How do I know if I need a coach, mentor, or a manager?

When do you need help?

Businesses strive for their employees to learn quickly and develop the necessary skills and capabilities for their roles. Achieving these training and development goals typically involves managing, coaching, and mentoring, but these terms are often misunderstood or used interchangeably.

Understanding the differences among them is crucial for success. While staff need managing and the manager (you) helps them achieve, learn, and develop, who is helping you?

Let’s explore the different ways to manage, coach, and mentor and understand the distinctions between them.

What is the difference between a coach, mentor, and manager?

There are distinct differences between coaching, mentoring, and managing, based on the relationship between the individuals involved and the outcomes they seek.

Coaching is a personal, generally short-term relationship aimed at achieving personal or professional development.

Mentoring is a mutually beneficial relationship focused on developing a specific skill, typically lasting a year or longer.

Managing is a professional relationship used to achieve operational results. The type of leadership relationship you have should be based on the desired outcome.

What is coaching?

Coaching involves partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximise their personal and professional potential. Coaches offer proven concepts and strategies, challenge blind spots, and foster new perspectives, but they do not prescribe actions or outcomes. The coach holds the client accountable for the goals and outcomes they commit to during the coaching process.

Companies often hire outside coaches or establish internal coaching programs. Have you ever worked somewhere that brought in someone to motivate or teach the team?

Coaching provides measurable benefits for talent development and moving from good to great. This is not just for staff but for you too. However, coaching can sometimes feel a bit too directive. Personally, I prefer guiding and helping rather than dictating.

Different coaching styles:

Depending on your client’s needs, different coaching styles can be adopted:

• Considerate: Low assertiveness, high expressiveness.
• Direct: High assertiveness, low expressiveness.
• Spirited: High assertiveness, high expressiveness.
• Systematic: Low assertiveness, low expressiveness.

What is mentoring?

A mentor imparts knowledge, expertise, and wisdom from their own experience. These qualities typically accrue over time, so mentors are usually more experienced than mentees.

A mentoring relationship is mutually beneficial, with each party gaining insights from the sharing process. Unlike a manager, who has power over subordinates, mentors and mentees choose each other. A mentor’s authority derives from the mentee’s esteem, often forming a relationship of friends and confidantes.

Mentoring is excellent for business owners, and this is something I offer. I prefer to work with my mentees and help rather than dictate.

Types of mentoring styles:

The mentoring process depends on the needs and learning styles of the individual being mentored:

• Challenger: Supportive but firm, focusing on a specific goal.
• Cheerleader: Optimistic, supportive, and encouraging, focusing on growing new skills.
• Connector: Well-connected, helping with networking.
• Educator: Educational in nature, pushing the mentee to learn and develop.
• Ideas: Creative, sparking brainstorming and planning.

What is managing?

A manager’s priority is achieving operational goals set by the business. Whether managing a salon or your own business, you aim to ensure your team meets the goals you set.

Goals may include production units or sales targets. Managing workers to meet these objectives is just one of a manager’s many responsibilities. Managers must also consider market conditions, financial resources, schedules, regulations, organisational structure, work environments, efficiency, productivity, and more.

As businesses grow in size and complexity, managers often need extra support. This is where a mentor can help managers create ideas and achieve their goals.

Types of management styles:

There are different management styles. Let’s see if you can relate to any:

• Authoritative: Clearly defined expectations and disciplinary actions, best used in times of crisis.
• Coaching: Focuses on long-term employee development and growth, best for businesses promoting from within.
• Collaborative: Open discussion and communication, best for driving innovation or increasing employee engagement.
• Delegative: Assigns tasks and empowers employees, best for highly skilled teams.
• Participative: Uses staff participation to create solutions, best for making business changes or driving innovation.
• Persuasive: Makes decisions but convinces staff they are involved, best when the manager has significantly more experience.
• Transformational: Uses motivation and encouragement to push the team, best for increasing innovation, flexibility, and growth.
• Visionary: Shares goals with the team and motivates them, best for driving innovation and change.

Can I be all three roles?

Given the different goals, methods, and relationship dynamics of managing, coaching, and mentoring, can one individual play all three roles with an employee? Not properly. You can adopt different methods for different staff members, as many will have different learning styles.

However, don’t forget about yourself. Running a business is hard, and sometimes we need help to create new ideas and generate motivation for our team. You may benefit from external support. Many options are available:

• Online resources
• Group coaching/mentoring
• One-to-one mentoring
• Accountability programs

In summary:

1. Have a clear vision and mission.
2. Profile personalities.
3. Schedule regular team meetings.
4. Conduct monthly one-on-one meetings, informal or formal.

Ultimately, these practices will lead to better patient care, improved staff satisfaction, and a more cohesive team.

Lots of respect and dedication,

This is all said with love. I know many people have different opinions, and that is absolutely fine. If it doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t.

Any questions, just ask. Why not arrange a fact-finding call and see if we can generate some ideas to move your business forward?