By Daniel Bobinski
Today, in 2024, Taylor Swift is one of the biggest pop stars in the world. In 2010, Swift was facing intense criticism about her singing voice. What did she do? She hired a vocal coach. People may still criticize her, but her move impacted her pocketbook tremendously. In 2010, Swift was worth $310 million. Today, she’s worth more than $740 million.
Beyoncé is another huge star, and not only did she start working with a voice coach at age 8, she still employs a coach to help her maintain and improve her singing skills.
The late Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, worked with a workplace coach and mentor for years, as did Google co-founder Larry Page. Current Google CEO Sundar Pichai also uses a workplace coach.
If you happen to be the entity running the universe, I’ll go out on a limb to say you don’t need a coach or a mentor. For everyone else, huge benefits abound in such relationships, and I recommend you look into them.
People often use the terms “coach” and “mentor” interchangeably, but distinct differences exist. Frankly, so long as you know what you’re expecting from the person helping you, it doesn’t matter what label you apply, but for our purposes here, let’s define a mentor as someone within your organization that’s been assigned to you. A mentor helps you develop relationships with key people and helps you improve specific skills. The overarching purpose of a mentoring relationship is shortening your learning curve so you can more quickly impact your company’s bottom line.
Mentors are usually more directive and instructive because the goal of a workplace mentor is to bring you up to speed quicker and operate with an organizational focus.
Conversely, a coach operates with a personal focus. A coach is usually someone you choose to help you grow in areas you want to address, and you often have a say in setting the agenda. Traditionally, a coach works more like Socrates, asking questions to stimulate your critical thinking and facilitating growth in areas that are of interest to you.
Frankly, I’m not so much concerned about which type of relationship you establish or what term you use so long as you know what you want or need.
As an example of the importance of knowing what you want and what you’re getting, the HR manager for a company that makes golf equipment once called me to help address tension on her company’s leadership team. At the initial meeting, a senior vice president challenged my associate with “So, what do you guys know about golf clubs?” Without batting an eye, my associate responded, “Nothing. And we don’t want to know anything about golf clubs. We’re experts in workplace relationships.” The SVP thought we would be telling them how to make better golf equipment. Once he understood our role, things went fine.
Regardless of whether you get a coach or a mentor, benefits are abundant. Let’s explore some ways these relationships can help you.
1. You’ll gain clarity. Perhaps you’ve heard the expression that you’re too close to something to see it? Take your chin, for example. It’s part of who you are, but you can’t see it without a mirror. Having another person point out that you’ve got a dab of whipped cream on your chin is quite helpful. Similarly, having someone provide an objective perspective on what they observe about you will be valuable information for becoming more effective.
2. You’ll have accountability. It’s too easy to put personal or professional growth on the back burner, mainly because you rarely have a deadline for it. Because of that, being accountable to yourself for growth is not impossible, but it can be quite difficult. Having someone to whom you’re accountable helps you stay on track with those personal and professional development action items that are important, but rarely urgent.
3. Your growth map is custom tailored to you. You can – and should – read books and attend workshops on personal and professional development, but they will always be designed for the middle of the bell curve. In coaching and mentoring relationships, everything is customized to meet your individual needs. The extreme value of one-on-one dialog simply can’t happen in a workshop or by reading a book.
Here are some tips for getting the most from any personal or professional improvement endeavor you undertake.
First, be brutally honest. Not just with yourself, but with your mentor or coach. Our human nature tries to cover up weaknesses (what I call blind spots) so we can present ourselves in the best possible light. That’s good advice for companies building brand loyalty, but bad advice when you’re an individual trying to better yourself. You don’t go to a doctor for your annual checkup and say everything is fine when you know it’s not. If you want something to be better, you must be forthcoming about it. A good coach or mentor knows how to create what I call an “emotionally safe environment,” allowing you to explore sensitive issues without condemnation.
Second, make personal or professional development a high priority. Going through the motions gets you nothing, because you’ll always get out of life what you put into it. Think of it this way: If you’re digging into a pile of gold, the more energy you use pushing down on the shovel, the more gold you’ll get on the shovel.
Third, expect change to take time. You’ve succeeded in the workplace all these years using techniques you picked up along the way, even if those techniques have left damage in your wake. Becoming a better leader often means changing the way you do things, and frankly, an aircraft carrier moving at high speed does not turn on a dime. Put forth the effort, but know improvements don’t happen overnight.
On a final note, if you hire someone to help you, choose to be serious about your growth. It pays off. One doctor I know who invested in himself and hired a coach said it was the best money he ever spent. •
Daniel Bobinski is author of the best-selling book, “Creating Passion-Driven Teams,” and president of Leadership Development, Inc. He’s been helping organizations of all shapes and sizes since 1989. Learn more at www.eqfactor.net or reach Daniel at 208-649-6400
