G’Day ‘learners’.
Today’s blog will help sports coaches (and all caring adult stakeholders) to:
Consider reflection on ‘MENTORING VS COACHING’ to better inform the practice and future of your own and peers’ efforts with learners…
It’s been a while but Gunny’s back…
Watch the vision below of Gunny ‘mentoring’ other coaches with 2018 Queensland U/15 AFL ‘Wolfpack’. This was the first session and I wanted to make sure that the coaches who invited me had ownership. What are you ‘noticing’ that supports this ‘ownership’ ideal?
Head coach and assistants just wanted me to get gals moving the ball whilst they observed. All they told the players was to get ready for something called, ‘Gunny Madness’…
You know, I am a weird one… Having suffered more than most through my life, I have actively sought out mentors and indeed am known to say that they saved my life! Yet, I’m not always sure that ‘mentors’ are a great way to get better as a coach. Especially when you’re already pretty ‘flamin’ good like the coaches above filming or heard in the video…
However, earlier today, I am considering being a formalised ‘mentor’ for an amazing teacher. You see, it seems that some Australian sports are following what I’ve found in the UK where ‘mentorship’ is a thing. Yet, my dialogue with the teacher suggests that I’ve learnt a bit over my recent times, especially after working more closely with female players and coaches: “G'Day mate, It would be an honour to 'mentor' you but I'd prefer the word 'coach'...” From here I express my admiration to further explain my thoughts, “I have watched you work from afar this year and you have greatly inspired me. My point of difference is that I believe the answers are within YOU and I help draw them out rather than me saying this is what I would ‘do’, or have ‘done’...”
“G’Day mate, It would be an honour to ‘mentor’ you but I’d prefer the word ‘coach’... ”
As a lifelong learner, who thrives under direct teaching (please tell me what to do), I wondered why I have been recently perplexed around the idea of me as ‘mentor’. AND then, like an epiphany, the poignant moment arose... I recalled: The venom in a university teaching peer’s voice, where he’d audibly in front of a crowd said more than once say, “I’m not sure why they keep talking to you Gunny (outside sporting groups)… You’re no expert!”
I will unravel the ignorance of this statement by suggesting that I have NEVER claimed to be an ‘expert’… Indeed, my arrogant former peers are delusional if they think (just like the above antagonist) that a PHD makes you an ‘expert’. This ain’t the middle ages ‘old son’…
However, have no fear dear reader, my nearly 10 years of teaching at universities (including four times where I created and ran four whole subjects) ended that day and I doubled my efforts to support the GRASSROOTS. In any case, it prompted me to reconsider my own roles ‘mentoring’ others. For example, in pastoral and ministry type leadership positions, I always considered myself as the ultimate ‘servant’ leader but was I kidding myself? AND, where did this ‘mentor’ idea come from?
Well, if you believe any of the businesses selling their ‘mentoring’ wares over the Internet, the word has its origins in Homer’s The Odyssey. I’m not gonna bore you know but the character Mentor was supposed to be full of wisdom. Even when things got most treacherous, the Goddess Athena took the shapeshifting form of Mentor to save the day! It’s all very patriarchal for the time it’d seem and certainly these actions appear mirrored by some businesses and ‘all knowing’ types. However, as a former English teacher schooled in critical literacy, how else can we see ‘mentor’?
Well, I for one would like to say thanks be to GOD for the Marxist Feminist perspective!!! Colley’s (2000) reading of Mentor sees Homer positioning him as a ‘laughing-stock’ and far from a wise counsel. In fact, Athena is equally disdainful of ‘mentor’ as me it’d seem. As such, the re-writing of history by the dominant discourses is again at play suggests Colley, who not only says that we’ve confused the ‘mentoring’ process, she in fact deconstructs its “mythical representations and its celebratory bias”. WOW!!!
But get on with it hey Gunny… What does all this mean?
Well, it’s a bit like the above video suggesting we need to think like kids. You see, ‘perspective’ and ‘context’ is everything and needs to be considered well. Indeed, anyone who’s learnt with me since my university faculty-driven metanoia knows that I often say that my perspective means little. I detail how I’ve gotta get down side by side on the grass or court to get to know you well (impossible in ‘one-off’ workshops) OR these ideas of mine are just that: IDEAS… Thus, now I prefer to ‘coach’ coaches, which is vastly different to the all-knowing, omnipresent Athena type, OR… The self-inflated university academic peering from behind doors down lonely corridors but fooling themselves that the frame PHD makes an ‘expert’… TF Gunny…
‘Coaching’ is different to mentoring as shown in this exchange with a coach of the future in the UK. He asked me to give feedback on his program and like a ‘coach’ I asked a question to help him find answers from within:
Gunny: I have some feedback for you and the program like you asked me a month and a half ago. Curiously I used the research (including my own peer-reviewed with Shane Pill) to put it back onto your teachers about what they ‘noticed’ (their observations). I asked three times from you ____ at different times and in different ways... Still hearing nothing but crickets... There within THAT action lies some pretty good feedback mate. Have a great weekend ‘chilling’. One of the many jobs of a coach or TEACHER is to remain ‘curious’…
Coaching peer: Hey mate, sorry mate, was on holiday from the ________ and since then I have been up to my eyes in it getting the season at _______ up and running, dealing with the fallout from me being away for 3 weeks and also coaching on a couple of camps. Would it be ok to send some feedback over next week?
My response perhaps again shows ‘coaching’…
Gunny: What do you really reckon on the last question? Something for you and ______ (official UK sport mentor) to reflect on ____ perhaps but I as a COACH remain ‘curious’. As mentioned, the feedback for you lies in actions which are the only things we (as coaches/teachers) can control. I contributed through my actions too on the night and after... In any case, this is where mentors like ____ and me as Coach are different. You probably need someone like him or others to TELL you WHAT to DO! I have needed many MENTORS in my life and they are the reason why I am alive!!! Yet, look up where ‘mentor’ comes from. A character in a Greek … (explained above). Mate, my experience means nothing to you or anyone in England... The answers lie within you mate!!! Anyway, well done on prioritising these amazing solutions to amazing problems you have!!! Remain ‘curious’ great TEACHER and see you in December! LOVE Gunny
Now I’m not saying ditch your MENTOR and sign up with Coach Gunny (who has an internationally recognised Executive Coaching certification from the ICF)… What I’m suggesting is for you all to look deeper at what’s within YOU for answers first. Indeed, any teacher will tell you how great structured reflection is BUT most forget to give their time to it. Thus DO IT! But also, ask when am I: ‘mentoring’, ‘coaching’ OR being a ‘critical friend’ in our dealings with peers. It’s my opinion only that the middle option is the one most neglected by most.
Yours in learning,
Gunny
PS. Gunny returns to UK 27 November and working/holidaying through to 18 January where I will excitedly be working with Grassroots through to the PROs. Contact me if you want to know more.
PPS. Join ‘Grassroots Coaching and Consulting’ Facebook group if you want to join a group of over 600 critical peers: https://www.facebook.com/groups/147501649318126/about/
