Coaching and Mentoring


Having a mentor and/or a coach can be very helpful to your career and company development.
the roles of mentor and coach differ in several ways. the mentor acts as your counselor, providing advice on career paths and development opportunities. the mentor must have a broad experience and the ability to place you into assignments that will help with your development. a critical element in the mentoring relationship is a mutual respect between you and your mentor. coaching is not telling what to do or providing simple answers to employees questions. coaching is helping your employees discover the answers themselves. it is unlocking an employee's potential to maximize their own performance, helping them to learn rather than teaching them. coaching is must more time-consuming than giving orders, but is also much more satisfying to both the employee and the manager.

Is there a difference between Coaching and Mentoring?
We're going to cop out here and say there probably can't be a definitive answer to this. The two terms seem to be increasingly linked and are often used interchangeably.
These happen to be our definitions, but we're sure you'll find a bunch of others if you look around.
Coaching: we see a business, corporate or executive coach in much the way we see a sports coach. This person sets specific goals and objectives, sees what you need to do to achieve them and works with you on target setting, professional and personal development, expansion of your skills base and offers practical and relevant advice and guidance.
Mentoring: a mentor can almost be seen as a wise, experienced friend or favourite aunt or uncle type person. A mentor leads by example and is a role model. They might be very good at helping you see the big picture and understand the politics of the organisation you work for.
A coach can be a mentor and a mentor can be a coach, or the role can be rolled into one. The key is that whatever term you use, the person being coached or mentored gets unbiased support and guidance.enefits of Coaching and Mentoring
When you work with a coach or mentor you will benefit in many ways:

  • Have a safe place to offload
  • Develop skills you already have
  • Learn new skills
  • Gain insight into yourself and the people you work with
  • Get unbiased, confidential support
  • Gain fresh perspectives on your issues
  • Get advice, suggestions and options
  • Maintains confidentiality