There seems to be some confusion in the terminology that gets used to refer to practices in human resource development. Can you shed some light on the meanings of the words mentoring, coaching, training, development, and counselling?
It’s an occupational hazard for words that are used in a discipline like human resource development to be misheard, misread, misunderstood, misconstrued, and just plain missed. The result is terminology turmoil. I’ve been frustrated particularly over the collision of the terms “mission” and “vision” when one is used in place of the other. So let’s take up this challenge to “shed some light.”
Training
Training is the act of imparting knowledge and skills to people that they need in order to perform their current jobs. It involves three stages: presentation (what they need to know about), application (practicing the skills that apply the knowledge), and feedback (finding out how the application went and learning for next time). Training occurs when somebody learns how to do something that they need to be able to do in order to get their work done.
Training is not:
- listening to a presentation, however skillfully delivered;
- an executive oceanside retreat, with or without golf;
- completing a test mandated by the compliance people,
even though these events are probably charged to the “training” line of the budget.
Training is about performance, doing things skillfully. That means that a training event, whether delivered on the job, in a classroom, or through the computer, must emphasize the application stage. If employees experience something called “training” during which they don’t practice skills, then no training happened.
Development
Development is the act of imparting knowledge and/or skills to people to prepare them for some future role, usually the next one. So the difference between development and training lies in the immediacy of the application of the skills. Skills learned through training are applicable immediately, while the application of the skills (if any) learned during developmental activities is delayed.
Developmental activities may include:
- educational programs offered by colleges, universities, and other education providers
- cross-functional assignments
- career coaching
By reading this column you’re engaging in a developmental activity.
Coaching
Coaching is a subset of training. It’s a process during which the learner is guided by the coach in learning how to do something that she needs to be able to do, and gives her feedback on how well she’s doing it. Frequently called a discovery process, it involves a coach who knows how to perform helping another person who doesn’t know how, but needs to. If you’ve ever taken music lessons, you had a coach. (Strangely, the English language is comfortable with “voice coach” but not with “piano coach,” even though they’re both performing coaching functions.)
Parents are coaches. The process is usually, “Watch what I do. Now you try it.” Much workplace coaching goes like that.
The objective of coaching, as with training, is the immediate application of the skills that the coaching process imparts.
Mentoring
As coaching is a subset of training, mentoring is a subset of development. A mentor is a fellow employee who has long experience in the organization and who can help the “mentee” to understand the history and some of the inner workings of the organization. A mentor is not the mentee’s manager, nor is he a substitute for skilled management, supervision, and coaching. Mentors are complements to managers. A manager may be skilled but at the same time lack the broad and deep organizational understanding and experience that the mentor has.
In a mentoring relationship, the manager’s role is to bring the two parties together and then get out of the way. The mentee is not learning how to do anything (that’s the role of training and coaching), but instead is acquiring knowledge and understanding that will help her to navigate through difficult situations that haven’t even come up yet.
Mentors and coaches are both guides. Coaches focus on what the performer needs to be able to do now, while mentors focus on learning that can be put to use at some unknown later time.
The driver of the mentoring process is always the mentee. The manager may introduce the parties, but after that the mentee has to take ownership of the learning.
With training and coaching there are negative consequences attached to failing to learn and perform, and positive ones attached to succeeding. With development and mentoring there aren’t any immediate consequences either way.
Counselling
In the workplace, counselling refers to the act of telling an employee that certain behaviour that the employee engages in is unacceptable and must stop. It can also be about behaviour that the employee is not engaging in but needs to start doing now. If nothing in the employee’s behaviour changes, there are negative consequences.
I hope that this brief explication helps to reduce terminology turmoil where you work.
To submit a question for a future column, or to comment on a previous one, please contact editor@charityvillage.com. No identifying information will appear in this column. For paid professional advice about an urgent or complex situation, contact Tim directly.
Tim Rutledge, Ph.D., is a veteran human resources consultant and publisher of Mattanie Press. You can contact him at tim_rutledge@sympatico.ca or visit www.gettingengaged.ca.
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