The 8 differences between Coaching and Mentoring

In recent times, the practice of coaching has begun and has spread increasingly as an accompaniment to the achievement of one's own optimization and the search for techniques that help improve a specific capacity, skill or domain.

In this sense, it is possible to find coaches focused on very different sectors: there are sports, food, personal or organizational coaches, among others. All of them share the fact that they are focused on helping the client to seek the maximization of his potential and that he can improve his decision-making capacity on various aspects.

It is not infrequent that this type of practice is sometimes related to another apparently similar one in which another person guides us with his experience in order to help us learn and integrate knowledge and skills: the mentoring. However, despite the fact that they have a certain similarity, both terms refer to different types of accompaniment. What are the differences between coaching and mentoring? Throughout this article we will try to answer this question.

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What is a coach and what is a mentor?

In order to understand the differences between coaching and mentoring, it is advisable to first reflect on what each of these terms mean and what is implied.

We can understand coaching as a type of accompaniment process in which it is intended to increase or help the subject himself to be able to develop his potentialities or latent capacities, generally oriented to improve in some area or specific task. It is intended to help establish and direct the achievement of specific goals. This process is usually oriented to achieve a certain result in a relatively short period of time and with the resources that the subject already has as a base.

The role of the coach is that of a companion in the process, which can provide or suggest instruments or methods through which the client can develop themselves.

It's important to put attention on a coach does not have to be a psychologist, and that in fact coaching should not be oriented in any way to try to solve a problem or a mental disorder: the objective of coaching is to promote personal development and/or professional.

With regard to mentoring, it is also a process of accompaniment and that also seeks the personal and/or professional improvement of the client or subject. For this, the figure of the mentor is used, an expert in the sector to work with who guides the client through his experience in order to to provide knowledge and increase her skills, through the learning that the mentee can acquire from the mentor.

The mentor acts as a guide and adviser, providing a more experienced perspective and helping your mentee build new knowledge and skills from it. There is a relationship similar to that of teacher and disciple in order to increase and enhance the capacities of the mentee through the knowledge that is transmitted to him.

Main differences between Coaching and Mentoring

Although there are obvious similarities between both concepts, already through their own definitions it is possible to observe some of the differences between coaching and mentoring. Among the different divergences that can be found, some of the most relevant are the following.

1. Self-study vs Teaching

Although both coaching and mentoring aim to increase the possibilities of the subject and make it possible for them to develop, each of them does so in a different way.

Coaching aims to emphasize the skills and knowledge already present in the subject himself., in such a way that the origin of what has been learned is inside and the results obtained are derived from the client's thought processes.

In mentoring, the empowerment of the client's capabilities requires the transmission of knowledge from abroad, specifically by the mentor. In this way, the professional imparts a series of lessons based on his training and his experience in theory and practice.

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2. The knowledge of the professional

Mentors, by virtue of being mentors, have a series of technical knowledge in a specific area, which is the one before which the client must decide how to position themselves. For example, if you have set out to launch a startup, typically the mentor also has experience in the creation of companies directly or indirectly related to the sector to which the person seeking is dedicated aid.

On the other hand, since coaching is oriented towards strengthening the client's self-learning skills, it is not necessary for the coach to have that level of experience and technical knowledge about the content of what the coachee needs to learn, since the skills that helps to empower are of a more universal nature and do not depend on the profession or specific task to be addressed: stress management, communication skills, leadership, conflict resolution and negotiation skills, etc.

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3. Level of specificity in the objectives

Mentoring and coaching also differ in the level of specificity that they have in regards to the element dealt with.

a mentor is a guide who usually has a general approach and that contributes to both professional and personal development within the area in which it operates. His objective is usually the development of the mentee as a person and not just in a task. Thus, he helps you locate yourself before a wide spectrum of options to tackle and goals to try to achieve.

On the other hand, the coach tends to focus on a specific aspect on which the accompaniment is carried out, being generally more specific and focused on specific tasks.

For example, the coach may try to encourage making a decision regarding how to act to achieve a goal or solve a certain problem, while the mentor sets an example of how to behave or deal with various situations and in addition to helping solving specific problems usually provides values, references and generates diverse learning beyond it.

4. Role of the professional

Another divergence between both methodologies is observed in the role of the professional, that is, his role.

The coach is a companion who can help the subject find her answers, keeping their own opinions, beliefs and experiences hidden and not being relevant.

The role of the mentor is in this sense the opposite: it is his experience, perspective and opinions regarding what he deals with the mentee that is being sought in order to generate learning. The mentor gives answers, the coach tries to help you find them yourself.

5. relational symmetry

In addition to the role of the professional, we can also highlight as a difference the fact that the relationship between professional and client is different between coaching and mentoring. In the first part of a professional relationship in which, in addition there is no relational asymmetry between the two people beyond focusing on the client's needs and the fact that the coach is an expert in the subject matter.

In the case of mentoring, it is common for there to be a certain emotional bond (remember that there is a relationship mentor-mentee), in which a clear asymmetry is also observed in terms of experience with respect to the topics treated: one is the expert and generally has greater weight and power within the area in which he moves, while the other is the apprentice and usually has a shallower position. However, on the other hand, there is more symmetry with regard to the flow of information, since it is both subjects who communicate and express their opinions and assessments, and not just one of them.

6. Who runs the relationship?

Although it can already be seen from the previous points, another difference between coaching and mentoring is that while in the case of coaching It is always the client who will direct the session towards the aspects that must be worked on, and the relationship is oriented towards achieving the proposed goals or objectives, In mentoring, it is the professional or mentor who directs how the session will run or what it should focus on, although it is something more agreed and informal.

In this way, mentoring is a type of service that adds more value to those who have more fundamental doubts about which areas of their lives to work on more, while in coaching the usual thing is that the person who seeks professional help already has clear certain references about in which direction he should advance. The work of mentors is ideal for people who are starting out in a type of work or who still do not know almost anything about the sector in which they are getting into.

7. Temporality and structuring

Although we are not dealing with something that has to always occur, As a general rule, mentoring requires prolonged contact over time, while in the case of coaching the professional relationship is usually shorter.

Likewise, coaching sessions are usually highly structured and limited in time until an objective is achieved, while in the case of mentoring, temporality is not necessarily linked to sessions but rather imply a more continuous relationship and can be less rigid and vary to a large extent depending on the needs, with objectives that can vary over time.

This is mainly due to the fact that the coach focuses on a specific task or skill while the mentor tends to act as a general behavior model in one area. In addition to this, the type of professional relationship that one has with the mentor requires a much closer bond, which requires time to maintain.

8. present or future

Another difference between coaching and mentoring has to do with their temporality.

As a general rule, the objective of coaching is to face a situation or carry out training in some type of ability that we need at present, to obtain results in the short and medium term. However, in mentoring the objective It is usually more focused on improvement, not only current but also in the long term., so that the mentee develops positively throughout his career.