We hear a lot about coaching and mentoring — for good reason. As Zig Ziglar famously said, “A lot of people have gone further than they thought they could because someone else thought they could.” The words “coaching” and “mentoring” are often treated as if they’re interchangeable, but they’re not.
No matter your stage, both mentors and coaches can be valuable resources. What’s the difference between the two? How do you know which is needed?
Making the Distinction
Traditionally, mentors were assigned within a company to help employees learn the ropes. In the entrepreneurial world, mentors act as advisers, compensated or not.
Mentors are successful people who share their hard-won wisdom to provide insight and guidance as an entrepreneur encounters challenges along her journey. They typically function in a reactive capacity, responding to issues as they arise. Mentors may not have expertise in the mentee’s field, but they understand how to navigate business in general.
Coaches, on the other hand, often have expertise in the same field as the people they’re helping. They’re usually trained and certified as coaches, possessing strong process management skills.
Coaches are brought in to help CEOs or entrepreneurs anticipate and tackle specific industry challenges. They’re prescriptive and proactive by nature, actively participating in strategizing and co-creating successful outcomes with their clients.
While a mentor/mentee connection is open-ended and can span decades, the more formal coaching relationship is used to address specific issues — and after a particular challenge has been addressed, both parties typically move on. A hybrid scenario sometimes develops in which the coach/mentor role blurs. Certain issues are handled in a coaching construct, but the relationship is so strong that both parties opt to continue working through long-term challenges and opportunities.
This article was first published on Forbes.com
To your best success,
Kelli Richards, CEO of the All Access Group, LLC
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