"Just the Facts" - about Mentor Coaching

Mentor Coaching Overview

MENTOR COACHING MODEL

What is Mentor Coaching (according to the ICF)?

• Coaching on your coaching 
• by an ICF credentialed coach at or above your desired credential level

Roles in a Mentor Coaching Relationship

Mentor Coach - person providing coaching on your coaching

Mentee - person receiving the mentor coaching

Client - person being coached for the purposes of evaluating the Mentee/Coach’s coaching

How is Mentor Coaching done?

• Mentee records a coaching session with a Client
• Mentee and Mentor Coach separately review the recording to assess coaching behaviors and identify focus areas for the mentor coaching
• Mentor Coach and Mentee engage in a conversation about the coaching that includes
• Feedback
• Coaching for development
• Action planning for improved coaching

Who is a Mentor Coach?

Expert in coaching competencies, effective coaching behaviors, experience in delivering effective coaching, and understanding the human traits that support or hinder effective coaching.

Partner playing an equal  role with the mentee in their development. In partnership you invite the mentee to create their own focus of learning, their own awareness, their own plans for improvement. In partnership, you share your expertise, observations, assessments, and feedback using a coaching approach designed to foster the learning and development of your menthe.

Resources

Interested in mentor coach training?

Georgetown’s Institute for Transformational Leadership (ITL) Mentor Coaching Fundamentals 

8-week on-line class starts January 2015 - link to course details and registration

For More Information about Mentor Coaching

Association for Coach Training Organizations (ACTO), www.actoonline.org

Position Papers (available under the Resources tab)

"Choosing a Mentor Coach"

"Mentor Coaching Duties and Competencies"

"Recommended Practices to be an Excellent Mentor Coach"

Lees, Janet. "Mentoring and Supervision [Special Issue]." Choice Magazine Volume 10, no. 3 (September, 2012). 

Sue’s Blog Posts - pccmasterclass.blogspot.com

Who Needs a Mentor Coach?  September 2013

"Just the Facts" - about Mentor Coaching  August 2014

Are you curious? About your own coaching? August 2014

For More Information about ICF Coaching Competencies

ICF Website - search for:

• Coaching Core Competencies
• Competencies Comparison Table for ACC, PCC and MCC
• PCC Competency Markers

Are you ready for a personal exploration of the ICF coaching competencies?

PCC Master Class - Sue’s small-group teleclass exploring the PCC level competencies

New Session starting in October 2014

Are you curious? About your own coaching?

A Mentor Coaching Story

I was listening to a coaching recording, getting ready to give the coach feedback to support his development as a coach. “So far, so good”, I thought. Bob (not his real name) was asking open-ended and curious questions, he and the client were working on a clear coaching topic, and he seemed fully engaged in the conversation. 

As I continued listening, I noticed a subtle shift in Bob’s coaching. At the beginning, he seemed slightly behind the client, asking questions about what she had said a few seconds earlier and missing what she had just said. Not a big concern, but I started to be curious.  A little later, he was very connected to the client and focused on what she was sharing in the moment.  “Better”, I thought, but now I was curious to know what had changed for the coach.  In the last section, as the conversation shifted to designing action, Bob’s coaching shifted again. Now he was ahead of the client, expressing his ideas for her future and pushing her forward, while she was still clearly pondering the present moment and exploring what she was learning. 

Now I was truly curious - not about the client - but about the coach. What was going on  to cause Bob’s focus to shift so dramatically as the coaching conversation progressed?

When was the last time someone listened to your coaching… 

with curiosity… 

about you? 

When we coach, we’re in a private conversation with the client. All the focus is on the client.  So who is paying attention to the coach? Who is listening objectively, being curious about the choices the coach is making, and noticing patterns or subtle shifts in the coach’s language, emotions, and presence?

Without that objective view, how can we learn what we’re doing well, what we’re missing, and how we can continue to improve our coaching?  Relying on our client isn’t enough. Remember our clients aren’t experts in coaching. Relying on our own impressions of our coaching isn’t enough. We all have blind spots and selective memory.  And even additional coach training isn’t always enough. New knowledge about coaching or adding new coaching tools doesn’t always help us improve our day-to-day coaching.

Mentor Coaching fills that role. As defined by the ICF, Mentor Coaching is coaching on your coaching, based on actual recordings of you coaching a real client.  Your mentor coach listens to your coaching, makes note of what you’re doing well, and notices opportunities you missed, and patterns and habits you’ve developed. Then, in a coach-like conversation, gives you feedback and helps you to see where and how you can improve your coaching.

I like to think of a Mentor Coach as your “personal trainer”. Your Mentor Coach stands besides you, watching and listening, reminding you to do your best, encouraging you try something new, exploring what you need to push beyond your self-imposed limits.

Oh - and what about Bob?  In our Mentor Coaching discussion, I shared what I had noticed and we talked about what was happening for him during that session. At the beginning of the session, he was taking notes and this caused him to lag behind the client. In the middle, he relaxed and stopped taking notes.  Without the pen in his hand, he connected to the client and what she was saying. Near the end, he got excited about what was possible for his client. He disconnected and tried to pull her into his vision of the future. After our conversation, he saw that he could be a better coach by putting away the pen and paper, and setting aside his own excitement to stay connected to the client.  “Ahhh. Much better”, I thought.



Join me at the ICF New England in Maine meeting on Sept 8 to learn more about Mentor Coaching - and to hang out with the Maine coaching community.  Event Registration Page

The Gift of Fog

Fog is an integral part of the Maine landscape. It rolls in from the ocean covering the coast. It creeps down the rivers to cover the towns, like Bath, that live on their banks.

I've found that fog has an emotional and energetic impact on me.  As my distance vision blurs, so does my future thinking. The past and future disappear.

As the sunlight decreases, so does my energy. It's a sense of time and space closing in, with the only option to focus on what is present at this space and in this moment.

I'm thankful for the gift of fog.