Mentoring vs Coaching

As we enter the new year and people make their resolutions, one of the things that might be on your mind is getting a mentor or coach. While they may seem similar, they serve different purposes, and understanding the distinction can mean the difference between getting a valuable service and a frustrating experience that fails to deliver what you need.

Professional mentoring for start-up founders was a service I started offering last year so here’s how I defined the difference:

Mentoring is a relationship where an experienced individual (mentor) provides guidance, advice, and support to a less experienced person. The focus is typically on sharing industry knowledge and offering insights based on the mentor's experiences. Less experienced doesn’t mean mentoring is only for juniors. For instance, a lot of the start-up mentoring I do is with non-technical founders who don’t have experience of what is or isn’t feasible in the tech world. I use my experience of countless tech builds to advise on achieving the best outcomes.

Conversely, coaching is typically a more structured arrangement designed to help you reach specific goals. Coaches are usually professionally qualified in coaching techniques and work with you to unlock your inner potential. Unlike mentoring, coaching isn’t typically about sharing personal experiences. Instead, it’s more about helping you through self-discovery to find the answers you need yourself.

Unsurprisingly, there is a lot of overlap between the two. Although I’m not a professionally trained coach, I use some coaching techniques in my mentoring sessions. Helping mentees to see when they already have all the info they need to make a decision is a good example. 

Fundamentally, if you’re looking for industry-specific advice to fill a gap in your understanding, you’re likely after a mentor, whereas if you’re after support to bring out your own strengths, a coach would be a better choice.

If you’re a start-up founder, you may be able to access the services of mentors like me through Techscalers (Scotland-based Tech Startups) or Barclays Eagle Labs (UK-wide Startups, not tech-specific), do check them out!