While both coaching and mentoring have gone through a shift over the last decades, they are not the same. To put it simply, coaching is about asking challenging, thought-provoking questions to let people come up with their own answers, while mentoring is more about providing direction and advice to support growth and development.
Further, mentoring often focuses on the acquisition of specific skill and knowledge for professional growth. Mentors can provide guidance, share insights, and offer practical advice based on their own experiences. Conversely, coaching is more performance-oriented and often focuses on developing a person’s whole potential. Coaches are often associated with helping individuals develop their skills, set specific goals and provide accountability.
Look for a Mentor if you want to …
- Grow your network
- Get advice for your career
- Look up to a role model
- Talk though problems
Look for a Coach if you want to …
- Develop a specific skill
- Repeatable practice
- Time bound relationship
- Receive actionable feedback
10 key differences – Mentors vs Coaches
| Mentoring | Coaching | |
| Focus | Individual development | Performance improvement |
| Role | No agenda | Specific agenda |
| Relationship | Self-selecting | Comes with the position |
| Source of influence | Perceived value | Position |
| Area | Life/career | business |
| Time frame | Long term | Short term |
| Agenda | Open | Set |
| Orientation | Relationship related | Task related |
| Approach | Non- structured | Structured |
| Objective | Improved performance | Personal satisfaction |
Thanks for a good summary!
Mentoring and Coaching should be used frequently by leaders onboard and ashore. However, to be a good mentor or coach require some training to be able to successfully deliver results. There are shipping companies who have coaching Captains/Chief Engineers visiting every ship on an annual basis or more.