quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
Maybe none of the above? Just an acknowledgement or recognition. If anything, maybe a subset of coaching.

*shrugs*

quote:

Originally posted by thumperfbc:
So I mentioned it all to this staff member as he is fairly new. He hadn't really noticed the pattern so I asked him "what do you think it means? Is it random?"

Although you handled the matter in a tactful, positive-reinforcing manner, based on my long-ago military experiences and more recently working in various roles in a law enforcement agency, I nevertheless consider that to be counseling. The fundamental reason for your talking to the member was because he had established a routine that permitted the inmates to violate the rules without being caught, and that’s unacceptable. You may have chosen to “accentuate the positive” aspect of the situation, but hopefully he understood from what you told him that work routines in a jail need to be less predictable, and that’s a counseling message. If he didn’t understand the message, you may need to be more clear and direct the next time (I was never very good at picking up indirect messages myself).

Added: In rereading your initial discussion of the matter, I may have misunderstood part of it. You described it as a “pattern,” but if it happened just once, then I’m leaning more toward your discussion being a form of mentoring. You used it as a way of giving the member some self-confidence about his performance, and not, as I assumed, to correct something. Although I consider mentoring to be a longer term process that involves a closer relationship with someone, it must start someplace, and may even be limited.

Yesterday I had a team running a complex timed drill when one of the younger members had a so-called “double feed” malfunction with his Glock. I made it a point to mention during the critique that he had reacted to the malfunction without hesitation and cleared it immediately despite its being unexpected and somewhat complex, and how that was a sign of true mastery of the weapon. If that was similar to your discussion with your staff member, then I would consider it a (mild) form of mentoring.
On the other hand I had to remind a different member not to rest the handguard of his rifle directly on a hard support surface rather than placing it on his hand; I consider that to be counseling.

All of this corporate crap just reinforces my decision to retire last year . Unbelievable ...

quote:

Would that be an example of counseling, coaching, or mentoring, in your opinion?

I'm having to shift my POV a bit to allow for the LE culture...which is para-military in nature

In the LE culture, it wouldn't be Counseling as it wasn't to address a deficiency in performance. Interestingly, this would be a counseling action in a less para-military culture, as you were helping him become aware of a personal strength, that he wasn't aware of, which he could build on.

It isn't Mentoring, as I consider mentoring as more of a long term, on going, relationship. It could have become the beginning of a mentoring relationship if you thought he had a lot of promise and wanted to help him build on it...but I wasn't getting that from how you wrote it.

Really all you were doing was pointing out a pattern that he wasn't aware of and guiding him to the realization that he had gained the respect of the inmates. If you had gone on to show him how to use that to his advantage, it would have fallen under Coaching.

As you can see, that situation could have been spun any number of ways, depending on what followed

Counseling in my job (LE) is the lowest form of discipline. Usually followed with a simple form to document. Well, me growling at you is the lowest form. That doesn’t go on paper.

Otherwise I’m with the rest on coaching and mentoring. I’ve had good success with coaching and mentoring. It’s easier, as they are positive interactions in our culture.

Counseling: After the fact conversation with the goal of improving future performance in specific areas.

Coaching: An outside (not actively participating in the project) expert working with a team or individual in order to maximize performance in order to achieve a set goal.

Mentoring: Big picture, broad scope, one on one personal development. A mentor is someone who has been there and done it imparting their wisdom to someone who is capable but has not had the time to gain experience or wisdom their own.

I think they are very closely related and one can argue that you might do a little of each in any given relationship.

Also, they are close and the definitions are subjective, so to some extent, you can feel free to define your own terms. In other words, the distinction between coaching and mentoring, for example, is more in how you define them that in any inherent difference.

Many seem to think counseling has a disciplinary component, which I think has more to do with how the term has come to be used in conjunction with an actual disciplinary process in a particular circumstance. Think of a high school counselor - that is not disciplinary, but a means by which to guide students.

Managers write you up and tell you what to do.

Leaders mentor/counsel/coach.

They are all current buzzwords that do not mean shit in the real world. I cringe when I hear these words. JHMO since you were looking for different ideas. I do my best to avoid the corporate world as you might guess.

Some words have established meanings well beyond some trendy buzzword.

Real mentoring is serious business... private guidance from a more experienced person in a given field, in an ongoing sense. It's a relationship of an entirely different sort than some casual day-to-day thing. Beyond management or base instruction, even beyond private lessons, it's higher level than that, broader.

Further, real mentoring generally isn't some unspoken thing. You pestering so-and-so periodically doesn't make them your mentor, nor does water cooler talk. It's a thing you're lucky to get, generally, and requires a real and sustained personal interest by the Mentor, generally.

Personally, I think the differences in each are subtle, but I'd view them at their roots as...

Coaching------>You listen to me.
Counseling---->I listen to you.
Mentoring----->We listen to each other.