Now that we’ve covered the distinctions, benefits, and use-cases of these approaches, let’s consider some examples to demonstrate how they can be used together.
Example 1: A young professional uses a combination of coaching and counseling to become a better leader
Natasha is a young marketing professional at a large pharmaceutical company, who has recently been promoted to a managerial position. She is passionate, driven, ambitious, and a strong believer in the mission of her organization.
While she is excited about the prospect of leading a team, she is also a bit nervous as this will be her first time managing people. She comes to coaching with a desire to learn how she can become a great leader.
As she works with her coach, Natasha learns that she is really good at building relationships with people and recognizing them. However, Natasha also learns that she tends to avoid conflict, which can get in the way of her having difficult — but important — conversations with her team members.
Since she is committed to enhancing her leadership effectiveness, Natasha works with her coach to understand what about conflict makes her uncomfortable and ways in which she can overcome these obstacles. With time and practice, Natasha adds new tools to her leadership toolkit and is able to have difficult conversations at work in an effective manner.
Through this process, however, Natasha also discovers that her conflict avoidance is rooted in some unresolved childhood experiences. This has led her to have a less than ideal relationship with her family, which is something she regrets and wants to resolve.
Natasha’s coach points her in the direction of a counselor because what Natasha is seeking is a resolution of past experiences that have caused her emotional distress. While she can continue to work with her coach to enhance her leadership skills, it would be best for her to work with a counselor to heal from her past.
As this example illustrates, coaching and counseling can be used together depending upon the individual’s needs.
Example 2: A new manager utilizes a combination of coaching and mentoring to become a better leader
John has recently moved to a new role as a software engineering manager. Before this, he had been an engineer for almost seven years. He finds himself struggling in his new role because all the things that had made him successful so far in his career did not seem that effective anymore.
Before he became a manager, he was able to get things done at a much faster rate and he felt much more productive. In his new role, he has to get things done through others, which seems to take much longer. John often has the urge to jump in and do the work himself but knows that this isn’t sustainable. He simply can’t deliver results for all of his team members.
John decides to work with a coach to navigate this challenge. The coaching process begins by clarifying what John really wants, which is to be able to deliver results through his team without giving up on quality or speed.
When his coach asks John if there are leaders in his organization he admires, he thinks of a director who seems exceptional at motivating others to deliver high-quality results. John decides to approach this director with a mentoring request. He is thoughtful about the process and does a lot of homework before making the actual request.
It takes some time, but John is eventually able to establish a mentoring relationship with this director. Knowing that the director is extremely busy, John is always thoughtful and strategic about using his mentor’s time.
To make sure he is making consistent progress on his goals, he continues meeting his coach on a weekly basis. The combined approach of working with both a coach and mentor helps John become more effective faster.
Example 3: A mentor suggests counseling and coaching to her mentees
Neha, a senior executive at a manufacturing company, has just received another promotion at work. She works in a male-dominated industry, and is proud of making her way up the corporate ladder. At the same time, the gender imbalance deeply bothers her and she decides to mentor younger women at her organization.
Given her time constraints, she decides to have a maximum of three mentees at a time. Once she has all her mentees, she excitedly dives into the mentorship with them, doing her best to encourage and support these women in their careers. After a few conversations with her mentees, Neha realizes that two of them could benefit from working with a coach or a counselor as well.
For example, one of her mentees, Rachel, is struggling to cope with the sudden loss of her husband to a car accident. Neha wisely encourages Rachel to seek additional support from a grief counselor.
Similarly, another of her mentees, Helen, is looking for ways to find better work-life balance as a working mother. Neha encourages Helen to work with a professional coach who can dedicate more time in making sure Helen is able to implement the changes in her life she really needs for her well-being.
By knowing when to share her own experiences and advice, and when to refer her mentees to other professionals, Neha is able to create a positive impact on her mentees lives at various levels.
