Coaching and Mentoring in Education – Is there space for both?

If you’re a leader in school, education, or business, developing your team and seeing them grow will be one of your top priorities.

But what’s the best way to do it?

You’ll no doubt see coaching, mentoring, mastery sessions, support pods, peer feedback, observations, shadowing, mastermind groups, and [enter initiative 😕] used to promote personal and professional development.

As an experienced school leader and successful leadership coach, “I get it.” It’s hard to cut through the noise and find what’s best for your people.

Read on to explore how your school can navigate this space, knowing how best to build coaching, mentoring or, as the need arises, some of both into your team.

They’ll thank you for it.

DISCLAIMER (and a red flag):

Anyone selling you a "silver bullet" people development strategy is wrong.

Silver, gold, platinum (or any other precious metal) bullets don’t exist. The clue’s in the name: people.

People are different, organisations are nuanced, and contexts bring individual challenges, so finding the right coaching for yours is a big call.

Principles and patterns based on research and experience are good. Templates and “certain” fixes are a red flag.

So, as you read through, expect to reflect, answer questions, and ask them, not just get a list of “solutions” … I am a coach, after all!

Can coaching and mentoring ever overlap?

Coaching and mentoring questions for you to think about:

Do you know the difference, and does it matter?

Are coaching and mentoring ever completely separate things?

Can coaching and mentoring ever overlap?

If they do, do you lose the impact of either a coaching or mentoring relationship?

Now, I’d love you to consider these:

Who’s best to develop your team and build your leaders?

Should you use someone from the “inside” or the “outside”?

How do you decide on the balance of mentoring or coaching?

What if different people need different things?

Coaching or mentoring?

Clarity is important. It’s worth checking you know what’s meant when people say coaching and mentoring, even though some people mean different things, and there are many different approaches.

Coaching, in general, uses structured questions to help a person discover their own solutions, meaning the coach acts more as a facilitator and a partner than a guide.

A mentor takes a more guiding role, sharing their experiences, offering more advice, and offering solutions based on their own journey and position of being “slightly further down the road.”

Beware the broad-brush… unless you’re covering a big area

Consider these broad-brush examples to guide our thinking.

In education, mentoring relationships are particularly effective (and therefore used) for Early Career Teachers (ECTs). Think about it. With two more new lessons to plan for the next day, a reflection to write, a phone call to make, and a behaviour issue to unpick… clear guidance, advice and a way forward is the win someone will need. Confidence grown through competence comes through mentoring.

For a leader, a coach relationship is powerful. As a coach, I’d go further and say, done well, your school or business will be transformed by these relationships. Your leader will need to learn to “trust their instincts” and routinely reflect on their practice before confidently steering and directing their team. Too much direct guidance here can stifle their development.

Inside Out: An “outsider” coach, with “insider” knowledge

In my coaching, I use Resilient Leaders Element (RLE), along with Functional Fluency and Transactional Analysis models. They give a brilliant framework for creating a coaching culture and seeing long-term change. If you want to brush up a little, do take a look at my article about using coaching to challenge negative internal scripts.

As a facilitator, pure coaching doesn’t need someone to know the specific sector they’re working with; I’ve worked with many business leaders in areas completely outside my own educational expertise. When I work with an organisation, they always benefit from “outsider” eyes; you can’t see the label from inside the jar.

But… when coaching educational leaders, my background and experience are very valuable. I’ve been in the classroom. I’ve been a middle leader. I’ve mentored staff. I’ve coached teams. I’ve led whole school initiatives, and I train senior leaders.

I bring “insider” knowledge.

A Coach who "gets it"

It’s important to define and protect the coaching relationship you’re building. I’d say, 90 – 95% of your coaching conversations don’t need a shift from pure coaching. But here’s the thing… my school experience means I sometimes see that a pure coaching relationship isn’t always what’s needed in the moment.

Yes, I said it! As a “die on this hill” advocate of coaching, and as someone whose professional (and personal) life has been transformed by it, I’m sensitive to the pressures of school life and the speed of change you face. And this means, sometimes you need your line manager (or your coach) to guide you about what to do.

And that’s ok! When you’re coaching, it’s all about how you handle these moments. Particularly, because they can be high-stakes moments relating to well-being or safeguarding.

You can see, when you’re creating a coaching culture in your school, there’s lots of value in working with an “outsider” coach with “insider” knowledge; they can still look in on the bigger picture but empathise with what you and your teams are dealing with.

Can you switch between a coaching and mentoring relationship?

There are three things to say here:

Coaching relationships need to be defined and protected. You don’t want to hinder long-term growth and resilience-building by flipping between being a coach and a mentor.

Educators grow best in schools where all adults (and children, but that’s for another blog) are seen as leaders and culture setters. Creating a coaching culture of exploration is the most powerful way to see your staff team grow.

Based on points one and two. When all adults are seen as leaders in your school, and when people take on formal leadership or coaching of others, you’ll need different input at different times. People will need guidance on what to do, even when being coached, and coaches will need to know how to manage it.

The real question is: how do we protect the coaching relationship during times when you need to offer guidance?

Real school example: The switch between coaching and mentoring

Bringing an “outsider-insider” coach (if that’s a real term) into your school is powerful

Recently, I was partnering with a school to coach their leaders. The Headteacher was brilliantly clear; he wanted to protect the coaching space and did not want to know the individual elements of coaching sessions.

Initial thoughts?

Trust.

First, the Head believed in building leadership and empowering all staff through coaching and valued external input.

Second, he trusted me to provide that input. He knew my work was backed up by my experience leading numerous school-wide projects, middle leadership experience (equally important), Mental Health First Aid and Suicide Prevention Training; safeguarding experience; and years of mentoring trainee teachers.

I’d aligned with the school’s vision. He knew I’d work towards that vision and work with his team accordingly. Teachers knew the same; their growth wasn’t a tick box exercise, and it would be right for them and the school.

In one session, a new middle leader disclosed to me that their trainee teacher had been struggling with their mental health and had experienced suicidal thoughts.

My coachee was worried about the well-being of the new teacher. They were concerned about confidentiality. They were anxious about exposing their trainee, who had confided in them. They were wrestling with thoughts of “what if,” and “what should I do?” They were carrying a lot.

Except, they had an outlet, as they could share the load within the coaching relationship we’d built. I was able to offer more guidance by drawing on my suicide prevention training, supporting them to lead their own mentee to the internal support available to them… willingly, and not ahead of time.

Serious, pressing and complex situations appear in schools, and they’re not picky about when they crop up on your leadership journey. When they do, they can weigh heavily, which is pertinent when you think about how many of your mentors are ECTs themselves.

It’s big! But can you see the benefit of your school investing in coaching for the development and well-being of its leaders?

Reading the coaching room: When you know you need to guide

Have you experienced something similar? What support was in place for you to lead well?

Here are some principles to follow:

1. Remember the foundations

You will have defined your coaching relationship, you’ll be committed to empowering your coachee to find their own solutions… and the vast majority of conversations will not need a shift from pure coaching.

2. Name the change

When you spot the need for something different, for example, when a well-being or safeguarding issue arises, be clear about the shift.

Look at this script, similar to how I supported in the story above:

“Thanks for sharing this. I'm curious if you are seeking some guidance here? The issue is immediate, and I can offer a space to talk it through now.

This would fall outside of our coaching relationship.

Are you happy for me to offer something more specific from my experience?”

Note here that by asking permission, you’ve shown your commitment to your coaching work, as well as showing your empathy. You’ve also separated this intervention, meaning you can return to the agreed coaching work more easily.

3. Mark the return to coaching

After offering and giving specific support or mentoring, you want to protect your position as coach, not as mentor and guide.

Look at this script:

“We can revisit this again, and I’ll ask you how it went.

We’ll shift back to coaching now, and you’ll see me ask you the type of questions you’ve been used to.”

A final word on coaching "fidelity"

Every school will be better for developing a coaching culture, where leaders are empowered to grow and become more resilient. But flexibility is not the enemy of the fidelity of your school’s coaching. Rather, seeing emerging needs and responding to them is the mark of an expert coach.

I wonder.

Do you have the experience (or time) in your coaching team to see and meet the needs of your leaders as they work towards their potential?

Next steps for building a coaching culture in your school…

I’ve worked with schools to transform culture and embed resilience into every aspect of school life – an “outsider” with “insider” knowledge.

Where is your school up to with supporting and growing leaders?

Would your team benefit from being more confident to recognise the signs and talk about mental health or suicide prevention?

If you have any questions, get in touch or connect with me on LinkedIn… there’s lots to talk about and lots you can do.

See you soon,

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