Let’s face it…
People are born to make mistakes. At the end of the day, mistakes guide us to a better future and help us learn a lot of lessons.
While not everyone can prevent mistakes from happening, over the past decade, a new process has been developed. This process helps people become better and more effective in their lives and careers.
While the terms ‘coaching’ and ‘mentoring’ are both used when describing this method, it is wise for everyone to understand their differences.
The Difference Between Life/Career Coaching and Mentoring
Notably, there are four main differences between coaches and mentors giving advice to individuals related to their career or life in general:
- Coaching is related to tasks or issues, while mentoring is focused on building a relationship.
As simple as this sounds, a life coach is responsible to imbue certain skills in a trainee while a mentor forms a more personal relationship with the individual, sharing the factors and situations that affect the professional as well as personal successes or failures.
- Coaching is usually for a short time, while mentoring lasts longer.
Whether it’s life coaching or career coaching, the concept of a coach is related to a training for a particular task, job or mindset. Instead of enriching the present skills or acquiring new ones (which coaches prefer), mentoring is for a longer duration and usually starts with a goal and provides guidance beyond the expertise needed for the job.
- Coaching improves performance, mentoring develops personality.
In most cases, the goal of coaching is to improve the individual’s performance in the desired task by developing the skills they require to perform it. On the other hand, mentoring is all about developing the personality and is done with a mission to provide overall personal and professional development.
- Coaching isn’t pre-designed, mentoring is.
Coaching can be started immediately, regardless of the skills or the ability of the coach. It can base itself and form a design based on a specific scenario. In contrast, mentoring is always pre-designed and needs to determine the strategic purpose of the subject, the key performance areas, the specific mentoring models and the components of the mentoring sessions.
Professional Help in Any Area of Your Life and/or Career
Now that you know the differences between hiring a life coach and hiring a career coach, it’s time to speak about the value of this relationship.
In a nutshell, both mentoring and coaching are designed to help individuals gain a specific skill set and achieve their goals within a specific field. They are meant to have more focus and revolve around advice from the mentor or coach.
If you are thinking about hiring a life coach or a career coach, this probably means that:
- You are serious about becoming a better person – in this case, a life coach can help you
- You want to improve your performance at your workplace – in this case, a career coach is right for you
- You are looking into managing your time more efficiently – both life and career coaches can help you do this in various aspects of your life
- You want to try new things in your life and business
- You need a ‘spark’ in your creativity
- You want to increase your income
- You need to find support and encouragement
- You want to identify your strengths and weaknesses (and know how to balance them)
- You want to gain more confidence
- You want to establish audacious yet realistic goals
- And many other improvements
Basically, both of these forms of coaching give you valuable feedback that focus on positive and forward thinking. What you will get is solid advice and professional help on how to focus on your future potential and avoid making mistakes in your life and career.
Why Thinking Outside of The Box Is Important in Your Life and Career
Self-confidence is only one of the skills that you can improve when hiring a coach in your life. Whether with your current job or your future plans, a career coach can let you think outside of the box and see yourself for who you really are and what you really contribute to in the workplace.
Similarly, life coaches are known for increasing self-esteem and confidence by helping individuals develop strong skill sets and discover better opportunities in their lives.
In times when we are used to thinking in the same way and doing the same things, coaching and mentoring can truly make a difference to our mindset and help us become a better version of ourselves.
On a side note, there are still a lot of people who have no idea that they can hire a career or life coach for their goals. Instead, they believe that the only way to move up the corporate ladder is through their employer – and the only way to improve their life is through themselves.
However, a little encouragement to explore all of your options and think differently is sometimes all that we need. So, it is up to you to choose the exact person that you want to work with – and select the areas of improvement that you need to work on.
Final Words
In the end, it is safe to say that coaching is a great way to pursue new things in your life. Similarly, mentoring is a great practice if you want to improve your career and set the bar higher.
But the best thing about both?
It is you – and only you.
You get to choose what you want to work on improving. You get to choose the coach you are hiring. And ultimately, you own the relationship and reap the rewards from it.
