When Mentoring Meets Coaching: Shifting the Stance in Education

Mentoring is often viewed as an effective approach to minimize the isolation that leaders experience, whether they are new to a position or dealing with new initiatives. Similarly, coaching is seen as an effective means to help people build personal and organizational capacity.

What if a formal mentoring program was enhanced by the introduction of professional coaching skills? Authors Kate Sharpe and Jeanie Nishimura have done precisely that. Training thousands of mentor-coaches, the authors begin this resource with an overview of mentoring and coaching fields of practice and how they can be combined to create a powerful approach. The authors’ mentor-coaching model guides readers on how to build capacity in others—from examining critical elements of a mentor-coaching relationship through learning to listen to (not through), asking powerful questions, and navigating sensitive conversations.  A must-read for aspiring and new mentor-coaches.