Mentor vs Coach: How to Know What Support You Need for Professional Success
You’re a high achiever. You care about building your career and know that it’s important to keep growing, acquiring new skills, and tackling new challenges
You wonder if there’s a secret to leadership that everyone else knows, but you’ve been missing. You’ve heard that it’s important to develop a board of directors or to work on your growth mindset or to find mentors — or was it a sponsor? — and also to build your network. Yet you’re not sure where to start.
You’ve heard of executive and career coaches. You’ve heard that other people have had great mentors.
How do you know if it’s the right time to get professional support? And which one — mentor or coach — might be the most needed for you right now?
The different approaches for mentorship vs coaching
Imagine that your goal is to learn to ride a bike. You might do it on your own by reading up on the process, watching YouTube videos or asking your friends to share their experience of learning to bike.
If you work with a mentor, someone who has years of experience and specific knowledge in the skillset of bike-riding, they will likely tell you about their own experience of learning to ride a bike. They will…
