Coach vs. Mentor: What Can They do for Your Professional Development

Coach vs. Mentor: What Can They do for Your Professional Development?

Whether it's in our personal lives, athletic activities or professional endeavors, many of us have relied on the guiding hand of a trusted third party to help overcome challenges.

Our first encounter may have been a grade school coach who helped us learn how to hit a ball or shave a few seconds off the mile run. Later, we may have been mentored in our vocation by the steady hand of a long-tenured colleague, who showed us the ins and outs of a complex professional environment.

In either case, the guidance of an experienced individual can prove invaluable in elevating our abilities. But is there a distinction between a coach and a mentor? And if so, what is it and how might they differ in the ways they can help you grow your career?

To differentiate a professional coach from a mentor, let's take a look at their respective focuses.

Coaching	Mentoring
Relationship	Professional Goal and development focus	Personal & professional Advisor Guidance, wisdom, advice
Purpose	Coach helps guide coachee to: Identify objectives Create action plans Develop strategies to help achieve goals	Personal and professional growth Draws on experiences Helps mentee navigate challenges and make decisions
Expertise	Skilled in coaching methodology (not necessarily in coachee's specific field) Questions to guide self-awareness and self-discovery Listens to understand Observes coachee Facilitates growth	Possesses specific industry knowledge and experience in mentee's field
Structure	Structured meetings and interactions Focused on specific objectives in a defined timeframe	Informal Long-term Ongoing support and guidance
Approach	Active listening Powerful questioning Reflective and observation techniques for gaining clarity Coachee explores possibilities and develops own solutions	Shares experiences Offers advice Provides guidance based on their perspectives and expertise
Accountability	Strong emphasis on accountability Clear action steps are defined Progress is monitored Support is given to keep goals on track	Accountability is not a primary focus, but mentors can help keep mentee accountable

To briefly sum it up, a coach typically focuses on helping their coachee explore the possibilities while developing their own solutions.

By contrast, a mentor generally focuses on improving the mentee's understanding of a specific role or industry through sharing their own experiences, guidance and advice.

So, whether you want to professionally (or personally) grow in a specific area or are looking to accelerate your career advancement opportunities, should you be considering a coach, a mentor or both? While only you can truly answer that, to better inform your choice, let's take a look at some advantages of both roles.

Advantages of a Coach

Coaches can often help you focus on near-term successes, setting specific career goals and actively working toward them. Engaging a skilled coach will allow you to:

• Promote learning. With a consistent coaching routine, you can quickly develop a culture of ongoing skill acquisition and professional development.
• Think objectively. By depersonalizing performance in your tasks and techniques, coaches help you think objectively and improve clarity and perspective.
• Develop skills. Using tools, coaches help coachees identify the development they need for ongoing success.
• Enhance performance. By asking specific questions, the coach can help the coachee focus on achieving specific goals.

Advantages of a Mentor

Compared to coaches, mentors will likely become a longer-term trusted advisor that helps guide your development throughout the different seasons of your career. Professional development using mentors allows you to:

• Customize guidance. By working closely and consistently with a mentor, you'll often receive important guidance in a more comfortable, personalized and efficient manner.
• Boost confidence. Encouragement and emotional support are often easier to access and accept from a familiar source, so mentors can go a long way in helping bolster your confidence when confronted with unfamiliar challenges.
• Transfer knowledge. By consistently exposing less-seasoned workers to the guidance of skilled mentors, we can effectively pass the often undocumented knowledge - the things longer-term colleagues "just know" - down to next-generation team members.
• Accelerate career development. Mentors can substantially accelerate career advancement by advising novice team members on networking opportunities, career tracks and organizational dynamics.

Guidance to Success

ERIE provides numerous opportunities and resources to ensure personal and professional development always remain at the forefront of our employee culture. Through ERIE's Coaching Network, we facilitate trusting, meaningful connections between employees and trained coaches - comprised of ERIE leaders across different areas of the business - to help individuals challenge themselves and unlock their full potential. Coaches can help lay the foundation for employees to chart a new career path, develop specific skills or help them succeed in a new role.

At ERIE, we're always on the lookout for talented individuals who are not only eager to learn but willing to share their skills and knowledge with an appreciative team. If you're interested in working with us, check out our career opportunities to learn how you can succeed with ERIE.