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Coaching, Mentoring or Sponsorship?
In a previous article, I talked about the need to democratise development but not talent management. In a nutshell, you need to develop ALL of your people, and to do something DIFFERENT to develop your talent.
If 80% of your business outcomes are going to come from 20% of your employees, it makes business sense to nurture and develop these people just a little bit more.
The thing about developing your talent (and getting the maximum ROI for the business) is that the “one size fits all” approach will work up to a point. For development to be truly transformative you need to individualise it.
Those who are put forward onto high potential programmes attach special importance to coaching and mentoring opportunities, as well as an opportunity to gain exposure to, and network with, senior leaders in the organisation.
But which one should you use in which situation?
And what about the under-utilised, lesser-known option of Sponsorship?
Coaching
Coaching and mentoring are particularly effective ways of developing your talent at this level as the learning is bespoke to the individual. Sometimes coaching is a more appropriate solution than mentoring (and vice versa).
