Coaching and Mentoring for Career and Personal Development

Coaching and mentoring is proven to be a very effective strategy in developing individuals in their career ambitions and personal life. Both coaching and mentoring, whilst different, can enhance the skills, knowledge and performance of the coachee or mentee and support their career progression and personal development goals.

Our aim across the Sussex Integrated Care System is to enable and support the development of a collaborative coaching and mentoring culture that helps individuals realise their potential and helps organisations achieve greater wellbeing and positivity amongst all staff.

Through accessing a coach from the Sussex Coaching Network you will have the benefits of:

• A choice of qualified coaches from a range of participating organisations with different skills and expertise
• The chance to evaluate your career pathway and enhance personal and career development opportunities
• Build your self-confidence, recognise your value and realise your potential
• If you are feeling stuck, you will be able to work with a coach to find new perspectives and ways forward to realise your ambitions

What is the difference between Coaching and Mentoring?

The terms ‘coaching’ and ‘mentoring’ are often used interchangeably, however there are some differences:

Coaching:

Work-place coaching is a performance-driven approach that aims to produce optimal performance and improvement at work, focusing on an individuals’ specific goals. A coach will use open questions and a conversational style to help you work towards goals, unlock your potential and achieve personal and professional success. A coach will not give you ‘advice’ or answers, but will guide you towards identifying your own solutions.

Career or personal development coaching is:

• A short term relationship with a coach in a structured setting.
• Aimed at supporting the coachee to identify their own goals, solutions and action, thus feeling more involved and invested in working through to reach their goal.
• A non-hierarchical relationship whereby the coach doesn’t need to have any specialist knowledge or expertise of the coachee’s job role.
• An effective way to unblock or change patterns of behaviour, consider different perspectives and think differently/consider new approaches.

A skilled intervention which must be delivered by qualified coaches.  If you are interested in learning foundational coaching skills, please email sxicb.sussexcoachingnetwork@nhs.net

Coaching is not:

• Providing expert or professional knowledge about a job role / function and therefore will not be in a position to offer advice or recommend training/qualifications or specific actions relating to technical experience.

Coaching Testimonials:

“I found coaching gave me the space to think through issues and develop actions I could then work on.”

“Once I had identified my goals, each session allowed me safe space and structure for reflection to improve my self-confidence in the workplace and provided useful tools to improve areas of weakness.  It helped me to identify clearer career development goals for my future.”

“Coaching is a great way to focus on your own development - exploring, reflecting, self-awareness and building self-belief to understand the value you bring”. 

Mentoring:

Mentoring in the workplace is a usually a relationship with a more experienced colleague who shares their greater professional or technical knowledge to support the individuals’ professional development. Whilst a mentor will utilise similar open questions and listening tools as a coach, a mentor will take a more directive approach, often advising, guiding and making professional recommendations to their mentee.

A Mentor would usually:

• Support an individual through sharing of knowledge, professional skills and experience. 
• Be an expert in the field you are working in.
• Give practical insights, guidance, and advice, maybe share personal stories and their own learning

Do I need a Coach or a Mentor?

If you have identified a specific professional skills gap or needs some expert professional guidance from someone with experience in your field then Mentoring maybe for you.

If you have identified a career development goal or something that is preventing you from reaching your personal ambition, then a Coach may be for you to help build confidence, achieve a better work life balance, work out next career step etc. A coach will talk you through your goals or identified challenges and ask questions to ignite creative thinking and to help you come up with ideas and solutions to move towards your goal.