018: Mentoring vs Coaching with Elizabeth Harrin

PMI Talent Triangle: Ways of Working (Technical) Welcome to the PMO Strategies Podcast + Blog, where PMO leaders become IMPACT Drivers! Today I am super excited to share an extremely important topic for all of us as PMO leaders and those leveraging the power of project management to make an IMPACT. We are going to be talking about the importance of mentoring, and both being a mentor and finding one. And how that can be transformational for your career, being on both sides of the fence as a mentor and a mentee. And the perfect person to talk to us about all of this is my friend, Elizabeth Harrin. Elizabeth is a healthcare project manager with over 15 years of experience in the field. She's the author of several books about project management and I highly recommend you check them out. So we'll make sure that we have them in the show notes for you. And she writes the award-winning blog, A Girl's Guide to Project Management. Welcome Elizabeth. Thank you for being here today. Learn the best-kept secrets to creating a PMO that drives IMPACT.  The LIVE dates are over, but you can still access this content with the Unlimited Access Pass!UNLIMITED ACCESSLaura:  Elizabeth, we have been chatting as a part of your role in providing a lot of value for the PMO IMPACT Summit. As we were talking a lot about the role of women in organizations, and finding confidence, and building confidence, one of the things that we talked about, one of the pieces of really important guidance that you shared was about mentorship, and both being a mentor and finding a mentor. I thought it'd be really important to share with everyone that listens to the PMO Strategies podcast about that role of mentorship. Because it's not just about women, it's not just about men, it's not just about certain environments. Everyone should have a mentor and find an opportunity to become a mentor. Can you talk to me about your experience with that and what guidance you have for people that are looking for mentorship? Elizabeth: For me, mentorship is the relationship where you have with someone where you can talk to and be confident in the advice that you're getting. I think you're right, people don't always understand what it is and how it differs from coaching. And for me, I understand it in a very simple way. Coaches will help you to uncover the solution yourself, by asking you very probing questions, or "How do you think you might be able to tackle that problem?" And things like that. Whereas a mentor would be someone you'd sit down with a cup of coffee with and say, "I've got this difficult challenge at work. Tell me how you'd do it." And they would share their stories. There is a part of mentoring where you're helping people develop their skills, and it's fine to ask them probing questions, but I think I feel better at mentoring and coaching because I am very opinionated. And I like to share my history and tell people how to do things. So I think for me it's a much more practical perhaps partnership than a coaching partnership, where you are building your skills through deeper analysis perhaps. Although both can be valuable. Mentoring is more common in a workplace setting, I think, because coaching seems to be something that the leaders get to do. Whereas everybody can have a mentor at any level in the organization. You can be a mentor and have a mentor at the same time, and both are fantastic opportunities for personal development. Laura: Yeah. You know, it's interesting that you're saying it that way because I think that's been my experience as well. I've had both mentors and coaches. And to me the coaches were always asking questions and probing, but never really shared their own experiences. And what I love about a mentoring relationship is that it's so much more about a conversation, and sharing stories and experiences, on both sides, so that there's a different way to learn. It's not just let's do some deep dive analysis on your strengths and weaknesses.