There are many similarities between mentoring and coaching – and depending on who you ask, you may get many different definitions. At KMP+ House of Mentoring we define our approach to mentoring as Modern Mentoring.
Modern Mentoring is the act of creating solid, inspirational, and engaging learning processes for mentees as well as for mentors and ensuring – through a professional framework for the mentoring programme – that the mentoring also provides strategic benefit for the organisation.
Thus, we define Modern Mentoring from the perspective of the participants as:
a learning partnership between two people with different levels or kinds of experience, where both can achieve new learning, new insights, and personal growth. Mentoring creates synergy between two people.
And from the perspective of the organisation as:
a strategic development activity that supports the organisation’s vision, goals, and values as well as the participants’ development needs and wishes.
Returning to the question of “what is the difference between mentoring and coaching?”, there similarities as well as significant differences.
The main similarities are around the foundational skill set. Both mentors and coaches need to be skilled in listening, asking questions, aligning expectations and establishing ground rules, connecting and establishing trustful relationships, and using appropriate tools and methods to facilitate learning, all based on a deep self-awareness and empathy for the mentees/coachees.
Coaching
Traditionally coaching is focused on asking questions that bring new insight. A coach is holding up a “mirror” so that coachees can see themselves from new angles and gain new insight about themselves. In this way, coaches are unlocking knowledge and competence that coachees already have, and coaches become instruments for the coachees’ learning and development.
Coaches are mostly professionals coming from outside the organisation and coaching either one person or one team at a time. Additionally, professional coaches have longer-team coaching educations and preferably also coaching accreditations with a professional coaching association. However, today many organisations also have internal coaches that can provide coaching “on-demand” to leaders and employees. These coaches are mostly employed within the HR department.
Coaching can take place at all levels in the organisation. However, for a coach to be effective with coachees who are in senior and executive level leadership roles, the coach also needs to have more context relevant experience and knowledge to be able to relate to the challenges and opportunities of their coachees. Additionally, the coach will need to be external to create a fully confidential relationship with the coachee.
Mentoring
Traditionally mentors are seniors with more experience and knowledge than the mentees, and mentors help the mentees develop themselves and their career through sharing knowledge and giving advice. Traditionally, mentors are also an instrument for the mentees’ learning and development, but mentors need to have context relevant knowledge and experience to guide and advice the mentees.
Mentors are mostly seniors from inside the company, seniors who are role models within the organisation for their skills, behaviour and performance. They are not necessarily from the same profession as the mentees, but they have experience that will give them understanding and empathy for the mentees’ situation and career opportunities. However, mentors also need training and preparation for their role to ensure adequate skills, understanding of the purpose of the mentoring, and awareness of potential ethical dilemmas.
Mentoring can also take place at all levels of the organisation. However, it is impossible to find internal mentors for people in senior and executive roles as they are in the top of the hierarchy and there will be topics that they are not able to share with internal mentors at a lower level of the hierarchy. Seniors and executives will need to find mentors from outside the organisation to be able to talk openly and confidentially about their learning topics.
Mentoring vs. Coaches vs. Managers
Managers are also using mentoring and coaching skills in relation to their direct reports to support their growth and development. However, managers are not called mentors or coaches in this situation, as the managers’ relationship with their direct reports includes a stake in the performance of the direct reports. Managers’ performance are directly influenced by the performance of their direct reports.
Both mentors and coaches are selected and matched with mentees and coaches to avoid them having an official and hierarchical responsibility in relation to the performance of their mentees/coaches. This we call off-line matching, and this facilitates openness and ensures confidentiality in the relationship.
Summary
The main differences between mentoring and coaching can be summed up like this:
