“The delicate balance of mentoring someone is not creating them in your own image,
but giving them the opportunity to create themselves”
– Steven Spielberg
![](https://platpharm.in/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Navigating-the-career-journey-through-mentoring.jpg)
This is the common question and confusion most have! Are they the same or different?
Both mentoring and coaching help an individual in achieving better results. However, there is a thin line of difference between the two because of the very process that is involved. Hence, it is important for every student/mentee to understand this thin line that separates the two so as to appreciate and gain from the mentoring process.
What approach should a coach or mentor take while with the student / mentee? Should they be telling the student/mentee what needs to be done, or explain how something is done, or even better – demonstrate how the approach should be? This basically forms the crux of the difference between mentoring and coaching.
A coaching session is fairly structured and of short duration. A coach actually tells and explains the student/mentee what needs to be done. In return, the student/mentee takes the lead to ask questions and expects answers/solutions. Very often the coaching can also be done through clear demonstration and actions.
Mentoring session is generally unstructured, informal and over a longer period of time. Mentor builds a relationship with the student/mentee to first understand them and then begins a discussion to arouse the student/mentee to open up to the mentor.
What then is involved in Mentoring? And, what can one expect from a mentor during the mentoring period?Mentoring traverses beyond coaching – it forces the mentee to think beyond the ordinary to realise his/her own true potential. It is in effect, a discovery process for the mentee.
It is often said, “a good mentor is someone who teaches you how to think and not what to think”. A great or a meaningful mentoring process is one where the mentee is inspired to do something.
Mentoring is a process of sharing knowledge, experience, and skills with the mentee, imparting confidence and giving a direction. Mentoring focusses upon development of the individual being mentored; coaching on the other hand is goal and performance driven.
A mentor thus empowers a mentee to see a possible future and more importantly, give the mentee the confidence that it can be achieved. Mentoring process is the beginning of a mentor-mentee relationship that’s built on trust and with the purpose of learning from experience.
Mentoring leaves the mentee with the feeling, “Yes!!! Someone like me can certainly do this”.