Coaching and Mentoring Toward Success
In a rapid
changing environment, it is easy for people to get lost. Miss a meeting and
suddenly you’re left out of the loop feeling like you got off a bus at the
wrong stop. Trying to be successful and
“making it big” alone is as dated as our early captains of industry. Today, companies are capitalizing on
leadership by way of coaching and mentoring.
Once considered a fad, coaching and mentoring have increased the
spotlight on sharing knowledge, experience, and ways to achieve personal and
professional goals.
In the 1500s, the
word coach described a horse-drawn
vehicle that would get people from where they were to where they wanted to
be. Many years later, big buses with
rows of seats also were called coaches, and their purpose was the same: to get
people to where they wanted to go. In Christian Coaching, Dr. Gary Collins
(2002) said, “Coaching is the art and practice of enabling individuals and
groups to move from where they are to where they want to be. Coaching helps
people expand their visions, build their confidence, unlock their potential,
increase their skills, and take practical steps toward their goal” (p. 14).
The Air Force has
a rich tradition of leading and developing young men and women. Though they have not fully implemented a
“coaching” culture by way of an Air Force regulation, they have created a
mentoring policy for their enlisted force.
From imparting pride and patriotism to ensuring adherence to customs and
courtesies, Air Force non-commissioned officers (NCOs) are known as “the
backbone” of the Air Force. These men
and women are trained and qualified to lead, develop, and mentor new, junior,
or career NCOs. The Air Force defines a
mentor as “a trusted counselor or guide.”
Mentoring is a relationship in which a person with greater experience
and wisdom guides another person to develop both personally and professionally.
Similar to the Air
Force, Ted Engstrom defines a mentor as someone who “provides modeling, close
supervision on special projects, and individualized help” that includes
encouragement, correction, confrontation, and accountability. According to Engstrom, a mentor is an
authority in his or her field as a result of disciplined study and experience. This person is willing to commit time and
emotional energy to a relationship that guides an understudy’s growth and
development.” Over the years, mentoring
has broadened to look more and more like coaching. A major difference, however,
is that the mentor works as an expert, while the coach assumes that the client
is the one best able and most likely to find direction and move forward”
(Collins, 2002). One of my favorite
definitions of mentoring comes from Leslie Camino-Markowitz, director of Next
Generation Leadership Programs who defined mentoring as, “Help by one person to
another in making significant transitions in knowledge, work, thinking, or
career” (p. 34). This definition
transitions nicely to how the Air Force operates.
Everyone in the
Air Force has a supervisor. Every individual works for someone from the lowest
airmen to the Secretary of the Air Force. However, just because you have a
supervisor does not mean you have a mentor or a coach. One of my first experiences with a mentor was
when I was a Technical Sergeant with seven years of service. Our unit’s Chief Master Sergeant brought me
into his office and sat me down to talk.
Usually, these settings were more common for disciplinary action rather
than career encouragement. As I sat
across from the “Chief” he began to tell me how he recognized great potential
in my abilities and my leadership. He
wasn’t selling the Air Force but rather, building me. After an hour of imparting wisdom and
insight, the Chief pulled out a set of shoulder boards (insignia for a
uniform). He handed them to me and said,
“Someday, I believe, you will wear these. I want to be the first to give them
to you.” I never forgot that
moment. It inspired me and made me want
to make his vision come true.
While I did
progress much quicker through the ranks than my peers, there were a few years
where I “lost my way” and found myself making poor decisions from selfish
motives. When I finally came around and
galvanized my focus to self-improvement, the Chief’s words continued to echo in
my heart. I retired at twenty-years as a
Senior Master Sergeant (one grade below a Chief). I could have reenlisted and continued my
pursuit for another eight years but I chose to hang-up my uniform to better
support and serve my family’s needs. While I don’t regret retiring, there are
some regrets that I didn’t heed the Chief’s words more closely later in my
career. However, his mentoring in that
moment will stay with me forever.
What I needed
after the mentoring moment was a strong coach; someone willing to speak
honestly about my decisions and strong enough to shake me from my selfishness.
Alan Nelson, coach and editor of Rev! Magazine said, “A leadership coach is
someone who walks with you for a season, steps into your life and provides
feedback, a different perspective, and when appropriate, a nudge to move
forward.” The “nudge” Nelson refers to
can be a frank discussion that paints a picture of reality to a person caught
in a dazed sense of rationalization and ego.
Whetten & Cameron (2011) said, “In coaching, managers pass along
advice and information, or they set standards to help others improve their work
skills. Skillful coaching is especially
important when (1) rewarding positive performance and (2) correcting problem
behaviors or attitudes” (p. 244). The
latter could have helped me make the changes necessary to achieve my Chief’s
vision for my career.
One of the key
lessons I learned was the desire to achieve greatness must originate in the
heart of the individual. The coach and
mentor merely motivate, inspire, and shed light on a pathway to achieve one’s
passion and goals. Once the light is
light though, there is no great experience to help another achieve their
dreams. Frederic Hudson, author of Handbook
of Coaching said, “A coach is someone trained and devoted to guiding others
into increased competence, commitment, and confidence.” Watching a person develop into a strong
leader fully alive is as satisfying as one’s own success.
I’ve learned from
my mistakes and my successes. Randy
Emelo (2011) said, “Everyone has something to teach and everyone has something
to learn.” I’ve had both positive and negative supervisors. And I’ve had mentors that encouraged me and
imparted their wisdom. Best of all, I
still have coaches that walk with me and help me become everything I’ve ever
hoped to be. And while life can get
overwhelming and the journey can be difficult, it is the three-fold combination
of my faith, my wife’s love, and my coaches encouragement that combine to lift
me to heights I never would have achieved in isolation.
Novak, Reilly,
& Williams (2010) said, “The leader is not the problem solver or the
primary idea-generator. The leader is the keeper of the vision and the one who
helps build the capacity in others to successfully solve their own problems and
generate multiple ideas and solutions” (p. 34).
From follower to leader and mentor to coach, the underlying motivation
is the same: make better people and make people better. Leadership is a people business. You can’t lead money, power, or success. Long after I am gone, the only thing that
remains are the investments I made in other people. That’s how true legacies are made. That’s a
life well lived. While I never put the
Chief shoulder boards on my uniform,
the trust and belief that one man had in my abilities still rings true today
when life gets difficult. Coaches and
mentors understand the power of their words.
Steve
References:
Collins, G.R. (2002). Christian coaching. Colorado Springs,
CO: NAVPRESS.
Emelo, R. (2011). Conversations With Mentoring Leaders, 65(6),
32.
Novak, D., Reilly, M., &
Williams, D. (2010). Leadership Practices
Accelerated into High Speed, 31(3), 32.
Whetton, D.A., & Cameron, K.S.
(2011). Developing management skills.
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
