at

similar stages in their career, mentor each other.
4. Functional mentoring is a more specific and structured type of mentoring
relationship, to assist a mentee complete a particular project or assignment
sometime as part of an educational or professional development programme.

According to the Health and Social care Board (2014, as cited in Morgan and
Rochford 2017) there are some important distinctions between the processes
of coaching and mentoring themselves as set out in the table 1 below:
Table 1. Distinctions in Coaching and Mentoring Processes Health and Social
care Board (2014, as cited in Morgan and Rochford 2017, p. 10)
Domain Coaching Mentoring
Level of Formality Usually guided by some Tends to be more
type of formal agreement informal, more likely to
between the coach and happen organically as
coachee and relationship and when the mentee
needs advice, guidance
and support.

Timeframe Offered over a set time Can be more long-term

period and developmental in
nature.
Orientation More concerned with the Less concerned with
improvement of current current performance and
on-the-job performance more focused on future
career development and
aspirations
Focus Dual focused – on the More focused on the
individual coachee and broader development of
on specific development the individual mentee.
areas/issues and the
wider organisation or
service
Experience required of Unless the focus of a Generally, the mentor
coaches/mentors coaching intervention is should be in the same
specific skill field as the mentee and
development, the coach have practice or sector
does not necessarily have specific knowledge
to come from the same relevant to the mentee.
practice area as the
coachee. Coaches usually
have a skillset which is
transferable across
various sectors and areas
of practice.
Seniority Coaches do not In the practice arena,
necessarily have to be in mentors are typically
more senior position than more senior than the
the mentee, with having mentee so they can pass
the requisite skills for on knowledge,
coaching seen as more experience and
important. opportunities.
Additional Reading
Jones, M. (2015) ‘Mentoring and coaching in education practitioners
‘professional learning’, International Journal of Coaching and Mentoring
in Education, 4(4), pp. 293-302.

Further Reading
Rothwell, W.J., Sullivan, R.L., Stavros, J.M. eds. (2015) Practicing Organization
Development: Leading Transformation and Change. 4th edn. New Jersey:
John Wiley and Sons Inc.
Chapter 15: Individual Development: Making Change Stick, pp. 250-258.

References
de Hann, E. & Duckworth, A. (2013) ‘Signaling a new trend in executive coaching
outcome research’, International Coaching Psychology Review, 8(1), pp. 6-
19.

Lofthouse, R. (2019) ‘Coaching in Education: a professional development process

in formation’, Professional Development in Education, 45(1), pp. 33-45.

Kilburg, R. (1996) ‘Toward a conceptual understanding and definition of executive

coaching’, Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 48(2),
pp. 134-144.

Morgan, M. and Rochford, S. (2017) Coaching and Mentoring for Frontline

Practitioners. Dublin: Centre for Effective Services.
Passmore, J., Fillery-Travis. A. (2011) ‘A critical review of executive coaching
research: a decade of progress and what's to come’, Coaching: An
International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice, 4 (2), pp. 70-88.

Scottish Social Services Council (2016). Coaching Learning Resource, pp.1-95.

http://www.stepintoleadership.info/assets/pdf/SSSC%20Coaching%20Aug%
2016%20master.pdf

Suggett, N. (2006) Time for coaching. Research Associate Summary Report.