Mentoring & Coaching: Are Both Necessary, and What's the Difference?

What is Mentoring?

A mentor is a wise and trusted counselor and guide. In “traditional” corporations an executive or senior person is assigned a “high potential” to assist in his or her development.  A Mentor has a body of knowledge that a Mentee would like to learn. In an accounting firm, information regarding technical matters and professional development are often transferred from Mentor to Mentee.

Coaching within the context of a mentoring relationship has to do with the skill of helping an individual fill a particular knowledge gap by learning how to do things more effectively. While coaching is always a part of mentoring, coaching does not always involve mentoring.  

The Mentor and Mentee form a partnership in which:

1. Learning is the fundamental process and primary purpose of mentoring. The most effective mentoring occurs when it is learner-centered.  The learner (Mentee) plays an active role in the learning.  The Mentor’s role is one of the “guide on the side.”  
2. Self-learning is essential to the mentoring process.  Without a Mentor’s commitment to personal learning, the potential effectiveness of the learning relationship is greatly reduced.
3. A four-phase process describes the mentoring process: Preparing, Negotiating, Enabling, and Closure.

The Four Phases of the Mentoring Process

Phase 1: Preparing
Due to the unique nature of each mentoring relationship, both Mentor and Mentee must prepare individually and in partnership.  Mentors explore personal motivation and their readiness to be a mentor. 

They assess their mentoring skills to identify areas for their own learning and development.  Clarity about both expectation and role is essential for establishing a productive mentoring relationship.  Preparing is also a discovery process.

Phase 2: Negotiating
Negotiating is described as the “business phase” of the mentoring relationship - the time where mentoring partners come to agreement on learning goals and define the content and process of the relationship.  

It is not as simple as drawing up an agreement.  A key part is the conversation that leads up to it, when the ground rules for moving the relationship forward are developed.  The negotiating phase has more to do with creating a shared understanding about assumptions, expectations, goals, and needs than actually putting a formal agreement in writing.  

It also involves talking about some of the “soft” issues in a relationship - topics like confidentiality, boundaries, and limits, which often are left out of mentoring conversations because the partners find these issues difficult to talk about. 

Finally, negotiating includes the “details”- when and how to meet, responsibilities, criteria for success, accountability, and bringing the relationship to closure are mutually articulated during this phase.

Phase 3: Enabling
This phase takes the longest to complete because it is the implementation phase of the learning relationship.  It is a complex phase because although it offers the greatest opportunity for nurturing learning and development, the mentoring partners are also most vulnerable to myriad obstacles that can contribute to a derailment of the relationship.  

Even when goals are clearly articulated, the process well defined, and the milestones identified, every relationship must find its own path.  The enabling phase is a process of path building:  maintaining a sufficient level of trust to develop the quality of the mentoring relationship and promote learning.  Effective communication is key.  

The Mentor’s role during this phase is to nurture the Mentee’s growth by establishing and maintaining an open and affirming learning climate and providing thoughtful, timely, candid, and constructive feedback.  

Phase 4: Coming to Closure
This is an evolutionary process that has a beginning (establishing closure protocols when setting up a mentoring agreement), a middle (anticipating and addressing obstacles along the way), and an end (ensuring that there has been positive learning, no matter what the circumstances). 

All three components are necessary for satisfactory closure.  Closure involves evaluating, acknowledging, and celebrating achievement of learning outcomes.  It is beneficial for the Mentee, and for the Mentor.

Creating a Mentoring Program That Works

In order to be successful it is crucial to create high expectations, set demanding goals and achieve excellent results on a consistent basis. We perform better if we know what is expected and when there is feedback and a means to measure success.  Then rewards and compensation should then be in line with those.

Once you find qualified talent, it is a reward system, mentoring and coaching that will play a significant part in retaining your talent.

Why mentoring?

• Initiate and orient new staff
• Develop high potential personnel
• Assist in succession planning
• Improve quality of life
• Training
• Avoid the “Culture of Fear” break out from being a subservient “student” and learn to speak up and ask questions.
• Create strong relationship with seasoned accountants

Goals of Mentoring

• Training
• Performance feedback
• Short-term career advice
  -  Passing exams
  -  Learning how to use all the tools
  -  Meeting the charge hours
• Long-term career advice
  -  Are they getting diversity/sample of work?
• Personal Counseling
  -  Address communication between necessary parties
  -  Being an advocate for the mentee
  -  Socialization
  -  Understanding expectations

What Makes a Mentoring Program Successful?

The ingredients for a successful mentoring program include the commitment of both the Mentor and Mentee to the relationship; accountability and follow-up to conversations; a mutual respect and adherence to boundaries; encouragement and personal guidance.

Types of Programs

There are three types of mentoring programs:

• Situational (not formal) – the Firm Administrator should sit down with each and everybody in the firm once a quarter
• Informal – assigned/chosen mentors, expected to maintain regular contact. There is no reporting or monitoring
• Formal
  -  Required, regular meetings – at least quarterly
  -  Checklists – for tracking and reporting – surveys assessing the mentoring
  -  Opportunity to change mentors, at least annually
  -  Details of meeting remain confidential

Mentor Responsibilities

• React to needs of mentee
• Be available
• Allow them to vent
• Provide encouragement
• Teach new skills
• Listen with empathy
• Follow through on commitments
• Communicate often

Mentee Responsibilities

• Be appreciative
• Welcome the interest and concern of your Mentor
• Take responsibility
• Communicate
• Initiate contact when needed
• Contribute ideas and solutions rather than presenting problems all the time
• Accept feedback

About Frumi Rachel Barr

Frumi Rachel Barr is a catalyst for change.

Frumi and her associates specialize in and have a passion for working with successful accounting firms. Her concentration is on what are commonly called the “soft skills.”

Frumi and her associates work with those firms who want a competitive advantage in recruiting prime talent, retaining their key employees and developing their partners, managers and staff. Frumi & Associates provides a formal measurable coaching program to address the specialized needs of growing firms.

Unlike other coaching firms our associates all have an intimate knowledge of the accounting profession and the challenges they face.

Frumi has had a distinguished career history as an entrepreneur and financial executive. Her experience and expertise as both a CEO and a CFO provides responsive and collaborative support to her clients. It is this unique blend of practical, theoretical and communications/strategic skills that makes the work Frumi does unique among business advisors and coaches.

Learn more about Frumi and Associates