Mentoring and leadership may sound the same at first, but there are very important differences between the two.
Depending on your goals and the type of business you have, you can draw upon either or both to build a more successful team and a sustainable, scaleable business.
There are many types of businesses and some are better suited to different growth methods than others. What I want to talk about in this article is how these differ, and which would be ideal for helping you achieve your goals.
Mentoring
An easy way to make a clear distinction between the two is mentoring draws upon your experience. You then apply that experience to train someone to do something that you’ve already done or to help them develop the behaviors, skills, habits and winning attitude that made you successful.
Generally-speaking, mentors are recognized as leaders in their fields. They are often given the opportunity to train and work with new employees as they show them how to be successful inside the company or to help current employees move up in their career.
Oftentimes, the mentor becomes a trusted confidant who listens and advises the employee about the best way to handle difficult situations based upon how they’ve handled similar issues successfully in the past.
Leadership Coaching
Leadership coaching involves a professionally trained coach, generally someone from outside your organization, using their experience coaching others to help you improve as a leader your team respects and wants to follow.
Coaches focus on helping the leader make better decisions and take the right actions. Because they are trained to ask the right questions and to challenge beliefs that may no longer serve the leader, the leader is able to look at different approaches to solving problems and growing their business.
Great coaches are especially adept at getting the leader to reflect upon their actions, adopt a winning mindset and come to their own conclusions. Once the coach and the leader identify a plan of action, the coach keeps the leader accountable for making the changes they’ve said they wanted to make. No excuses!
A mentor will point out what he or she thinks a mentee could have done better, while a coach will ask the individual what he or she could improve on and how to make that happen. Both mentoring and leadership coaching are important tools to have available.
A Combined Approach
In many cases mentoring and hiring a leadership coach is your best approach.
All over America there are small businesses, many family owned, where passing the torch to the next generation is a serious risk.
For those I would strongly recommend a combination of leadership coaching followed by mentoring so that the next leader has what it takes to lead the business and perhaps take it further than ever before.
S.M.A.R.T. Goals
I’m a big proponent of planning because without goals, success can’t be measured. I’ve written about S.M.A.R.T goals in the past, and I encourage you to give it a read.
When you create a plan for your business and how you want to see it grow, spell out what you can teach and what you need to learn. A great growth approach is to learn while you work, while also teaching others.
Leadership has evolved in recent years to be much more collaborative so don’t just make this about you and your own goals. If you choose to mentor someone, ask yourself: once this is completed are they going to be able to handle everything I can?
If leadership is more the challenge, then invest in yourself and hire a professional coach. You’re the master of what you do and your mentee will perform best when they follow your guidance. The same is true for yourself when working with your coach!
A lot of the successes in teaching small business owners how to grow their business as a better leader comes from placing your trust in your coach in the same way you would expect someone you’re teaching to trust you.
Therefore, it’s so important to trust your coach and to have a well-developed rapport with them that makes you comfortable and happy when you’re working together, even if you squirm a little occasionally as you stretch and grow into the leader you’ve always wanted to be. If you aren’t “coachable” then don’t waste your time or the coaches time because you will both be frustrated.
Let me know if you are looking to grow your business but aren’t quite sure which is right for you and I will give you an honest answer while discussing your business and your goals.
We’ll work out a strategy that may involve mentoring, leadership coaching, or both so you can grow your business to greater heights with less stress.
To Your Inevitable Success,
Katherine Hartvickson