Coaching vs Mentoring

Coaching is:

• In Support of Learning

• Performance Focused

• Collaborative

Mentoring is:

• In Support of Growth

• Future Focused

• Personal

Both Coaching and Mentoring create high-performing teams. Why is that important?

A “high-performing team” has:

• goal focus

• special expertise

• complementary skills

• collaborate & innovate way of working

• consistently superior results

When to Coach, When to Mentor

Knowing when to use the right method is key to success. Timing and approaches differ for mentoring and coaching.

Coaching is focused on skills growth or corrective action (to address mistakes or lack of understanding). Be sure to use these when skill-building is needed. While coaching focuses on skills linked to performance, coaching should be a positive experience. Don’t make your staff worry about their job security or feel demeaned. No one can learn under threat. Instead, make it a moment to build confidence by sharing why the task is important. If possible, leave room for conversations about adjustments to the task to make it faster, better, or just more enjoyable for the staff to execute the work.

Mentoring has a different goal. It is about self-fulfillment. Mentoring also impacts day-to-day results since engaged staff who feel empowered and confident do better at their job. Mentoring can help staff grow their leadership and capabilities and identify their next career steps. Managers who mentor know that mentoring may lead to role growth, promotions, and even job changes. Leaders know that these changes, whether inside or outside the company, benefit all, including other staff who experience the culture of mentoring in action and stay at the company for that reason.

How to Coach and Mentor | 5 areas to consider

1. Focus and purpose

Coaching: Coaching focuses on improving performance and developing specific skills or competencies. It involves setting goals, providing guidance, and offering feedback to help individuals enhance their abilities and achieve their full potential.

Mentoring: Mentoring is focused on long-term career and personal development. It involves sharing experiences, knowledge, and advice to help individuals navigate their career paths, make informed decisions, and grow professionally and personally.

2. Relationship dynamics

Coaching: Coaching typically involves a job relationship between a coach and a coachee. The coach acts as a trainer. The coachee is the trainee. The content is based on a structured process to achieve specific goals. The coach provides content on the process, tools, and outcomes. The coachee is responsible for learning and ownership of their development.

Mentoring: Mentoring involves a more personal relationship between a mentor and a mentee. The mentor, often more experienced and knowledgeable, offers guidance, wisdom, and support based on their own experiences. The focus is on sharing insights, providing advice, and nurturing the mentee's growth. The mentee needs to establish their needs, goals, and personal growth plan.

3. Timeframe and scope

Coaching: Coaching is typically short-term and focused on specific objectives or challenges. It may involve a series of sessions over weeks or months. The coach helps the coachee develop skills, overcome obstacles, and achieve defined outcomes within a specific timeframe.

Mentoring: Mentoring is typically a long-term relationship over an extended period. The mentor provides ongoing support and guidance throughout the mentee's career journey. The scope of mentoring is broader, encompassing various aspects of personal and professional growth.

4. Expertise and role

Coaching: Coaches need direct experience in the coachee's work. They focus on sharing skills, asking good questions, active listening, and facilitating the coachee's skill building.

Mentoring: Mentors often have substantial experience and expertise in the mentee's field or industry. They draw upon their knowledge and insights to offer specific advice, share best practices, and provide guidance based on their experiences. Mentees may be experienced but need a sounding board to help them explore new ideas and opportunities.

5. Key Considerations

Coaching: Coaches try to transfer information and inspire others to ‘own the task.’ To do this effectively, coaches should start by understanding how individual team members learn and process information. If you are not sure, ask. Also, coaching includes the review of processes, tools, and content. Do you think there is not a lot of room for innovation? Try to be open to other ways of working. Share why the work is done this way (it may be a set process or regulated work), and show them how it is done (use lists and workflows to help teach the details). But when you can, let the team member adjust the execution to make more sense or be more innovative (my best outcomes have been when team members automated redundant tasks).

Mentoring: Mentees are on their own journey. Mentors can share their successes, failures, and ways of working, but at the end of the day, mentors are a guide. Appreciate how that person thinks, communicates, reflects, and processes information. This is especially important if they are from a different country, culture, or industry. Mentors often (but not always) have substantial experience and expertise in the mentee's field or industry. They draw upon their knowledge and insights to offer specific advice, share best practices, and provide guidance based on their experiences. But at the end of the day, it is up to the mentee to go from idea to action.

Tips when Coaching & Mentoring

• Be intentional - know when you are coaching versus mentoring

• Be prepared - know the person (or ask) how they process information, feedback, and learn

• Be sensitive - to their culture and the company’s. Learn more about personal and team culture here

3 ways to Coach

• Direct Coaching

• Coach one-on-one using my Coaching model, and read more about creating a learning organization

• Peer-to-peer Coaching

• Connect expert members with new staff on specific topics

• Train-the-Trainer

• Share topics as part of training sessions

Tips when Coaching

• Make sure you connect the work to results that management cares about

• Share the team KPIs and show how they drive results

• Make sure you show how skills, behaviors, and outcomes impact them

• Know the person (how they learn and communicate)

• Know the topic (or ask the right person)

• Ask the right questions (to confirm learning)

3 ways to Mentor

• Direct Mentoring

  • Start mentorship programs using the Mentorship Workbook  

  • Direct mentoring can be inside your team or in another department

• Peer Mentoring

• Compare and contrast mentoring with similar levels of expertise          

• Peer mentoring is best outside the team, department, or organization

• Reverse Mentoring

• Mentorships where both parties can learn skills and gain insights          

• Reverse mentoring is useful for cultural change and increased leadership diversity

Tips when Mentoring

• Build the Relationship

• Set expectations

• Create a journey

  • Give both parties a Goal to work toward

  • Connect goals (if possible)

  • Set SMART objectives (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound)

  • Create an outcome (tangible if possible)

• Use an agenda

• Document lessons learned and results at key milestones

In summary, coaching focuses on performance improvement and skill development in a structured and goal-oriented manner. In contrast, mentoring focuses on long-term career and personal development through a more informal and personal relationship. Both approaches have unique benefits and can be used in different situations to support the growth and success of team members. Want to learn more? See the mentoring section of ProjectSkillsMentor for more content and downloadable tools for you to use.