Reflective and evaluative practice in coaching and mentoring
A question came through from a reader of my blog asking for the difference between reflective and evaluative practice in mentoring.
It is a good reminder that as coaches/mentors we are carrying out regular and consistent reflective practice as professionals. And I would always recomend that those who are not qualified coaches/mentors but have had some training and use ‘coaching skills’, perhaps in their job as a line manager or in a helping role, do the same.
Reflective practice is good practice
There is no doubt that having the habit of reflecting on my practice after a coaching session still, after 10 years plus of practice, provides me with learning, insight and development as a coach/mentor.
In my first year at university doing my coaching qualification I kept detailed reflective practice notes for all coachee sessions. I used them in my supervision discussions. I subsequently used almost 8 month’s worth of them to write up my learning and identify my model of coaching. I was able to describe how I had developed it and match this with theoretical research.
Reflective practice is good practice.
The difference between reflective and evaluative practice
Here’s what I wrote in response to the question I was asked. I’d be interested in what other coaches/mentors would add or take away.
“Reflective practice is a regular, continuous activity for those in the wide range of ‘helping’ professions that enables (in this instance) a mentor or coach to be keenly aware of how learning happens for them, what that learning is, the impact, and ultimately, what the mentor (or coach) will do differently.
“It is a learning and developmental practice activity. Self-reflection accommodates personal reviewing, but will also consider feedback received from the mentee and perhaps a supervisor (e.g. a qualified coach and mentor has supervised practice so my supervisor also has an input).
“It ultimately develops my analytical skills so I can better understand my model of coaching/mentoring and where I need further knowledge or skills.
“My competence is built and I increase the coachee’s/mentee’s chances of receiving effective mentoring. Reflective practice includes thoughts and feelings.”
“Evaluative practice is formative or summative and is linked to the success of the coaching/mentoring. It is measured in some way.
“Perhaps the mentoring you provide or in the context of say an internal intervention would need to be able to identify how successful mentoring has been in achieving what it was set up to do. For example: more people having been mentored are capable of doing higher level jobs/having promotion; or coaching is part of a talent or succession planning strategy. These are examples.
“For peer mentoring, evaluative practice would be done in much the same way, using some evaluation measures put in place before it starts, especially important if there is more than one mentor.
“So if you are peer mentoring a colleague, for example, then:
What is the outcome and how is this measured?
What will determine it is successful (what does success look like) for the mentee, for the organisation?
“You may be evaluating a change in behaviour or action of a mentee in peer mentoring. This is harder to evaluate but can be done if evaluative practice is built into a programme.”
What do you think, coaches and mentors?
Do you reflect on your practice?
Do you use it to inform your professional development?
How has it shaped your model of coaching/mentoring?
What feedback have you sought actively from your mentees/coachees to help this?