Want To Know The Difference Between Coaching, Training & Mentoring?

Are you curious about coaching but not sure what the difference is between coaching, mentoring, and training?

If so, you’re not alone. Lots of people don't understand the difference.

3 definitions

In this video I'm going to give you three quick definitions of those things so that you do know the difference and can decide if any of them are what you need in your life right now.

Watch the video (or continue reading if you prefer).

Training is when somebody teaches knowledge or a new skill.

Mentoring is when someone offers advice or makes suggestions about what they think you should do, usually on the basis of their own experience. Often a mentor is someone who has already achieved the thing that you want to achieve.

Coaching is different

Coaching is different from training and mentoring. It’s a partnership of equals designed to help you achieve specific goals.

The official (and quite wordy) definition of coaching used by the International Coaching Federation (ICF) is this:

“Partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximise their personal and professional potential.”

What can you expect when you partner with a professional coach?

You can expect the coach to provide a safe, confidential space in which to have structured conversations that help you think through whatever challenges or opportunities you've got going on in your life.

Your coach will ask powerful questions to increase your awareness of what it happening in the situations you choose to discuss. Questions also help you stretch your thinking beyond what is possible on your own.

A coach may share their own observations and intuitions in response to what you say (or don’t say – a good coach will pick up on tone of voice and body language too). By sharing, the coach intends to help you see something about your situation that perhaps you haven’t been able to see for yourself.

From time to time a coach might offer a suggestion but only ever in the spirit of it being something you can decide to take or leave. You are the expert in what you need, not the coach. No one knows better than you what course of action to take.

Ultimately what we’re doing in a coaching conversation is supporting you to identify your own solutions that are 100% personalised to you.

A coach is not an adviser

Everyone has an opinion about what you ‘should’ be doing. But how often has a friend offered you well-meaning advice that didn’t hit the mark?

A coach assumes you are creative, resourceful and whole – that you have everything you need to move forward. The job of the coach is not to advise, it’s to help you think clearly and find your own answers that are tailored to your specific circumstances and what you want to achieve.

Once you know what you want to do, you can expect your coach to support you to create simple action plans and help you be accountable for following through.

My approach

My coaching programmes emphasise coaching but include mentoring and training too.

When you choose to work with me one-on-one you get pure coaching. Rarely will I step out of coach mode, unless we explicitly agree that something else is needed.

When you join my Rise programme you get all three. Access to a self-study resource library of bite-sized training videos and practical exercises. Weekly group calls where you receive mentoring or coaching depending on what you need. And unlimited private coaching when you need to go deeper than we can in the group calls.

Book a call

 If any of this sounds like something you need, book a call here. We’ll chat about what’s going on for you and how I could help.