Coaching and mentoring together are conversation-based development processes. John helps coaches and executives with both. He also teaches coaching. Mentoring work tends to be more on the teaching, example-sharing, story-telling side than pure coaching, which is more evocative inquiry. Both are effective because they are totally targeted to the client needs with no extraneous material. Coaching and mentoring are more about tapping imagination than dispensing good ideas; once that difference is learned, real progress can happen.
Both mentoring and coaching methods must be tailored to the coach, the client, the situation. And the principles, while universal, need to be used with nuances to create the appropriate context for the work.
Types of clients and work
- New coaches or coaches-in-the-making wanting to improve their craft
- Business leaders at higher levels in their companies wanting to becoming better leaders and make informed career moves.
- Formal medical director taking on new roles as a physician executive
- Executive Director of a large Medical Association changing the culture of the 300-person organization and improving relations with the board
- Entrepreneur and executive coach, on several public boards, seeking more focus and better overall life and work balance
- African-based CEO of an NGO
I currently have the honor to teach coaching skills at the Hudson Institute of Coaching (a very enriching adult learning community and community of practice) and did so for 14 years at the wonderful Columbia University Coaching Certification Program as well.