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Unit 8.11. (B) Mentoring, Coaching - Counseling-Sd (5-1-20)
Unit 8.11. (B) Mentoring, Coaching - Counseling-Sd (5-1-20)
11 (b)
Practice Task 9
Feedback 9
10
1
Who is a Coach?
When and why to coach?
Stages of a Coaching Session
The GROW Model
Practice Task 15
Feedback 15
16
Practice Task 19
Feedback 19
Conclusion 20
Bibliography 20
UNIT 8.11.4
MENTORING, COACHING & COUNSELING FOR
HIGHER PERFORMANCE
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Broad Objective:
After reading the learning material, you will be able to:
Learning Outcomes:
After reading the learning material, you will be able to:
It is assumed that the learners are quite familiar with the concept of institutional management and
administration. The learners are also known to significance of institutional management for enhancing
effectiveness and efficiency.
Introduction
Dear learners, as you know that every management (be it an institution, organization or industry) wants
better results. It wants better performance of its employees towards the accomplishment of some pre-
determined institutional objectives.
As a manager, we may require to perform the role of mentoring, coaching, and counseling. By doing this,
we help employees solve problems, make better decisions, that are preventing them to acquire new skills,
and otherwise grow in their careers. Many managers use these three terms interchangeably but in reality
mentoring, coaching & counseling are the skills used to achieve different outcomes. The role of a
manager is much more challenging, for example, focusing on achieving better results, providing a
leadership to his/her team, listening to their problems empathetically, and even disciplining the team
when needed. Thus, learning to deal with all these simultaneously and at the same time be effective while
performing various roles is not easy.
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The learning material will enable the learner to help his/her employees maximize their contribution
at work through mentoring, coaching & counseling. Therefore, it is important for a leader/manager to
understand these concepts and as well as know when and why to mentor, when and why to coach and
when and why to counsel someone in your team.
Mentoring is a learning relationship between individuals who collaborate and share mutual responsibility
and accountability for helping the mentee work toward the fulfilment of clearly and mutually defined
learning goals. It can be used to assist individuals at specific stages of development and lasts for a
sustained but a definite period of time. The mentoring relationship provides an opportunity to both parties
for their growth & development and, thus, can be of mutual benefit. Source: (Zachary, 2002:28).
Especially, for new employees, mentoring sessions can help them gain a better understanding of the
organization, its goals and advancement criteria.
In other words, it is a “voluntary relationship that exists between a person of lesser experience and a
person of greater experience that is based on mutual trust and respect”. Mentoring is normally carried out
to educate employees with high potential for performing bigger roles in future or to share their
experiences with employees who either have to work in their new roles or who have just joined the
organization. Mentoring involves sharing knowledge, experience and offering and receiving guidance and
advice. Its purpose is not to link with employee performance objectives and it is also not done to impact
the mentee’s performance. In fact, Mentoring is..."off-line help provided by one person to another in
making significant transfer of knowledge, thinking or work" (Clutterbuck, D & Megginson, D, 1999).
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improving their skill sets and appreciating their good work,
a mentor will make the employee feel great.
Mentoring occurs when a more experienced older person extends a helping hand to a younger
employee grow and advance by providing support, advice and encouragement. Many
organizations have started implementing mentoring process with a belief that creating a bond
between a senior and a junior employee helps both and benefits the organization as well. The
younger one can pick up practical knowledge & skills from the mentor and gain insights into the
organizational culture and philosophy that otherwise might take years to discover.
There are a few myths, associated with mentoring which needs to be understood before starting
the mentoring relationship. These are described here:
a) Mentoring is a one way traffic. Here, both mentor and mentee benefit from each others’ strengths
and experiences.
b) A mentoring relationship can only be face-to-face. It may not always be possible. E-mails, ICT or
phones can also be used.
c) Mentoring is a time-consuming process.
d) Expectations are the same for everyone.
e) Mentors must not be a younger. Age is not a criteria from being a mentor.
f) Developing a mentoring relationship is complicated. Training provides a variety of resources to
guide the mentoring process.
g) It can work only with one mentor at a time. Different mentors provide unique knowledge to the
mentee, hence more than one mentor can offer varied learning experiences.
h) Mentoring relationships begin on its own. It is the mentee, who chooses a mentor he/she respects
and trusts to help him/her reach his/her goals.
To conclude, a mentor who feels secure in the organization because of a good mentoring
relationship and is thus likely to think about searching for another job. It is an excellent
arrangement for an organization to help manage the career stages of its employees.
Who is a Mentor?
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Anyone, who provides knowledge, skill, perspective, insight, or wisdom as helps to another person, in
a relationship irrespective of duty or obligation. By sharing the knowledge and insights that the
mentor learned through the years, he/she facilitates personal and professional growth in an individual.
The characteristics of an effective Mentor are:
A mentor can identify the Potential in others as he/she views others positively that greatly
increases the chances of transfer of learning.
He/she has faith in the capabilities of others. He/she believes that the mentee can perform
effectively.
He/she is a Resourceful & Networked Guide. He/she enjoys a positive reputation and is highly
regarded by others. Being a repository of information, he/she provides just-in-time learning.
He/she displays Patience and Tolerance. He/she allows mentees to make errors in work and
uses such errors/shortcomings as opportunities to teach/learn.
He/she inspires others. He/she possesses the ability to build up mentees' self-esteem and
encourages them.
He/she sees the Big Picture. With a larger perspective, he/she helps mentees produce relevant
suggestions and bring up such suggestions that the mentee would otherwise not consider.
In fact, middle level managers may prove to be best at helping new employees acquire knowledge
and develop specific skills, whereas senior managers may prove to be more effective at providing
organization’s vision.
Who is a Mentee?
A mentee is anyone who wants to learn from someone who knows and provides the valuable advice
for the professional and/or professional and/or personal growth & development of the individual. Or,
he/she is anyone who has the desire to gain from someone else’s experience through guidance and
support. Also known as a protege, refers to the less experienced person who is benefiting from the
acquired knowledge, skills and years of practice of the more experienced individual. The
characteristics of a good Mentee are:
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• He/she shows willingness to Learn. He/she is curious about what he/she does not know
and hence asks for assistance or resources when faced with uncertain circumstances.
• He/she accepts personal responsibility. He/she does not blame others for things going
wrong, or procrastinate, but readily admits and owns the failures and shortcomings.
There is hardly a situation in the organization that a manager needs to mentor each person in his/her
team. If the organization has realized the necessity of offering a formal mentoring program, choose
employees to with high potential and pair with mentors whose experiences they wish to imbibe. In
addition, the organizational leaders may choose to mentor those employees who are not on their team
but who may wish to learn something from the identified mentors. A fellow manager who is new to
the organization or to the role may also be mentored. Mentoring is usually carried out with the focus
of developing someone and sharing knowledge to enable the individual to perform his/her current or
future roles effectively. The focus of mentoring is not to influence an individual performance, but it is
to bring a positive and significant effect on the individual’s professional life as a result of mentoring
relationship.
The Informational Mentor (the sage on stage). This is suitable when the mentee is new and
does not have lot of confidence to decide for himself/herself and the mentor relationship is
beginning. A mentor in the role of a sage is one who has wisdom that he/she has acquired with
age and experience. In such a situation he/she draws on experience and acts as a role model, leads
by example. In addition, the mentor provides a step by step to problem solving. At this stage,
communication is more one way, i.e., giving information and advice. The mentor teaches, praises
and helps the mentee get started.
The Guiding Mentor, i.e., Guide on the Side. At this stage, the mentor makes suggestions and
persuades the mentee. He/she probes the mentee and draws out ideas. In addition, the mentor
makes the person accountable and ensures they stay on track. After this stage, the mentee having
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the ability and confidence can explore ideas and try out mentor suggestions. There is a rapport
between the participants in the mentoring relationship.
The Confirming Mentor, i.e., empathetic sounding board. The mentee now becomes confident
and proactive. The mentor listens empathically and clarifies goals, directions and ideas;
encourages individual decision making and makes mentee accountable for his/her own decision
making. To conclude, the mentor acts as sounding board, a person whose reaction to something
serves as an indicator of its acceptability.
Mentoring Process
Now let us learn the steps involved in the conduct of a mentoring session.
At this stage, the task is to find or choose a Mentor. When identifying potential mentor, you may
look for the following traits:
• Job performance. Ask questions like: Is he/she recognized as an effective leader? Is he/she
considered role model of character and values? Does he/she develop subordinates well? Does
the prospective mentor have strategic outlook planning and thinking?
• Interpersonal Skills. Ask questions like: Does he/she has a history of positive relationships
with a diverse scope of individuals? Does he/she has a history of freely sharing experiences
and insight with others? Is he/she a trusted resource in his/her own organization? Is he/she
someone you feel you could trust and spend time with?
• Learning Capacity. Ask questions like: Is the prospective mentor aware of his/her strengths
and weaknesses? Is he/she personally committed to continuous growth and receptive to new
ideas and approaches?
Acquaint with each other. Verbalize your vision and purpose of the partnership. Here, mentors
help mentees plan a task or session by asking them to: State the goals of the task or session;
Summarize the task or session. In addition, the mentor clarifies the roles/list the actions of those
involved in the task or session and finally itemize the challenges and opportunities associated
with performing the task or session.
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Step 3: Observation
Now, the mentor watches the mentee attentively and gathers information on how well the
mentee’s plan worked followed by sharing of this information by the mentor with the mentee
during the reflective conversation, i.e., consolidation and feedback phase.
During this part of the mentoring process, the mentor consolidates the information and provides
feedback on the information gathered in Step 3, and the mentee responds to the mentor’s
summary and feedback.
Review mentee’s goals and progress. Make sure an important goal has not been overlooked. Plan
a formal acknowledgement or celebration of the relationship. Prepare for the final review.
Identify what you have gained. Identify accomplishments as a mentor-mentee pair, and examine
what you have both learned through the process
To conclude, mentoring involves sharing knowledge, experience and offering and receiving guidance and
advice. Its purpose is not to link with employee performance objectives and it is also not done to impact
the mentee’s performance
Practice Task:
Feedback
A. (d).
B. (b)
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facilitate an employee’s thought and learning process. Mentoring is
not usually carried out by the person’s manager while coaching is
done by the manager/leader as part of his/her responsibility towards
the team.
Coaching involves two-way communication to help an employee learn more to facilitate his/her
performance at work. Basically, coaching aims at influencing the performance of the employee.
“Coaching is a process that enables learning and development to occur and thus performance to
improve. To be a successful a Coach requires a knowledge and understanding of process as well
as the variety of styles, skills and techniques that are appropriate to the context in which the
coaching takes place" (Eric Parsloe, 1999).
As such, a coach evaluates the employee’s performance; provides insights for improving his/her
performance; offers leadership, reinforcement and supportive climate to help him/her achieve
that improved performance.
Who is a Coach?
In the organization, a coach is can be a peer or manager who motivates employees, helps them acquire
skills through instruction and provides reinforcement and feedback while working with them. Role of a
coach can be performed by:
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The characteristics of a good coach include: empathetic, supportive, practical and self-confident. On the
other hand, employees who being coached need to be open-minded, willing and interested.
Coaching is required when an employee needs help mastering skills and figuring out how to apply
instructions. For example, when an employee does not how to organize a departmental meeting, he is
given input on specific steps involved in the process. Coaching enables the employees to identify:
Coaching is required when you want to improve the performance of an employee, set monthly,
quarterly or yearly performance goals leading to change his/her behaviour for the better.
Coaching process involves: identifying the problem, clarifying the alternatives, deciding on an action
plan and implementing the action plan. The following steps will help you in performing the role of a
coach:
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significance of the issue and getting him/her to identify the consequences of not changing his or her
undesirable behavior.
The skill of specifying the behavior involves: (a) Citing specific examples regarding the performance
issue; (b) clarifying your expectations on his/her performance in the situation, and (c) encouraging the
employee to agree on the existence of a performance issue.
Likewise the skill of clarifying consequences involves: (a) probing to get the employee to articulate
his or her understanding of the consequences concerning the performance issue, and (b) asking the
employee to agree on the existence of a performance issue.
This stage involves the skill of reacting and elaborating. A manager must acknowledge the
suggestions offered by the employees; discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the suggestion(s).
In addition, employee may be asked to explain the ways of resolving the issue under discussion.
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Employees value the importance of performance feedback (both positive and corrective) if given on
continual basis by the manager. Hence, an effective manager must take care of a few critical things
while giving feedback to employees. Feedback should:
Be given timely, i.e., immediately after the interaction or completion of the project, or
observation is made.
Be specific. Use those specific words that themselves give direction. For example, statements like
"You did a great job" or "You didn't take care of the clients' concerns very well" are too vague
and don't provide sufficient insight into the behavior you would like to see changed or repeated.
Focus on the "what," not the "why”. Do not give the judgmental feedback. Begin with "I have
observed..." or "I have seen..." and then refer to the behavior. Criticize the behavior and not the
person. Describe what you saw and heard and how those behaviors influence the team, client, etc.
Use a sincere tone of voice. Raise the words and not the voice. Use a tone that exhibits
affirmation, love, satisfaction, empathy and not frustration, disappointment or sarcasm.
Let us now learn framework for structuring the mentoring or coaching sessions, a GROW Model
which stands for: Goal; Current Reality; Options (or Obstacles); and Will.
The following steps can be undertaken to structure a coaching or mentoring session using the
GROW Model:
Firstly identify the behavior that you want to change, and then structure this change as a goal. Ensure
that the goal is a SMART one, i.e., Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-bound.
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A coach may consider the following useful questions in this step:
How will you know that you have achieved the goal or that the problem or issue is solved?
Does the goal fit with him/her overall career objectives or with the team's goal?
Now, encourage your team member to describe the current reality. Analyze the problem and ensure
that you have not missed any information that they need in order to reach their goal effectively. The
solution may start to emerge as soon as your team member describes about his/her current reality.
On exploring the current reality, it's time to encourage employee to determine all of the possible
options for reaching his/her goal. Brainstorming session can be conducted for generating as many
options as possible followed by discussion these options leading to decision about choosing the best
ones. The leader can also offer suggestions in this step. But it is important that the employee should
offer suggestions first, and let him/her do most of the talking while the leader can guide him/her in
the right direction, without actually making decisions for him/her.
Examining the current reality and exploring the options is not enough. In fact, your role is to get the
employee to commit to specific actions in order to move forward towards his/her goal. In other
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words, help him/her establish the will and boost his/her motivation. Finally, make them accountable
to certain degree by reviewing his/her progress and allow him/her to change his/her approach if the
original plan isn't working.
To conclude, the emphasis of coaching is on facilitating the individuals’ work skills development and
acquisition; and consequently improved personal performance. The main focus is to improve the
individual’s understanding of self and their impact on others; particularly people with different needs
and wants from them.
Practice Task:
Feedback
(C) (a).
(E) (b).
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counseling can be done in order to resolve the emotional problem of an employee. However, the broad
purpose of mentoring, coaching and counseling is to improve the employee’s performance.
While coaching deals with increasing an employee’s performance, and focusing on tasks, counselling
deals with an employee’s attitudes & behaviour. The employee’s behaviour may directly impact his
performance. But it may also impact the performance or spirit of the team as a whole. Counselling is
needed when the employee’s behaviour is affecting the performance of the team. For example, when an
employee has an attitude, emotional or family problems, or, difficulty in getting along with a co-worker
or frustration over a lack of career progress in the organization, or a drinking problem affecting his/her
performance, he/she needs to be engaged in counseling behaviours. As such counseling provides
employees a useful opportunity to work through problems in a confidential & supportive climate. It
provides employees direct access to basic forms of helping, viz., provision of information, direct action,
lecturing, advice, coaching, feedback, etc. Typically it involves meeting of employee with an advisor
especially on one-to-one basis.
Now the question comes to mind is: What Counseling is ‘NOT’? It is neither ‘ Advice Giving’ nor is it
dictating to others. It is NOT solving another’s problem, but helping him/her to solve his/her own
problems. It is NOT carrying another person’s burden, but assisting him/her to carry and face his/her own
problems. It is NOT making ‘Decisions’ for others. It is helping them to arrive at their own decisions.
The personal qualities of a good counselor include empathy, warmth, genuineness, positive regard,
concreteness sense of humour, self-awareness etc.
While coaching can begin with a goal, however, counseling always begins with a problem or issue
that needs to be addressed. Counseling is normally used by people who have personal or professional
issues affecting their work. Coaching is something you will do for employees who are both high and
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low performers while, counseling helps the employees gain insight into their feelings, behavior and
alternatives.
Counseling is done when the counselor observes that employee’s behavior is:
causing the team discomfort, i.e., when there is confusion about undertaking projects
affecting his/her output, i.e., when there are concerns about poor performance or disagreements
with performance
affecting the team’s output
It is worth mentioning that out of the mentoring, coaching and counseling skills, it is the counseling
that is probably the most tough as it involves getting to the root cause of a person’s behaviour and
then getting him/her to change it.
Counseling can be directive, non-directive and participative. Directive counseling deals with listening
to the counselee’s problems, deciding with the course of action to be taken and motivating him/her to
work in the direction to solve the problem. Non-directive counseling involves skillful listening and
encouraging the counselee to open up and explain the problem and determine the appropriate
solution. Participative counseling involves a mutual counselor-counselee relationship that establishes
a cooperative exchange o ideas to help the counselee solve his/her problem.
Process of Counseling
Let us now learn the stages involved in the process of counseling. These include: rapport building;
defining the problem; defining the goal; exploring alternatives & confronting incongruity; and
generalization. The detailed description is given below:
Rapport Building. This stage involves building of rapport with the client/employee, i.e., making
him/her feel at ease. Here the focus is on skill of building of TRUST & attending skill.
Defining the Problem. This stage involves assessment of the problem. This can be carried out
by helping client/employee to do self exploration and analyze the behavior causing
problem. The skills required on the part of the counselor are ‘active listening’ and ‘asking
probing questions’ for understanding underlying emotions of the client/employee. This
process of assessment involves a series of skills of observation, inquiry, recording
information, forming hypotheses, hunches etc.
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Defining the Goal. Setting Goal is important to give structure to the entire counselling process.
This involves data analysis by taking stock of the assets and liabilities of the client/employee.
Here, the skills required are Paraphrasing & Empathy.
Exploring Alternatives and Confronting Incongruity. This stage involves selecting and using
counseling strategies to help the client/employee to make ‘action oriented’ solutions and explore
for alternatives and motivation for implementing the decisions. Here, the skill required is decision
making.
Generalization. This implies termination and follow-up, i.e., testing the merits of new
solutions, adopting them and seeing their workability. If satisfactory, then appreciate and
dissolve the counseling relationship. A sudden break in relationship may become
traumatic for a client/employee, therefore, the counselor should prepare the
client/employee for termination. Here, the skill required is learning detached attachment.
Counseling Strategies
As a counselor, you may use the following strategies while counseling the employees:
Maintain confidentiality and show trust that they can open up and share the reasons for many
personal problems
Speak less and briefly paraphrase and clarify.
You have to listen patiently and empathetically if you want to be good in communication.
Empathetic listening inspires openness and trust.
Build positive self-concept. Provide reassurance to them that their problems have solutions and
that they have the ability to improve.
Reflect employee feelings. Be concrete- by asking for examples in vivid details of feelings and
thoughts.
Counselor should ask open-ended questions. In addition, when in doubt, focus on feelings and
guide the counselee to find his/her own way to finding solutions to the problems.
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To conclude, counseling can identify employee’s serious problems like depression, family disorders,
debilitating phobias etc. requiring professional treatment by a medical practitioner, psychologist etc.
Practice Task
Feedback
F. (b).
Conclusion
Mentoring, Coaching and Counseling can provide ample benefits to organizations of all sizes, be it a
small, medium or large businesses. When these are conducted in an efficient and effective manner,
mentoring, coaching and counseling provide employees ways to learn and grow within the organization
and along their own career paths. While mentoring deals with equipping the employee with requisite
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knowledge & skills, coaching is about enhancing an employee’s performance, and focusing on tasks,
counseling deals with an employee’s behavior.
Bibliography
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Practices. New Delhi: Pearson.
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3. Clutterbuck, D & Megginson, D (1999). Mentoring Executives and Directors. Butterworth-
Heinemann; 1 edition.
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& Distributors.
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Education Pvt. Ltd.
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College Pub. Co.
13. Shookla, MS (2004). A handbook opf Human Relations. Delhi: Macmillan India Ltd.
14. Zachary, LJ (2000). A Manager's Guide to Mentoring. 2nd Edition. Jossey-Bass.
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Leadership. Nicholas Brealey Publishing.
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Video films on ‘Counseling for Improving Performance’ developed/recorded by Professor
(Dr.) Sunil Dutt, NITTTR, Chandigarh.
Web Resources
1. 17 Motivational Quotes to Inspire you to be Successful. https://www.success.com/17-
motivational-quotes-to-inspire-you-to-be-successful/.
2. Mentoring: How to be an effective Mentor - Golden Nugget #6. https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=3dD2VCsPrsg.
3. What is Mentoring? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoy5MifHuLs
4. Soft Skills - Coaching & Mentoring. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngTPeNdIWAE
5. What coaching is? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Esh75mbmucY.
6. Mentoring vs. Coaching. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0z-bVUk_CU.
7. Counselor: Basic Skills of a Counselor. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJXSf-cx8V8
8. Employee Counseling & Wellbeing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEXPgPMiTI4
9. Counselling for Employees. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTTKDUudl24
*****
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