The Difference Between Coaching and Mentoring

In any sort of organization or business, the idea is to compete within a defined market and ultimately profit. Of course, competing within a niche often requires a very specialized level of expertise among employees who are the heart of any company. This is why a lot of organizations deal with coaches and mentors in order to bolster knowledge, understanding, compliance with the law, adherence to standards, etc.

While some may see these fields as synonymous with one another, they are actually quite different methods by which to achieve a variety of goals, often separate in nature while equally important to the atmosphere and profitability of the organization.

For instance, one could define coaching as the process of training and supervising an individual to increase performance. Basically teaching the individual certain things that they will put into practice. Mentoring, on the other hand, is more like a hands-on counselling process that guides, supports and helps to steer a person through their development.

This can seem a bit confusing on its face, the differences between the two. So, let’s take a more in-depth look at their fundamental differences in practice.

Defining Mentors and Coaches

It is important that anyone in a business atmosphere understand the differences between providing task training for employees and in providing mentorship. So, we’re going to look at the definitions of the two, so that anyone can better understand what each entail and how they are separate.

The Definition of a Mentor

The simplest way to define this method is to describe it as a process by which a mentorship is offered whereby support and guidance are provided from a senior person to someone inexperienced. This is an activity of human development. It is about the senior using their experience to guide the mentored through. This can include improving one’s self-esteem, bolstering their attitude, increasing their knowledge, and promoting the general well-being of the individual.

This relationship is very much a counselling relationship. The mentored receives encouragement, insight, support that’s both physical and mental, with the ultimate goal of helping the mentored achieve a higher level of emotional maturity while also becoming more effective at their position within the organization. By focusing on the person and their mental state, the idea is to increase the preparedness for better productivity and to be a better fit within the company, as it pertains to pursuing corporate goals.

The Definition of a Coach

With this method, you’re dealing with a developmental process that operates much more in the vein of a teacher and student. This can be done in a classroom setting, a workshop, through a variety of company-based exercises, through task-specific drills and training, and much more. With this method, you can literally think about it in the way you would with a coach in sports. The idea is to teach, to train, to prepare individuals to complete a task. Unlike the former, this method focuses more on completing a task, not to provide mental support.

This is about giving instructions. An organization is hiring someone with expertise in a certain niche; said person then uses their expertise to train others to be proficient at any sort of task or job needed inside of the company. This is about increasing potential, building skills, teaching specialized knowledge, and the employee(s) actively learning measurable, applicable skills.

Coaching and Mentoring: A Comparison Through Example

As you can see, the definitions of both terms are pretty far separated. These are very two distinct disciplines. However, they’re not mutually exclusive, so things can still at times get muddy. What we mean by that is that a mentor can still be a coach, and vice versa. While different methods are used here than are used in regular task training methods, often its the case that a great coach can provide this as well, and the other way around.

So, let’s go over some individual examples for the two.

What a Coach Does

Let’s say you have an organization that is expanding their market to include an entirely new niche. This means a new market, new development, new tech and products, which needs to be handled by existing employees. So, what the company does is hire someone (or a team) that will come in and teach and train the employees very specific task-oriented, applicable knowledge that will help them become proficient in the new company imperative, so that the venture is profitable.

This person, like the head person in charge of sporting teams, is providing employees with training that can be used and implemented toward a goal. This stands in contrast to focusing on one’s well-being mentally or on improving their self-esteem. This is solely about a task-oriented set of skills that can be absorbed, practiced and used within the company settings.

Some of the things a coach will do when they come in include:

• Building chemistry with employees
• Providing knowledge and training
• Operating drills and tasks
• Requiring employees to show their proficiency in the task
• Strengthening the skills of employees
• Streamlining employees by weeding out those incapable of performing tasks

What a Mentor Does

For this example, let’s say the company is just starting. They’ve hired their employees and they’re about to start the very competitive task of vying for profits within a given niche. Someone is brought in to guide and support the new employees. This person, or group of people, teaches a bit, but mostly works on focusing in on the mental health of employees and guiding them through a process with support. There’s a lot of information here, a lot of things that are applicable, but it’s mostly support.

The employees are being guided and supported psychologically via methods that go beyond demanding a skill be learned. By focusing on the mental well-being and acclimatizing employees to the overall atmosphere, productivity is thus increased and the company itself is able to run much better and more proficiently toward its goal.

These are some of the things this method provides for your business:

• Provides information and knowledge in a macro, atmospheric sense
• Will offer support and mental guidance for employees
• Will hone in on areas of improvement to make employees more proficient
• Offering ongoing help and support, not just a one-off session for a task
• Providing discipline that can help a company remain streamlined and effective
• Will stimulate personal growth among employees

The Two Separate Methods in Conclusion

At the end of the day, one cannot simply lump these two professions in together. And make no mistake about it, this is exactly what they are: Professions. These are very specialized fields made up of highly trained professionals who have went through college and often have years of training, all to provide their expertise to certain companies seeking their assistance.

So, if you need to train someone on a specific job, a new task, or to perform to certain codes of compliance, then you need to separate that out from someone who is going to offer support and focus on mental well-being. And the other way around too. To be sure, one can be the other, but they are still separate fields.

So, you really need to be aware of the differences between these two positions, if you expect to experience your desired results within your organization.