Mentor or Coach – what’s the difference?

Are you struggling to make the next move in your career (or even in life), wondering whether you should seek a mentor or a coach? To make an informed decision, it’s crucial to understand the distinctions between the two and assess which one best suits your needs.

1. Understanding the Differences between coaching and mentoring

Coaching:

Coaching is a structured process that revolves around asking thought-provoking questions and fostering a deeper understanding of yourself through a process of self-discovery. Coaches help you explore your challenges from various angles. They challenge your thinking and hold you accountable for your goals.

Mentoring:

Mentoring is a relationship where an experienced mentor brings their wisdom and expertise to the table. In addition to using many of the tools that a coach will, mentors provide more in-depth guidance and, when necessary, offer advice based on their own experiences. They aim to accelerate your growth by sharing their insights.

See the CIPD explanation of the difference between coaching and mentoring in the workplace.

2. Pros and Cons of a Coach vs a Mentor

Coach – Pros

Coaches can help you look at a challenge from all angles, and see it in ways you haven’t thought of. They can help you explore subjects where your own thoughts feel unclear and unstructured, supporting you in coming to your own conclusions.

Coach – Cons

Often people go into a relationship with a coach thinking they’re getting a mentor – they want some advice. They can then feel frustrated at just being asked questions, but not being given any real direction or clear guidance.

Mentor – pros

A mentor can help you cut through the pain of learning something the hard way, by giving advice and suggesting ways forward with your challenge that they believe are likely to work based on their experience. They can tell you how to go about doing something that they themselves already know how to do, short-cutting your journey forwards.

Mentor – cons

Mentors can sometimes become too advisory, which can prohibit the mentee from exploring and formulating their own thinking and truly understanding their decision making process. This is often the case in the workplace mentoring schemes, where a mentor can become too directive in how they work with a mentee.

3. Self-Assessment – Mentor or Coach?

To decide whether a mentor or a coach is the right choice for you, start with a self-assessment:

• What are your specific goals and challenges?
• Do you need someone to challenge your thinking and help you find your own solutions (coach), or do you require more expert guidance (mentor)?
• What level of experience and expertise do you need and want from your guide?
• How important is it that they have navigated the same challenge, either personally, or with other clients?

Example: Sophie, a young professional aiming to advance in her career. She needs support to help her navigate the complex corporate landscape within her field of Digital Marketing. She chose to work with a mentor with relevant industry knowledge, in order to take advantage of the wisdom and experience to move her career forwards quickly.

Example: Daniel, a sales professional looking to make a change in his career path. He needs support to help him explore what the right path forward for him is. He chose to work with a coach who could help him to explore his options, bringing to life what he enjoys and what he feels he could excel at and to support him in bringing options to the table before he made his own decision.

4. Coach or Mentor – Finding the Right Fit

Building trust and feeling comfortable with your chosen mentor or coach is paramount.  This is the most important factor in you having a successful outcome from your coaching or mentoring relationship. Before making a decision, arrange a consultation to gauge the connection. Many coaches and mentors will offer a free discovery call so that you can have an opportunity to chat with them and see how you feel. If you can, do this in person or as a video call, as being able to see them will help you to make your decision on how comfortable you feel with that person.

Coaches and mentors will also have areas of expertise or specialism which is really helpful if you have a specific requirement. For example you can find specialist coaches and mentors in areas such as: diet / weight loss, sprituality, parenting, menopause, relationships, careers, business / entrepreneurship.

If there are multiple areas of your life you’d like to work on, then a life coach may be more suitable for you.

5. My experience in coaching and mentoring

Coaching:

Areas of coaching that I work in:

• Career coaching
• Life coaching

Mentoring:

For mentoring work, I’ve been trained by the Association of Business Mentors. I offer mentoring in the following career / business areas, which is based on my own experience:

• Project Management
• Programme Management
• Team Management
• Leadership
• Process improvement
• Change management
• Organisational design
• Operational efficiency
• Marketing and Digital strategy
• Employee engagement
• Small business growth

I also do mentoring with individuals on the following:

• Confidence building
• Anxiety & stress management
• Career change
• Life change
• Personal branding

Communcation with your mentor or coach

Clear communication is key. Have open discussions with your chosen mentor or coach about your expectations, goals, and the format of your relationship will help you ensure you get what you want out of the relationship, and will allow them to be clear with you if there are any limits to how they’re able to support you.

Still not sure whether you need a Coach or a Mentor?

Ultimately, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer to the question of whether you should get a mentor or a coach. Your choice depends on your unique goals, challenges, and preferences. Take the time to assess your needs, explore potential coaching or mentoring relationships, and build connections with individuals who can guide you on your personal or professional journey.

If you think I may be a good fit to support you on your journey, but uncertain about whether you want mentoring or coaching, don’t hesitate to reach out. I’m here to help you make an informed choice and embark on the journey that’s right for you.

I promise that where I don’t feel I’m best placed to support what you need – or I’m limited in the ways I can support you, then I do say so!