Coaching vs. Mentoring: 11 Key Differences & Skills Needed
“Pass on what you have learned. Strength, mastery, weakness, folly, failure, also. Yes, failure, most of all. The greatest teacher, failure is.” – Master Yoda. These wise words are valid in life and the workplace, where mentors and coaches pass on their wisdom… and failures.
Deciding between coaching and mentoring for your organization can be tough, especially when figuring out the best approach for various situations your employees and managers may face. Since coaching and mentoring share some similarities, the choice isn’t always clear.
This article defines coaching and mentoring in the workplace, highlights the differences HR should know, explores key skills for each role, and provides real-world examples. Let’s begin!
Contents
What is coaching?
What is mentoring?
Coaching vs mentoring: 11 key differences
Skills required for effective coaching and mentoring
How HR can help develop coaching and mentoring skills in the organization
Company coaching and mentoring examples
What is coaching?
Coaching in the workplace consists of a range of activities that allow employees to grow personally and professionally. Think of one-on-one or peer coaching, performance coaching, digital coaching, or a combination of these.
Workplace coaching should be a collaborative process between a coach and a coachee (the employee). It’s designed to help the employee improve skills, achieve specific outcomes, or overcome challenges.
It’s a structured, goal-oriented process that is typically performance-driven and focuses on specific results within a set timeframe.
What is mentoring?
Mentoring in the workplace is an intentional, usually one-on-one, relationship between two individuals. The more experienced employee (the mentor) provides guidance, advice, and support to the mentee. There are various types of mentoring, such as traditional mentoring, peer mentoring, and reverse mentoring.
Mentoring is typically a long-term, relationship-based process focused on career development and personal growth. Its goals are twofold: on the one hand, mentoring is an excellent way to transfer knowledge and skills, and on the other, it offers an opportunity for emotional support, confidence-building, and networking.
Benefits of coaching and mentoring
The table below lists some of the key benefits of coaching and mentoring:
Improves specific job-related skills and performance
Builds long-term career growth and personal development
Provides actionable feedback and accountability
Provides emotional support and confidence-building
Encourages self-discovery and personal growth
Facilitates knowledge transfer and networking opportunities
Coaching vs mentoring: 11 key differences
While there certainly is some overlap between coaching and mentoring in the workplace, the philosophy behind the two approaches is not the same.
This section explores some of the key differences between coaching and mentoring. Bear in mind that, in general, these are ways in which mentoring differs from coaching. As with everything, there are exceptions to the rule.
1. Short-term vs. long-term
A more obvious difference between mentoring and coaching is the timeframe related to each approach.
- Coaching tends to be more short-term, ranging from a couple of months to a year.
- Mentoring typically is more long-term, with most mentorships lasting a year or two (sometimes even longer).
2. Performance-driven vs. development-driven
- Workplace coaching is mostly performance-driven and focuses on achieving specific results within a set timeframe, such as helping employees gain or improve particular skills.
Mentoring is more development-driven and focuses on the mentee’s (career) growth beyond their current role.
HR tip
Create a structured framework that outlines clear goals for both short-term performance improvements and long-term career growth. This framework should be applied across the organization to standardize the coaching/ mentoring approach.
3. Formal vs. informal structure
Another difference between coaching and mentoring is their structure.
- The coaching process tends to be well-structured, with clearly defined, measurable goals and regular meetings.
- The mentorship process tends to be slightly more informal, with meetings required by the mentee when they sense a need for them. That is not to say, though, that for a mentorship to be successful, it wouldn’t be helpful to schedule regular meetings.
4. Task-oriented vs. development-oriented
- Coaching tends to be more task-oriented.
- Mentoring tends to be more development-oriented.
5. Guidance vs. advice
Perhaps the most significant difference between mentoring vs coaching lies in the approach of each method.
- A coach tries to guide their coachees to discover that information for themselves.
- A mentor primarily gives advice and information.
HR tip
Encourage coaches to use open-ended questions that prompt employees to discover solutions on their own. For mentors, emphasize the importance of sharing relevant advice and personal experiences to guide career development.
6. Coaching feedback vs. mentoring feedback
- Coaching feedback: Feedback is (should be) an integral part of any workplace coaching program. It is a two-way street where the coach shares their observations and insights with the employee, and the employee offers their thoughts on and perceptions of the coaching process. The aim is to optimize the coaching experience and subsequent results.
- Mentoring feedback: The situation is slightly different in a mentorship. While feedback should certainly be welcomed and can be helpful for both the mentor and the mentee, it doesn’t play as crucial a role as in the coaching process.
7. Coaching vs. mentoring outcomes
Another difference between coaching and mentoring is the outcomes of each method:
- At the end of a coaching journey, the results are usually visible and measurable; they have been from the get-go.
- At the end of a mentorship, however, the results tend to be less tangible and can be found more in the mentee’s overall growth and development.
8. Agenda setting
- In a coaching program, the coach and coachee set the agenda together. They decide on the goals, the success metrics, and the timeline.
- In a mentorship program, the mentee primarily decides on the agenda while the mentor tries to support and facilitate that agenda as best they can.
HR tip
Guide coaches and mentors on how to approach agenda-setting effectively. For coaches, encourage collaboration with the coachee to define clear goals, metrics for success, and a realistic timeline. In mentoring programs, remind mentors that the mentee should lead the agenda-setting process, and their role is to support and facilitate those goals.
9. Coach expertise vs. mentor expertise
The difference between a coach and a mentor is not always obvious. One thing that’s usually different, however, is that:
- Coaches are more likely to have been trained in coaching skills and methodology.
- Mentors typically draw primarily from their (professional) background and experience.
10. Coaching questions vs mentoring questions
- In a coaching relationship, the coach often asks thought-provoking questions that elicit insights from the coachee so that the latter can take action based on those insights.
- In a mentorship, questions are more mentee-driven, and the mentor’s answers share their experience or offer direct advice.
11. The role of the coach vs. the role of the mentor
There is a significant difference between a mentor and a coach in terms of their role.
- A coach tries to get the best out of people by instilling awareness and self-directed learning
- A mentor mostly shares their wisdom and knowledge.
Skills required for effective coaching and mentoring
Coaching and mentoring employees in the workplace require mastering certain skills. Both a coach and mentor will need to have a particular skill set they can tap into to guide their coachees or mentees properly.
In this section, we examine various coaching and mentoring skills. Some will apply to both coaching and mentoring in the workplace, while others are more relevant to one of these approaches.
Coaching and mentoring skills
Skills that are important for coaches and mentors alike include:
- Active listening: Active listening is perhaps the most important skill for successful mentoring and coaching. It’s about listening to understand, which is crucial if you want to truly support your coachee or mentee. It’s the starting point and foundation of the coaching and mentoring relationship and requires observing what verbal and nonverbal messages are being sent.
- Communication: There are many different communication skills, including active listening. Other examples are observing first before responding and the ability to adapt your communication style depending on the person you have in front of you.
- Empathy and emotional intelligence: Both empathy (the ability to understand how other people feel) and emotional intelligence (the ability to recognize and manage the emotions of other people as well as your own) are critical to successfully coaching and mentoring employees in the workplace.
- Presence: This skill requires a lot of practice for most people and is something that we may never fully master. Yet, being fully present in the moment is the greatest gift you can offer as a coach and mentor to your coachee or mentee. It allows them to be fully present as well, which, in turn, gives them the capacity to expand.
Develop the skills to guide employees with coaching and mentoring
In the Learning & Development Certificate Program, you’ll dive deep into the distinctions between coaching and mentoring, understanding when to apply each approach, and the skills required to lead impactful sessions.
This self-paced, online program also guides you through key strategies for developing an organization-wide coaching and mentoring culture, helping employees reach their full potential through tailored guidance.
Coaching skills
On top of the skills listed above, some additional skills are essential for being a good coach, including:
- The ability to ask the right questions: This is a key coaching skill, as asking the right questions will get the coachee thinking, gain insights, and swing into action.
What are the ‘right’ questions you ask? They are open-ended questions, not disguised as statements, and asked with genuine curiosity. - The ability to give (and receive) constructive feedback: Feedback is an integral part of the coaching process. Coaches need to master the art of giving and receiving feedback, which can look different from one coachee to another.
- Ability to set clear and actionable goals: A coaching process is characterized by its aim to achieve specific results within a set time frame. The coach’s ability to set clear and actionable goals—together with the coachee—plays a vital part in making this happen.
- The ability to stay neutral: “Coaching is primarily about asking, not telling,” one article fittingly stated. For the coach, this means remaining neutral. They don’t insinuate, share their opinion, or give advice. Instead, they encourage reflection and the action that follows from it.
HR tip
If you want to offer coaching to all employees, consider using a digital coaching tool. These tools can be with or without a human touch and can be a great way to scale your organization’s coaching efforts beyond just the leadership team.
Mentoring skills
In addition to the skills mentioned at the start of this section, being a good mentor requires the following skills as well:
- Strong relationship-building: A successful mentorship is based on a strong relationship and trust between the mentor and mentee. A good mentor keeps their promises, shows up on time, keeps conversations with their mentee private, and takes accountability when needed. All of these things create trust and foster open communication with the mentee.
- The ability to share experiences and offer career guidance: This skill allows mentors to assess the situation and decide what part of their lived experiences or knowledge can benefit their mentees most at this particular moment in time. This skill is also about knowing how to best communicate with mentees to ensure they genuinely capture the information you want to convey.
- The ability to instill confidence: In line with the previous skill, a good mentor knows how to make their mentees feel confident about themselves and their potential for success. They recognize when to share which experience or piece of advice, they know when to praise their mentees’ achievements privately and publicly and offer sincere feedback when needed.
- Networking skills to create opportunities: A good mentor uses their network to create opportunities for their mentees.
How HR can help develop coaching and mentoring skills in the organization
HR plays an important role in developing coaching and mentorship programs and initiatives to implement and drive coaching and mentoring employees in the workplace.
You can support leaders in developing coaching and mentoring skills through various initiatives like:
- Organize workshops or seminars: These sessions could focus on coaching and mentoring skills such as active listening, giving and receiving feedback, asking the right questions, and emotional intelligence.
- Develop a resource library: This may sound more complicated than it is. It simply means providing an online space that holds all the resources you have about coaching and mentoring that is easily accessible (i.e., coaching models, templates, best practices for mentoring and coaching, etc.).
- Encourage mentoring and coaching within your HR team: To become a good coach or mentor, you need to experience being coached or mentored first. Consider pairing experienced HR leaders with emerging HR leaders to coach and mentor them.
- Check your data: You can analyze performance data and employee feedback to help leaders identify the areas where coaching or mentoring could have the biggest impact and take targeted action.
- Consider conducting a training needs analysis (TNA): In line with the previous point, you can conduct a team training needs analysis to detect knowledge and skills gaps and then bridge them using (most likely) workplace coaching.
Company coaching and mentoring examples
There are many different types of coaching and mentoring in the workplace, varying from peer coaching and reverse mentoring to leadership coaching and micro-mentoring.
This section shows some real-life examples of coaching and mentoring employees in the workplace.
Coaching examples
Example 1: Google’s CareerGuru
Google invests heavily in employee coaching through an in-house coaching program called CareerGuru. This program connects Google employees (Googlers) with its 350 internal professional coaches (Gurus) from around the world. The program aims to help Googlers determine their objectives, roadblocks, progress opportunities, and steps to accomplish their goals.
Google employs a coaching model that consists of six crucial components:
- Providing timely and specific feedback
- Delivering difficult feedback in a motivational and thoughtful way
- Tailoring approaches to meet individual communication styles in regular one-on-one meetings
- Practicing empathetic ‘active’ listening and being fully present
- Being aware of your mindset and that of the coachee
- Asking open-ended questions to discover a coachee’s acumen.
Example 2: Alphabet’s peer coaching
Google’s parent company, Alphabet, offers a peer coaching program for its employees called g2g (Googler to Googler). The program focuses on people’s professional and personal development, and employee participation in the program has increased by more than 200% over the past few years.
Mentoring examples
Example 1: Randstad leadership development and onboarding
Randstad’s leadership development mentoring program covers a range of different mentoring initiatives, such as #ReloadYourStrengths, which aims to develop employees’ leadership skills by pairing them with senior employees.
Another initiative is its Insider Program, which incorporates mentoring into the company’s new hire onboarding process. It pairs new hires with mentors ahead of their first day to better prepare them for their roles and their place in the company.
HR tip
Consider implementing a buddy system at work. A buddy system can be a great way to introduce new hires to your organization’s mentoring practices right from the start while also giving them access to the support and knowledge they need during their onboarding.
Example 2: Reverse mentoring at General Electric
Reverse mentoring, a type of mentoring in which younger, less experienced employees mentor their more mature co-workers, was first used at General Electric in the late nineties. The idea was to help managers develop their technological skills inspired by the younger generations.
Unlike traditional mentorship programs, reverse mentoring encourages a two-way exchange of skills, knowledge, and perspectives between employees of different generations. Several companies today, such as Danone, IBM, Accenture, and Orange, have reverse mentorship programs as they’re a flexible, efficient, and inexpensive way to help their employees grow.
To sum up
Coaching vs. mentoring methods are both effective ways to support employees and help them grow professionally and personally.
Which method is best suited for which employee depends on their particular needs and circumstances. The overview of key differences between coaching and mentoring in this article can help you decide what to choose.
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