Many organizations run mentoring programmes and many run ‘Leader as Coach’ programmes – but what’s the difference?

The simple answer:

A fundamental principle of coaching is to ask, not to tell.

The coachee knows the answer that is right for them – they just need support in identifying the right answer.

With mentoring, the boundaries of asking and telling are less distinct.

In service of the mentee, the mentor draws on their rich experience to provide guidance or suggest options as to how the mentee might want to approach an opportunity or a challenge.

Or the mentor may share how they tackled a similar challenge in the past.

In both instances, the focus of the mentor and mentee is developing capabilities and making decisions that provide long-term positive impact and value for the mentee’s growth and career.

The Value of Mentoring

Mentoring plays a critical role in supporting growth in specific situations – typically:

• Mentoring is a long term relationship, where the focus of the support is working through career options and career pathing.
• Given the mentor has more experience in such areas, the approach is guidance and advice, based on that experience.
• And the results are measured in the long-term.

Great value comes from building a deep connection and strong trust. And the impact is two-way.

Whilst the mentee learns from the experience of the mentor, the same is true for the mentor. They learn from the perspective and experiences of the mentee.

Bill Gates didn’t see much value in meeting Warren Buffet. He wondered what an admittedly stand-out investor could teach him about creating greater success with Microsoft.

Gates went to the meeting as a courtesy – but the relationship has been going strong for over 30 years.

Gates credits Buffet with teaching him about business strategy, long-term thinking and philanthropy.

Going further back, the great Greek philosopher Socrates mentored Plato, who formed the Academy in Athens and became one of the most influential philosophers of all time.

And in turn, Plato mentored Aristotle, who contributed hugely to philosophy, logic and science.

And so it is with mentoring programmes.

The value lies in the extension of knowledge across many plains – and in the extension of trust-based relationships on which individuals, teams and organizations lean into, in order to succeed.

And Coaching?

As an Executive Coach, my focus is on ensuring the coachee builds the necessary awareness to take the right decision for themselves.

The approach differs from mentoring in being a structured, typically shorter-term relationship, where the coach supports the coachee developing or strengthening specific behaviours or capabilities – in a way that builds on the coachee’s strengths, values and purpose.

The premise is the coachee knows best – and my experience is just that – mine.

And based on this, my only word of caution in a mentoring relationship is for both mentor and mentee to be clear that the mentor is not saying ‘do this’ or ‘this is the only right answer’ – they are providing their best insights based on their own experience and knowledge of the situation and the mentee.

As a leader, you can toggle between the two – always in service of your mentee/coachee. But as many mentors and coaches find, in service of themselves.