Coaching and Mentoring – Whats the Difference?

Guiding others through life can be a daunting, but potentially rewarding task for any person who is up to the challenge. The person doing the guiding has a fine line to walk.  On one hand he must be strong enough to reprimand the follower when that person ignores advice or strays from the path.  On the other hand, he must sometimes allow the follower to stray, so that the follower can better understand why things should be done differently. The people doing the guiding generally fall into the categories of coaches and mentors.  While the two roles are similar in some ways, they are in fact very different.  Before you take someone under your wing and help them progress through life, it is important that you know the difference between coaching and mentoring, and which is best for your relationship with your potential follower.

Mentoring generally involves a closer and deeper relationship than is seen in coaching.  The leader and follower in this relationship are most commonly referred to as mentor and protege.  The mentor is often older than the protege, and is certainly more knowledgeable, wise, and more experienced in the ways of the world than the protege. The mentor’s task is to be the guide for the inexperienced protege, with the desired result of the protege growing closer to mentor’s level of knowledge and experience over time.

The mentor-protege relationship is as old as history itself. There are many variations of the mentor-protege relationship the modern world. For example, when a new employee first enters a company or business, he or she is generally adopted by someone who has been in the company or business for a long time. Because the new employee will likely at first feel uncomfortable or disoriented, or might not be prepared for the rigors of the new workplace, the mentor serves as a buffer and guide, making the transition easier for the protege, and accelerating the process of integration and becoming a productive employee.

Another example from the workplace is an existing employee who might show potential as someone who could one day be a supervisor, a department head, or excel in a completely different division of the company. A person experienced in the company could informally take on this employee and be his or her mentor. In this relationship, the mentor will teach the protege the necessary skills to advance in the workplace, so that one day the protege might take the mentor’s place, advance elsewhere in the company, or move on in a greater capacity to another company altogether.

The concept of coaching, on the other hand, is quite different from mentoring. In coaching, a method is employed in which a leader or coach facilitates the actions of one person or a group. The instruction and training given are done with a specific end goal in mind. The methods of directing people’s movements and actions might include giving motivational talks. The coach may also train people to make them perform better, such as through seminars or workshops, or through practice such as done in sports.

In mentoring, a mentor teaches a protege how to live better or how to function better. In coaching, perhaps better seen as a more specific method of mentoring, the coach guides an individual or a team to achieve an end goal. For sports coaches, this would be winning a game or event. For marriage coaches, the goal would be a stronger marital bond. For family coaches, it would be a stronger familial bond, between parents and children, or possible amongst the children themselves.

There are many different kinds of coaching and mentoring, and many different techniques associated with each as well. Whether a coach or a mentor is more appropriate for your particular situation is entirely up to you.

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