Am I a Coach or a Mentor?

We’ve been training coaching and mentoring for quite a few years now and this question always pops up, ‘What’s the difference between coaching and mentoring?’  In fact it’s one of the questions you need to answer if you want to achieve the ILM Qualifications in Coaching and Mentoring we provide.

My first instinct is to say you can be both a coach and a mentor, depending on the context and who you are working with. Yet they are quite different disciplines and each has a different focus.

Coaching is primarily focused on performance and is typically a short-term intervention. Most of the time the client (my preferred word) has a particular theme or challenge they want to address. The coach works with them over a limited time frame and prescribed number of sessions to do this. It is all about achieving some very specific objectives.  The client benefits from someone who can question, challenge and clarify their thinking, all with the intention of helping them adopt new strategies to achieve good outcomes.

Mentoring typically is person focused and can take place over a longer period. It provides a more holistic view and typically helps someone in their career or business aspirations. The outcomes are possibly less specific than in coaching and the client benefits from having a supportive presence. Someone who understands them and has expertise in the sector or organisation or type of business they operate in. The mentor is generally a more senior player and can often provide a springboard for a younger, less experience person to further their ambitions.

There are other differences as we explore on the programme and each provides different types of interventions to serve the client. I have been lucky to be both a coach and mentor in my time and for me it is about recognising when each is appropriate and where you can add most value.

For example, I have coached senior people in Universities with specific aspects of their leadership or management performance. I use my listening and question skills to help them to take action. I challenge them and enable them to think differently and bring new perspectives to a situation. I feel I am qualified and capable to do this well and I know the difference an external coach, someone who has not specifically held a role in that sector, can provide.

I would not dream of offering myself up as a mentor to these same people.  I simply do not have the experience of holding down a senior role in a University context or the have knowledge of the specific technical requirements of their job.  It would be inappropriate and there are others who would be better placed to do this.

However, if they approach me and say, ‘John  I’m leaving the University at the end of the month, I’m thinking of becoming a freelance consultant’, then of course, I can absolutely slip into the role of mentor. I can advise, guide, suggest or propose how they might do this. This would be based on my extensive experience of being a consultant and setting up my own business. I am now the mentor.

You see the difference?

Both these roles are extremely valuable to people right now. We live in an increasingly complex world and you only need to look at articles on change management, stress and well-being at work, to realise we all need a bit of support in our working lives and beyond.

So whether you want to coach, mentor or be both, there is room for you to join a growing band of professionals developing the practice of coaching and mentoring.

Who do you think you could serve in a coaching or mentoring role?

Join us for our Autumn 2019 ILM Coaching & Mentoring Programme, Level 5 and Level 7. 

or email bethecoach@noguru.net

or call 0844 873 1226