A520.7.2DQ Importance of Mentoring and Coaching

Having a mentor or coach is a wonderful way to develop professionally and personally. When talking about professional relationships it is important to understand that professional development often leads to personal development. People identify themselves, in large part, by what they do. In truth, the world is going to judge you by the quality of the work you put back into the world. I don't care if you're the smartest guy in the world, what you do with that intelligence is what matters. And that is what you will ultimately be judged upon. Because of this, your work can define you. So when you develop professionally, you are often developing personally as well.

Because of this intermingling of personal and professional development, I prefer the mentor/mentee relationship. I view coaching as more task orientated and mentoring as more person related. A coach provides motivation and strategy to reach a goal. A mentor is concerned with bringing about change in a person and developing them into someone different from when they began. This isn't to say a coach doesn't do the same thing but the focus is different. Personal change is a by-product of coaching; it is the crux of mentorship.

When choosing a mentor for your professional journey it is important to be able to indentify with the person. You will need to be able to develop in such as way that you are comfortable discussing goals and how certain things make you feel. Professonial development becomes about finding a role that fits for you. It goes beyond just a "job you like" into something you are comfortable wearing as part of your identity. A mentor needs to understand what drives you in order to help you become who you want to be. Do you want to be a successful managerial consultant? One of the first questions a mentor should ask is "Are you comfortable with the world seeing you as consultant? Because like it or not, that is the first thing you are going to seen as being.

Another harsh truth, the world doesn't care about how good of a father,mother, son, daughter, boyfriend, girlfriend,etc you are. Most certainly your family does, and maybe a few close to you will, but the world, as a whole, does not. You will always be judged by your product. What you produce is what you will always been seen as by society at large. This is not to say that being a good father or mother cannot translate into a good manager. In fact, many of those skills in one area can be moved to the other. Some of the best managers I've known have treated their staff as extentions of their family. What I AM saying is that the world, as a whole, will only see what you put into it; and it must have some sort of value.

Mentors will HAVE to understand this. What you develop into professionally will turn into what you are seen as personally. There is no getting around it. How many times do you ask someone new, "So what do you do?" You have to be comfortable with that answer and the judgements that follow. Mentors, far more than coaches, will have to understand this. That is why the mentorship is so important. It is going to develop you into something that the rest of the world is going to assign you as an identity.