What is Coaching?

The Differences Between Teaching, Coaching, Mentoring and Counselling

Although teaching, coaching, mentoring and counselling all share some key characteristics and skills, they are nonetheless quite different and it’s important to be aware of the differences.

Teaching and Training

Teaching and training involve an expert teacher who imparts knowledge to their students.

Although the best teachers will use participative and interactive techniques, like coaching, there is very definitely an imbalance of knowledge, with the teacher as expert knowing the ‘right answer’.

See our page: Teaching Skills for more information

Coaching

Coaching involves the belief that the individual has the answers to their own problems within them.

The coach is not a subject expert, but rather is focused on helping the individual to unlock their own potential. The focus is very much on the individual and what is inside their head. A coach is not necessarily a designated individual: anyone can take a coaching approach with others, whether peers, subordinates or superiors.

‘Coaching’ is one of the essential leadership styles identified by Daniel Goleman (see our page on Leadership Styles for more and take our 'What Sort of Leader are You?' self-assessment to find out how well-developed your coaching leadership style is).

The key skill of coaching is asking the right questions to help the individual work through their own issues.

For more on questioning, see our pages on Questioning Skills.

Mentoring

Mentoring is similar to coaching. There is general agreement that a mentor is a guide who helps someone to learn or develop faster than they might do alone.

In the workplace mentors are often formally designated as such by mutual agreement, and outside of an individual’s line management chain. They usually have considerable experience and expertise in the individual’s line of business.

A mentoring relationship usually focuses on the future, career development, and broadening an individual’s horizons, unlike coaching which tends to focus more on the here and now and solving immediate problems or issues.

See our further pages: What is Mentoring? and Mentoring Skills for more information.

Counselling

Counselling is closer to a therapeutic intervention. It focuses on the past, helping the individual to overcome barriers and issues from their past and move on. Here, the focus may be either internal or external.

For more about the role of the counsellor, see our pages: What is Counselling? and Approaches to Counselling.

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The differences between these various 'learning methods' can be summarised as:

Learning Method:	Coaching	Mentoring	Counselling
The Question:	How?	What?	Why?
The Focus:	The present	The future	The past
Aim:	Improving skills	Developing and committing to learning goals	Overcoming psychological barriers
Objective:	Raising competence	Opening horizons	Building self-understanding

Based on the work of: Clutterbuck, D. & Schneider, S. (1998)

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Conclusion

The term ‘coaching’ means many different things to different people, but is generally about helping individuals to solve their own problems and improve their own performance.

Resource: skillsyouneed.com