Primarily because they build stronger organizations! New studies have found that the quality of reference librarians' service to the public seems unchanged since the mid-1980s when McClure and Hernon found that librarians were unhelpful approximately 50% of the time (Dewdney 1994,218). This is of course increasingly problematic considering the increase in the technological facilities within libraries, such as numerous online indexes, databases, and the Internet. Librarians will be expected to have knowledge of them, and become specialists in electronic resources. With coaching and mentoring programs resulting in increased work performance and enhancement of job skills in the corporate and non-profit world, we believe these techniques can help staff become better at their jobs, and therefore, provide higher quality service.
As managers in a library system, it is up to us to guide and direct employees, and are ultimately responsible for the performance or lack of performance that exists in the workplace. In the years before the catastrophic recession of the 1970s, jobs were secure and libraries were heavily entrenched under the umbrella of the nation state, getting large grants and big book budgets. There was no Internet, nor were cable companies offering two hundred channels to surf out everything from how to make the perfect golf swing, to indepth analysis of health and financial matters. Libraries had their fingertips on the information pulse, and they were considered stable, necessary, albeit expensive centers of knowledge.
Libraries, as part of the welfare state are now in flux: shifting to a Post-Fordist paradigm leading to a fundamental reconceptualization of the library in a market society. As Harris and Marshall emphasize in Reorganizing Canadian Libraries, "financial restraint and technological change are resulting in marked changes in organizational structures and work patterns in libraries" (Harris 1997,1). Conceivably, libraries are currently global information sites, with librarians funneling through and disseminating information for their clients, but there is a lot more competition out there. We, as managers, must help employees expand their individual skills and reach their full potential.
To begin, coaching is a form of consulting, and is a new and rapidly growing profession, particularly, the area of personal development coaches. Coaches will identify strengths, weaknesses, goals, and needs, typically through a series of prearranged sessions over a month. As Troy A. Waugh stresses, it is better to only coach a few people simultaneously, with consistent hourly sessions every week (Waugh 1997,145). Importantly, the four core elements of the coaching process are support, modeling, step-by-step development, and encouragement (Bentley 1996,121).
The key is it is a way to give employees instruction on how they can better use the skills and expertise they already have more effectively (Bentley 1996,112). Coaching assists in "improving or developing performance" (Lewis 1996,109). An example would be a fine-tuning or a reminder of the reference interviews' five microskills, which includes the all-important, follow-up questions, which librarians often ignore. There is a focus on results, the exploration of specific problems, and opportunities to develop better skills (Megginson 1995,30). This differs greatly from training, which involves teaching new skills (Bentley 1996,112).
The coaching process focuses more on eliciting information, asking questions, and focusing on details, than about telling people what to do. For example, the Odyssey Group uses basic guidelines in their coaching format, including the overriding belief that a coach's fundamental job is to LISTEN, PAY ATTENTION, PROBE RATHER THAN CONDUCT AN INQUISITION, DON'T JUDGE, and "help people learn and grow through experience rather than direction or advice giving" (Supervision 1997,4). Coaches may be managers within the system, and the best coach, according to John Kotter, professor at Harvard Business School, is most likely your own boss (Nakache 1997,208). However, many are freelance consultants who can attribute the recent explosion in coaching to the downsizing of human resource departments and the trend of working at home (Canadian Business 1997,205). It can be a lucrative career helping to provide clients with advice on setting goals, working more efficiently, and becoming more focused and motivated (Canadian Business 1997,205).
Library systems in general, are becoming decentralized, creating huge networks of interconnected links, or the global 'virtual library'. The organizational patterns of individual libraries have been broken down, developing large departments within libraries, which are often merged with the computer services branch (Harris 1997,14). What emerges from this restructuring process is the creation of teams. Team work is considered the panacea for the workplace in today's society. Coaching can increase the performance of individuals and teams by maximizing potential. As the article Coaching: The New Way to Manage Corporate Success points out, teams have in many ways replaced traditional management systems and need good coaching to be successful (Supervision 1997,3). A good coach will "expand on principles of leadership and empowerment . . . because it is practical and it works (Supervision 1997,3). As Casey Stengel once said, "It is easy to get the players. Gettin' 'em to play together, that's the hardest part." Overall, the aim of coaching is to offer suggestions for improvement, and to empower people.
Mentoring is a process of aiding another with transitions; it is about one person helping another (Megginson 1995,14). It involves one person, the mentor, helping another person or mentee to reach his or her goals, through coaching, counseling, guidance, sponsoring, and the parlaying of knowledge (Stueart 1993,144). Mentoring is usually "a three-way beneficial process," which helps the mentor, the mentee, and the organization (Stueart 1993,144). The primary function of a mentoring relationship is to further the career of the mentee, but the person being mentored is not the only one who benefits from the relationship.
Mentors are benefitted by the prestige of having the ability to develop such a relationship, as well as providing an ally and getting job assistance from the mentee, in addition to learning more about the organization themselves (Stueart 1993,144). Of course, the workplace will always derive success from such relationships by reaping "increased productivity, reduced turnover in staff, properly socialized employees," and a solid management team (Stueart 1993,144-145).
Specific goals that can be achieved through the mentoring process include advancement of employees' careers, solidification of relationships between managers and staff, a deepening of the commitment to the goals and values of an organization, and the development of personal connections (Gilley 1996,40). What mentoring also does, is help the mentee avoid the typical hazards that go hand-in-hand with today's workplace, or as Gilley and Boughton put it, it develops "employees' political awareness and savvy"(Gilley 1996,40). Mentors provide their proteges with invaluable information on the mission and philosophy of the organization and serve as confidantes (Gilley 1996,40). They show them the ropes and offer encouragement, but do not perform tasks for their mentees.
If one follows Chip R. Bell's perception of mentoring, as laid out in Managers as Mentors, it can be an uplifting experience, even a spiritual coming together of mentor and mentee (Bell 1996,x). Mentoring must have a synergy between the players, in a "power-free facilitation of learning . . . through consultation and affection rather than constriction and assessment (Bell 1996,x1). Finally, mentoring has become an effective method in helping employees become orientated with the workplace setting, gives them support and coaching, and shows them how to make informed decisions regarding their career advancements (Murray 1995). Mentoring provides a greater knowledge of the workplace, increased retention of the best and brightest people, and acts as an anchor of stability. As Margo Murray writes in Mentoring the New Masters:
The key to mentoring is to closely link it to the mission, goals, and priority strategies of the organization. Only an integrated, facilitated process which is linked to current and future mission or business imperatives can be expected to stand the buffeting of the winds of change. Of course, mentoring must be monitored and tracked to measure its impact (Murray 1995).
Both coaching and mentoring are great opportunities for learning, which use "effective questioning that brings insight, which fuels curiosity, which cultivates wisdom" (Bell 1996,68). Asking questions, rather than telling or ordering is the fundamental component which brings the processes of mentoring and coaching together. This implies, of course, that you must be an excellent listener and communicator. However, they are very different concepts. Mentoring encompasses coaching, but it also focuses on the individual, his or her performance, within a context of objectives (Lewis 1996,33). Mentoring is unique "in that it does not exclude other methods, but exists alongside them, complementing them and adding value" (Lewis 1996,x). In an article entitled Developing Employees, Steve Truelove makes the following distinctions:
1. "Coaching [is] taking someone through the experiential learning cycle in a systematic way with the intention of improving the capability to apply specific skills or deal with problematic situations.
2. Mentoring [is] assigning a respected and competent individual (other than the direct boss) to provide guidance and advice in order to help someone cope with and grow in the job" (Truelove 1992,279).
Mentoring has had a long history with its roots stretching back to the 8th century B.C. where it got its name from the elderly friend and counselor of Odysseus, named Mentor, who also offered guidance and acted as tutor to Odysseus' son Telemachus. It continued to be the basis on which commerce, craft, and art were carried on from ancient times until the inception of capitalism. Coaching, on the other hand, has only been around for the last few decades, and has only received great attention in the 1990s (North 1997,206). Mentors can perform similar functions as a coach, but is usually someone who works within the same facility, whereas coaches are more often from outside the organization, but not always (Judge 1997,72). Both involve the transfer of some skill or piece of knowledge, and primarily, the distinction between mentors and coaches may be summarized as follows:
1. Coaches focus on a specific set of problems, or the "results of the job," exploring solutions and opportunities for the employee to use (Megginson 1995,30).
2. The mentor, on the other hand, zeros in on the individual, focusing not only on the present, but with an eye always on the future. Mentors do provide some of the same services as coaches, but they are built into a complex, ever-evolving synergetic relationship that is based on mutual respect and a friendship of sorts (Megginson 1995,30).
Considerable commitment is required of you to fulfill the role properly, with the expectation that as managers, your communication skills are at a stage where the art of listening has been mastered. And have patience!!! Chip R. Bell contends that mentors are part wizard, comic, motivator, sergeant, and partner, and believes that great mentors are "effective at surrendering, accepting, gifting, and extending" (Bell 1996,11). Surrendering in the sense of not controlling; accepting or including rather than judging; gifting, not using manipulatively; and extending, pushing the relationship to grow beyond any preconceived boundaries (Bell 1996,12).
From research on mentors compiled in the early 1990s, we know that there are three integral qualities which are very highly valued by learners, and they are a keen understanding of management practices, organizational know-how, and credibility (Lewis 1996,40). Let your employees benefit from the experience, knowledge, and success you have attained, and there will be a win-win situation. Expect to become exhilarated.
Without guidelines and expectations, no relationship can succeed, so before anyone undertakes to become part of a coaching or mentoring process, there must be an informed decision made by the managers and the learners. Since no one wants to waste time, Gilley and Boughton recommend that you choose:
Employees who are willing to assume responsibility for their own growth and development, who are receptive to positive and negative feedback, and who are willing to accept suggestions and advice (Gilley 1996,177).
These employees are usually very positive about their jobs, the workplace, and their colleagues, and are people one could envision as organizational leaders of the future (Gilley 1996,177). After choosing a good candidate, especially one deemed for a mentoring relationship, you may want to develop a formalized plan of action, which describes respective responsibilities, goals the employee would like to achieve, some strategies that can help, and target dates for the completion of specific activities (Gilley 1996,181). A mentoring plan can also be beneficial because it is a visual identification of progress made, and can act as a motivator (Gilley 1996,181). Of course, not all mentoring/coaching relationships are formalized ones, and remain as spontaneous discussions and meetings, however, regardless of the level of commitment, boundaries should be set out to avoid problems that can arise (Bell 1996,60).
Gilley and Boughton have proposed a series of activities which employees should be responsible for if they want to be involved in a successful mentoring venture. They must take responsibility for their own development, trust their mentors' suggestions and advice, expect both positive and negative feedback, not be controlling, and be willing to accept challenging assignments (Gilley 1996,175). And finally, make sure you include an understanding that results are expected, and an agreed method of evaluation will be in place before a coaching or mentoring relationship can be cemented. With the number of employees who want to be involved in such a program, and considering that there are only so many of us who can become coaches or mentors, invest your time wisely, and if an employee is not taking advantage of the opportunity given to them, choose someone more worthy.
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