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Mentoring and Coaching Programs 193

and coaching, using the most commonly accepted definition of
each—but these definitions are not universal.
Many individuals and organizations have tried to produce a
generally acceptable glossary of mentoring terms and their
meanings, with limited success. The definitions of mentoring and
coaching produced by professional bodies vary widely ... and
even are frequently in contradiction. This lack of formalized defi-
nitions is reflected in books and articles. Almost every one of the
hundreds or thousands of books on leadership contains at least a
passing reference to mentoring. Almost every book defines men-
toring differently. Is it passive? Is it active? Is it interventionist? Is it
inwardly directed? Is it job-related? Or is it all of the above? Very
few of the books you will
read on the topic agree on More Communication
even the most fundamental Required!
definitions. Without consistent communication,
Fortunately, it’s not the lack of clear definitions breeds
important whether your confusion.You can be certain that,
definitions of the roles and right now,your colleagues (and your
functions in your program employees) all have a different con-
cept of mentoring and coaching and
match any specific exter-
what a mentoring or coaching pro-
nal vocabulary. If you and
gram might be. So,it’s of fundamental
everyone else in your importance that you clearly define
organization agree on what and agree on your terms before
you mean by terms such introducing formal or informal men-
as “mentor,” “coach,” toring or coaching—and that you
“mentoring,” and “coach- communicate and use one consistent
ing,” that’s all that matters. set of definitions.
Of course, in reaching
internal agreement on definitions, it will be useful for you to you
to know what terms other organizations are using as definitions.
This knowledge will also help you benchmark with your peers in
other organizations and share experiences with them. As you
work through this chapter, you’ll have an opportunity to com-
pare your own definitions with those used by others. Just don’t
expect our Key Term sidebars to do all the work for you!