The Difference Between Mentoring and Coaching
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Is coaching and mentoring the same thing? What is the difference?
Which relationship is the best for you? Does your organization have a mentor or coach program?
These are the types of questions we explore and continue to research.
While mentoring and coaching both help individuals realize their full potential and growth in their personal and professional lives, there are key differences between the two relationships (or practices).
HR.com and The HR Research Institute revealed in their The State of Coaching and Mentoring 2022 report that the three most cited reasons for using coaching and mentoring programs were to:
Guide others in realizing their potential
Promote diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplaces
Prepare talent for future critical roles
The report also indicated that 81% of respondents agree or strongly agree that coaching positively impacts individual development and 78% say the same is true for mentoring.
Before you can decide whether a mentoring program or coaching program is right for you, it’s important to understand the difference between mentoring and coaching.
What is Mentoring?
A mentorship is a long term relationship between two people who belong to the same organization, field, or industry. The traditional mentor is usually someone senior in an organization who has the skills, knowledge, and experience to share with one or more mentees. Mentors are also individuals who are role models to the mentee or are in a position where the mentee would like to be in the future. The mentor will share the lessons they’ve learned and introduce you to new opportunities that will get you where you want to be.
Our founder Helen Patterson, compares the concept of traditional mentorship to the relationship between Dumbledore and Harry Potter. Dumbledore acts as the person with the knowledge and experience to guide the young novice Harry, to achieve his full potential.
Mentors will provide advice and guidance to help the mentee achieve their goals and work on their personal and/or professional development.
What is Coaching?
Coaching is generally a short term relationship between two people where an individual pays a coach to guide them in achieving specific outcomes, build their confidence, and develop new skills or enhance existing skills. Essentially, coaches help you find the answers from within. They will help you recognize and access your strengths, knowledge, and resources to achieve your performance or personal goals. Coaches will use a variety of methods such as listening, questioning, reframing, and reflecting to help you understand what makes you succeed and what serves as an obstacle to your success.
Coaches may or may not have the expertise and/or ability to do the job the coachee does, but can act as a mentor when they have personal experiences to share in their sessions. The most common example of a coach you might recognize is an athletic coach. But you can have a coach for every aspect of your life such as a business coach, a life coach, a career coach, or a finance coach. An example of coaching in the workplace is leadership coaching, where an employee participates in training that focuses on developing their leadership skills.
“ For me, a coach helps you to develop a skill and grow in a specific area in your career. I think a mentor takes it to a whole new level. I think a mentor helps you define the world around you, helps you grow as a person, extend yourself, push yourself in areas that you may not see yourself going to.”
The Difference Between Mentoring and Coaching
While mentoring and coaching share the same objectives and a coach can also take on the role of a mentor, there are characteristics that distinguish the two practices. The most important difference is that mentorships are either formal or informal relationships where an individual volunteers to work with a mentee, while a coach is paid to provide their services. This distinction is crucial because coaches are inclined to hold you accountable and mentorships are mutually beneficial since mentors also gain valuable skills from mentoring.
Several mentorships are formed organically between a mentor and mentee. A mentor can be a co-worker, a boss, or a friend who offers insight, advice, or knowledge to an individual. The relationship between a mentor and mentee is more intimate as the mentor and mentee spend more time learning about each other over a long time period. In contrast, coaching sessions are short, structured, and driven by objectives. Once the individual has developed the desired skill or achieved their objectives, the coaching sessions might end.
Another key difference is the mentee guides mentoring sessions, and the coach will guide coaching sessions. Mentees often approach mentors with specific challenges or situations they don’t know how to overcome.
A coach will guide you in finding the answers from within, while a mentor will share their experiences and offer advice to assist with your personal and professional growth. A mentee will then take this advice and decide how to use it in their personal or professional lives, while a coach will demonstrate what you already know and ask the questions that will get you from point A to point B.
“A coach is there to guide you and direct you and push you in the right direction. A mentor is one with a deeper relationship, where you really understand the person and want to develop that person.”
Now that you understand the difference between mentoring and coaching, you can decide which is the best for your development. Whether you choose to invest in mentoring or coaching, both are effective in getting you where you want to be and achieving your personal or professional goals. Ideally your company has a program that you can be a part of.
If you’re interested in implementing a mentoring or coaching program in your organization, Life Works Well can help you design one that is ideal for your organization that will bring the heart and soul back into your people. If you want to get started on developing the right mentorship program for your organization, click here.