Several coaches offer their definition of mentoring and how it differs from coaching
For this issue we asked a number of coaches to identify where mentoring and coaching differ. Among the themes in their answers is the necessity for mentors to advise, not merely guide, their clients

‘In our discussions with clients we are aware that mentoring and coaching are often mentioned in the same breath and, at times, appear interchangeable,’ says one of the coaches below. So are they? Is there only one type of mentoring? What sort of relationships do mentors have with clients and what are the goals? And how useful – or otherwise – is the academic literature on mentoring?

Rachel Spratling Commercial director, Lequin Executive Coaching
A mentor offers advice – quite different from a classic coaching relationship. So while a mentor will give the client advice, opinions, skills and insights, a good coach will step back and help the client to come up with the right questions to ask the right people. Mentoring can be very powerful in helping clients to build knowledge of the company beyond his or her own department or organisation and develop crucial business acumen. And if clients use it with coaching, they can build on this knowledge to develop their leadership skills and style.

Erik de Haan Director, Ashridge Centre for Coaching
When considering the distinction between mentor and coach, it pays to look at their original meanings. First, Mentor is introduced in Homer’s Odyssey as an old friend of the family. The goddess Pallas Athena assumes his form as a disguise to help Odysseus’ son, Telemachus, find his father. Mentor and Athena have wide experience and knowledge of the situation, and advise and assist Telemachus.

Coach, on the other hand, is defined in the dictionary as: “A large, closed, horse-drawn carriage with four wheels that conveys esteemed individuals from where they were to where they want to be.”

In our view, this is the key difference between a mentor and a coach: one is a more experienced professional who contributes their own expertise; the other is an instrument in the client’s learning who is not necessarily familiar with the client’s field of work.

Julian Badcock Partner, IDDAS
In our discussions with clients we are aware that mentoring and coaching are often mentioned in the same breath and, at times, appear interchangeable. At IDDAS we use the following definition: Mentoring enables an individual to learn and seek counsel from an experienced professional who can pass on relevant knowledge and experience. Mentoring is “directive” and content rich and uses practical experience.

Sarah Smith Director, indigo spirit
Great mentors are experienced and wise people who have our best interests at heart. They not only pass on their skills to us but also open doors, challenge our thinking and inspire us to see what is possible when we are stuck. In our mentor training, we encourage people to use the whole spectrum of development tools. This ranges from teaching, advising and facilitating through to client-centred coaching. The skill is in knowing when it’s appropriate to use each of these. People who can move with grace and ease through all these styles make great mentors.

Professor David Clutterbuck Clutterbuck Associates
The problem with defining mentoring is that it depends which model you are referring to. On the one hand, there is a largely US-originated model, called sponsorship mentoring, which focuses on how someone more senior and experienced can use their influence for a younger, less experienced person. This primarily one-way learning approach focuses on career advancement; personal development may occur, but often as a result of career assistance, rather than as a precursor.

On the other hand, the European model of developmental mentoring focuses on personal growth and on helping people to do things for themselves as the keys to achieving life or career ambitions. A two-way learning relationship, it may be between peers, or even upward, because the critical exchange is based on learning, not on power.

Much of the academic literature on mentoring is unhelpful, because it fails to distinguish which model is being studied. It often also confuses line manager roles with mentoring, which requires an off-line relationship to ensure openness of dialogue. Such definitional problems render well over 50 per cent of academic studies useless.

Nadia Cenci Owner, NAC Coaching
Mentoring is an interactive process in which the mentor facilitates the client’s progress towards defined goals. The difference between coaching and mentoring is the subject of much debate but I definitely think that a mentor requires some knowledge or experience of the relevant topics, whereas coaching can be just as effective without any of these requirements. Mentors are often expected to give advice and their opinion, whereas the successful coach allows the client to explore all the options. Mentoring also requires following an agenda and will share responsibility for the results, whereas the client and not the coach will define their goals and any action to be taken.

Eileen Arney CIPD adviser, learning, training and development
Mentoring draws on the same skill sets as coaching – both are about facilitating learning, usually in a one-to-one relationship. Mentoring, though, describes a relationship in which the facilitator has been chosen because he or she has more experience or understanding of whatever is being learned. So it means that, in mentoring there, is rather more scope for telling – although a mentor should also be able to help the learner to find his or her own answers.

Perhaps mentoring is best seen as a subset of coaching that suits some circumstances better than others.

Vince Hagedorn Founder and executive director, Mentfor/the East Mentoring Forum
Definitions of mentoring, coaching, counselling, advising and so on keep academics happy. In the real world, these activities overlap in a continuous space. Mentoring is both a set of skills and their specific application to personal, professional and economic development. The skills centre on communication – how to provide a “listening space”; how to start the conversation; how and when to ask pivotal questions; how to draw out of the subject their aspirations, determination and goals. These mentoring skills underpin a range of activities and relationships. Describe mentoring to a counsellor, adviser or coach and they usually say: “I do that!”

Mentoring is differentiated by its objectives. It is non-directive, often long term and works to goals that evolve. It works best when there is a voluntary element and depends on personal synergy. It is creative, not remedial.

Mentoring in the workplace is a practical, skills-based one-day course looking at what good mentoring is about and will help those wanting to help their organisation to develop a mentoring approach. For more details visit www.cipd.co.uk/training/mgt/mw or call our customer service team T 020 8612 6202

Every issue, we will post a topic for discussion that will also be posted online. Let us have your thoughts  www.cipd.co.uk/coachingatwork/discussion or email liz.hall@peoplemanagement.co.uk Next issue’s question is: is goal- setting essential/helpful in coaching?