Mentoring, Coaching, Sponsoring & Partnering: Seminar

Assisting others, and being assisted by others, are key aspects of leadership. Each leader needs to make a concerted effort to aid those they lead as well as seek the help of others to strengthen their leadership skills. Mentoring, coaching, sponsorship, and partnering are techniques to achieve these two goals: helping others and aiding your own leadership development. The benefits of these approaches are typically reciprocal in nature where the person the guidance is focused on benefits as well as the person who provides the guidance.

Mentoring is a relationship where one person facilitates the development of another by sharing expertise, experience, skills, perspectives, and resources. Mentoring relationships focus on career guidance and professional development though it is not uncommon for a mentor to also share technical knowledge with a mentee. Mentors need to have deep domain experience to relate to the working conditions they are providing advice on. It is essential that the mentor and mentee express their purpose for working together and that some form of a “Mentor Action Plan” be created to provide structure to the experience. It is important that a mentor does not supervise the mentee, with this distinction needed to ensure the mentee can freely express themselves.

Professional coaches provide advice and guidance on specific skills and competencies. Coaches often pose questions to those they are working with to allow the client to find solutions to their own challenges. A coach need not have expert or subject-matter knowledge but instead focus on specific non-technical skills. Certification by organizations such as the International Coaching Federation and the International Coaching Council serves as a credential that helps ensure quality. Among the differences between coaching and mentoring is the focus on skills and specific performance attributes by coaches. As such, coaches have concrete objectives/outcomes rather than the career development objectives that guide mentors. Mentors tend to do most of the talking in a relationship while coaches are primarily listeners who guide their clients to solutions. Most coaches are compensated and external to the organization, with the period of engagement generally shorter than longer-termed mentorship programs.

Researcher and author Sylvia Ann Hewlett proposed that senior leaders have an obligation and opportunity to identify developing leaders and sponsor those individuals by creating opportunities for growth, advancement, and succession. In her words, “Sponsorship is a two-way reciprocal investment where both the sponsor and protégé are working for each other’s’ success.” Sponsors believe in their protégé and are willing to go out on a limb for their behalf. The advocate for promotions and provide support whenever needed. Protégés honor sponsorship by maintaining high levels of performance, remaining loyal to their sponsor, and by constantly adding value to the relationship and organization. Sponsorship relationships are long-term and depend on the trust developed during the relationship.

In a partnership, both parties are equals and work side-by-side within the organization. Partnerships are a common career progression in law, architecture, venture capital and other professions. The concept of partnering is appropriate beyond these fields and it is suggested that junior members in an organization look for ways to partner as an equal contributor on a specific project with senior leaders.