“There are painters who transform the sun to a yellow spot, but there are others who transform a yellow spot into the sun”

– Pablo Picasso

Let’s, however, take a look at the main similarities and differences, as this may be helpful for you in establishing the style you would prefer someone works with you.

There is considerable overlap between these development approaches with each having a performance, direction, support or personal well-being focus in the context of the organisation, your career or your whole life.

Improving performance is largely about developing your job skills (competences). Whilst developing your soft skills (competencies) is better served through direction and support. Developing your character is best served through supporting your development and a focus on your personal well-being.

You will see that there are overlaps indicated in the diagram. Perhaps more so with the growth of ‘life coaching' which has filled a niche in developing you in your life whilst not being therapy or counselling.

In spite of it’s origins in Greek culture some 3,000 years ago, mentoring is a buzzword today where life and work is high-tech but not high-touch.

When we use the word “mentoring”, a dozen or more different images race across our minds. It seems that we might not all be on the same page. It will serve us well then, to offer a working definition that brings us all together in our understanding. Here, I have tweaked a definition original from Paul Stanley and Robert Clifton  (Stanley & Clinton, 1992) and later by Dr. Tim Elmore (Elmore, 2011):

In the 16th century, the word ‘coach' described a horse-drawn vehicle to take people from where they were to where they wanted to be. In the 20th century, big buses with rows of seats were also called coaches, and their purpose was the same: to get people to where they wanted to go. The word ‘coach' was given athletic meaning around 1880 when it was used to identify the person who tutored university students in their rowing on the Cam river in Cambridge. Later, the word (and role) became associated with musicians, public speakers and actors, who rely on coaches to improve their skills. Don Shula, former coach for the Miami Dolphins wrote about athletes who would come to his team with their skills and talents, ready to submit to the coach whose job was to instruct, discipline, and inspire them to do things better than they thought they could do on their own. Over time, the idea of a coach has not really changed. A coach is a vehicle to take someone from where they are now, to where they want to be. Eric Parsloe, author of “The Manager as Coach and Mentor” (Parsloe, 1999) defines coaching as:

The table below is an overview of the main differences between the four most common approaches to coaching and how these differ from the manager’s role.

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	Training / Teaching	Coaching	Mentoring	Counselling	Managing
Focus	receiving instruction and guidance	receiving structured support to find own solutions to issues	giving and receiving direction and evaluating options	psychological well-being	giving instruction and direction
Context	community and the organisation or team	the individual’s job & work	personal development for future career and life	self-understanding to adopt more constructive life practises	tasks to be done within the role and development for career within team
Orientation	discussion	probing	application	discussion	skill transfer
Number	ten to fifteen	one-on-one to one-on-eight	one-on-one to one-on-three	one-on-one	one-on-one to one-on twenty
Value depends on:	attendees learning and transfer	the coach’s skills and the coachee’s motivation	the mentor’s experience and knowledge & willingness to share	the experience and psychological training of the counseller	the manager’s authority & skill
Content	based on the leader	based on needs of the job	based on the needs of the mentee	based on the needs of the client	based on task  needs
Goal	goal is collective	performance improvement	intentional growth investment	personal well-being	job skill development task efficiency
Progress	often sporadic	depends on motivation	made by pre-determined goals	depends on severity of issues	depends on skills
Level of Accountability	low level	mid to high level	high, intense level	mid level	intense level
Method	community (Heart and Mind)	question and probing (will and mind)	direction and leadership (heart, will and mind)	Different counsellors will place varying levels of emphasis on behaviour, on thinking and/or on emotional aspects.	motivation  and management (mind)
Purpose	to meet and interact and receive knowledge	to improve performance in role	to reach potential in career and life	personal well-being	efficiency and effectiveness within current role.

[/su_table]