Although training and mentoring consist of transferring knowledge from teacher to student or from mentor to apprentice, coaching consists of improving, supporting and enabling the person to intervene and actively participate in their own growth and knowledge. The essence of coaching is different from both training and mentoring. Training, like mentoring, is a hierarchical relationship of knowledge. There is a strong focus on the trainer as an expert in the field.
While mentoring is carried out almost exclusively on an individual basis, which naturally leads to a more collaborative and transformative relationship, the trainer-apprentice relationship tends to be a bit more formal. Coaching consists of having that space to be more clear about your goals and dreams and to generate your own possibilities to move forward. If you are clear about your goals and needs and would like to receive advice, guidance and more specific contacts at this stage, then what you need is a mentor. Coaching is unique in that it focuses on applying new or more effective approaches to leadership, work, and life.
The International Coaching Federation defines coaching as “partnering with clients in a creative and stimulating process that inspires them to maximize their professional and personal potential. But what's the difference between a coach, a mentor, and a trainer? Which one is best suited to help you achieve your specific professional goals? At the same time, CEOs and senior management can act as internal advisors to other employees, especially when they practice a transformational leadership style. Both the coach and the mentor can act as a confidential sounding board, as a neutral third party that is fully committed to supporting you to achieve your goals. This will ensure that your mentor can share with you the knowledge and experience they have that are most relevant to you and your situation.
Coaching requires human resource managers and business leaders to interact with their people on a regular basis in ways that help cement the company's culture and promote its objectives. Mentoring provides mutual support to mentors and mentees; the mentor is satisfied to be seen as a source of wisdom, while the mentee receives invaluable advice and a person to turn to to discuss challenges, goals, and opportunities. Perhaps most importantly, instead of giving all the answers, coaches help people develop the skills and mentality needed to find solutions on their own through well-thought-out questions and inquiries, such as a soundboard. Most of the time, when people talk about leadership or employee development, they use words like training, mentoring, and mentoring interchangeably.
Coaching can also be a thriving independent business if you have a good business model and know how to scale it up effectively. Many of these CEOs of public and private companies expressed that they would have liked to receive this type of coaching at the beginning of their careers.
