Coaching vs. Mentoring

Our aim, as our strapline states is ‘releasing your potential’. We recognise that both mentoring and coaching play vital roles in aiding individuals to reach their work goals, improve their performance and their capabilities. But what is the difference between mentoring and coaching?  The words are sometimes used interchangeably, but they are in fact different mechanisms and tactics; but if done well, should complement one another to get an individual to the same career goal.

Mentoring:

Being mentored involves one to one conversations with someone, usually a colleague, who shares their knowledge, skills and/or experience, to help another develop and grow.

Mentoring is directive, where the mentor is likely to do more of the talking, sharing their wisdom. You will do the listening and learning.

Choosing the right mentor is paramount to get what you need from the conversations. If you know the gaps or the skills you need to improve, identify a colleague that has this skill in abundance. Select a mentor that you know has mutual respect, and one that you can have open and honest conversations with. If you enjoy the sessions, you will get more from it. You can also be tactical in your selection, if you want to progress your career, selecting a senior player who will be strong vocal advocate for you will aid in this advancement.

Coaching:

A coach is someone who provides guidance to drive personal inquiry to an individual on their goals and helps them reach their full potential. A coach is often external to the organisation where the individual works, and is a paid service. A coach will listen to a person, supporting them in exploring known and unknown challenges, and help them discover and evolve actions, and behaviours that deliver improvement. The emphasis is on the person finding the solution, not the coach instructing or leading them.

Therefore, unlike mentoring, it is non-directive. The coach poses questions and gives the person they are coaching the space to reflect and do most of the talking.

Ultimately, both coaching and mentoring are about helping people to get where they want to go by leveraging the experience of the coach or mentor. If you want reflective time and want to better understand where your gaps are, and to development your own plan and response,  then a coach is for you. If you know your gaps, and want to learn from someone else with those skills, then choose a mentor. Both are valuable and we can learn a great deal from a quality mentor or coach.

If you would like to release your potential through either mentoring or coaching conversations, then please get in touch at help@pureblueocean.com

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