Mentoring vs Coaching vs Training and Why You'll Benefit From Combining Them

A core belief of the TidyBrains Mentoring service is: everyone works and reacts differently, with their own needs and particular style.

As individuals, we are placed in fairly homogenous environments. Understandably so. These processes and systems are there to attempt to align people — to foster teamwork and collaboration.

Bringing out your best requires a more thoughtful and personalised approach that can sometimes feel like going against the grain. But without this intentional approach to your self development, there’s a danger you’ll be pulled in directions that don’t serve you. You need a personalised approach that’s tailored to your needs and particular style.

An external voice that’s invested in your growth can help guide you and provide the support you need. This is where mentoring, coaching, and training come in.

Mentoring vs coaching vs training

Note: these terms are often used very loosely and can mean different things to different people. Here I present my own opinions on what I believe each is meant for, and the differences.

At a very high level:

Mentoring = guidance and advice

Coaching = focused on specific goals and outcomes

Training = attaining specific skills and knowledge

There are overlaps between these approaches, but the key differences are in the focus areas and outcomes.

Mentoring

Mentoring is usually about having a trusted and experienced adviser that you can go to for all kinds of personal and career advice.

They can help you navigate your career and personal life, provide advice on how to approach a particular problem, and point you to the right resources and people.

Often, this will be about solving current issues in a tactical and practical way, guided by some longer-term strategical thinking, but with an emphasis on short-to-medium term actions.

A great mentor shouldn’t give you all the answers — they will help improve your thinking and problem-solving skills, and guide you to find the answers yourself.

For software developers, a mentor can help guide you when:

• you have a particular problem at work (technical, product development, communication, teamwork, etc.)
• you want to grow your career but not sure exactly in which directions
• you’re navigating difficult / complex situations in your personal life or at work
• you’re struggling to keep up with the latest trends and technologies
• you’re looking to define your longer-term goals and outcomes

Having a mentor is a great way to find solutions to existing problems and come up with longer term goals.

Coaching

Once you have concrete goals or outcomes, a coach can help you break things down into actionable plans and steps, monitoring your progress and giving you feedback over time.

The common use of the term “coaching” is from sports, where individuals and teams are coached to win competitions. The same principles apply to personal and career coaching, but the goals can be more varied.

Whilst coaching is usually considered for longer-term goals and outcomes, I do also believe it’s just as effective for short-term goals. The key is to have a clear goal in mind — a coach can help with this. Also, ambitious longer-term goals are only really achievable as a series of short-term goals.

Coaching is a more involved and structured process, that can often last for months or even years.

A great coach will help you articulate a goal, break things down into achievable chunks, build your confidence, and hold you accountable.

For software developers, a coach can help you with goals like:

• getting a promotion at work
• transitioning from one type of role to another
• switching from permanent to contracting or freelancing work
• building your own products and potentially start your own business
• improving your work-life balance

Having a coach is a great way to keep you confident, accountable and focused on your long and short term goals.

Training

Training is more about learning — acquiring new skills or knowledge. This can be done independently through blogs, courses, books, videos, etc., but having a dedicated trainer can help you focus on the right things and accelerate your learning through feedback and guidance.

A good analogy: having a personal trainer for exercise — they will provide the routines to follow, observe you, and give you feedback.

Training is most effective when you have a clear goal in mind, for example, to learn the Ruby on Rails framework to build a dynamic content website. And best when you’re learning theory and practice together.

A great trainer will help you understand the concepts, point you to relevant learning materials, provide you with exercises and projects to practice, and give you feedback on your work.

For software developers, a trainer can help you with learning:

• a new programming language, framework, or tool
• better ways of thinking and problem-solving
• advanced techniques and patterns in a particular technology

Having a trainer is a great way to accelerate your learning and to pick up new skills and knowledge in a structured and focused way.

Combining them

There are two key reasons why combining mentoring, coaching, and training is more effective than using them in isolation:

1. Interdependence: each of these approaches focus on different areas but can be quite interdependent, especially when trying to figure out a goal and then achieving it effectively over time, whilst adapting to real-world situations.
2. Personalisation: everyone works and reacts differently, with their own needs and particular style. By combining these approaches, you can find the right mix that works for you, and adapt as you grow and change.

Interdependence

You may have noticed already a lot of overlap between the three approaches as we covered them.

Some mentors may help with goal-setting and lightweight coaching, whilst coaches may provide some form of mentoring and training, and trainers might provide some high level coaching and mentoring.

Where it gets problematic is in the unspoken expectations. For example, if you’re expecting a coach to provide you with in-depth technical training, you may be disappointed if they don’t. Or, if you’re expecting a mentor to hold you accountable for your goals, and they don’t really do that, then it may be disheartening.

These kinds of unspoken expectations need to be brought to the forefront and managed — largely through communication, but also with a clear understanding and combining of the different approaches.

Personalisation

We all benefit in some ways from advice and suggestions. However, we operate and think differently. There’s a big gap between taking advice and actually actioning it.

Some people benefit from having a looser structure, whilst others need a more rigid plan to follow.

Some people benefit from a hands-on and somewhat micromanaged approach, whilst others are more independent and prefer to be left to their own devices after some initial guidance and planning.

Having a single person be your mentor, coach, and trainer can be a great way to ensure that you’re getting the right mix of advice, guidance, goal-setting, planning, learning and feedback that works for you.

Accountability (with kindness), regular feedback, and a trusted voice underpin all of this, regardless of your needs and particular style.

Concrete example

Let’s take a concrete example: you transition from being a permanent software developer to becoming a freelance developer. The journey might look like this:

1. [Mentoring] You speak to me about the issues you’re facing at work, and I help you explore the idea of freelancing and owning more of your time — something that might be more in tune with the way you operate and think.
2. [Mentoring] We speak about the potential risks and rewards of freelancing, and I help you understand the pitfalls and how to mitigate them. You go away and think about it.
3. [Mentoring] You come back with a clear goal in mind: you want to transition to freelancing within 3 months. I push back on this — 6 months might be better, and perhaps it’s better to take on some work on the side first, to test the waters.
4. [Coaching] Now we work together to break this down into smaller, achievable goals. You might need to build a portfolio, and find some clients — maybe a friend or previous employer that’s interested in paying you for some small work.
5. [Coaching] You come back with a portfolio and a couple of potential clients. I critique these and we discuss the next steps. You’re ready to take on some work on the side.
6. [Mentoring] You come back after working with your first client with some concerns about the work-life balance, and I help you navigate this.
7. [Coaching] We adjust the plan to fit better with the work-life balance you’re looking for. Maybe this will take a bit longer than we initially expected. But you’re also learning a lot more now that you’re working with clients.
8. [Mentoring] Over the next few weeks/months, we keep in touch, and I help you navigate your experiences so far, and provide advice and guidance as needed. We notice that you’re hitting the limits of your technical knowledge, and I suggest some training resources.
9. [Coaching] The training resources were useful, but you want to take this opportunity to upskill in a bigger way. We add to your freelancing plan a goal to learn a set of new technologies and techniques over the next 3 months.
10. [Training] I run some workshops to help you level up on a couple of these technologies. I provide you with some resources and exercises to practice, and give you feedback on your work.
11. [Mentoring] You go away and apply these new skills to your freelancing work. We continue to address many of the non-technical issues that come up, and I provide advice and guidance as needed.
12. [Coaching] You’re getting to a point in the plan where you’re ready to take on more clients, and finish your permanent job. We work together to make this transition as smooth as possible.
13. [Training] Maybe we need more training sessions to dive deeper into the advanced practices and patterns of the technologies you’re using, so you can build better products and services.
14. [Mentoring] You’re now a full-time freelancer, and we continue to work together to address any issues that come up, and to help you grow your freelancing business.

The above example flow should give a very clear idea of the interdependencies and personalisation between mentoring, coaching, and training. Each step builds on the previous one, and each approach is used at different times to achieve different outcomes, tailored for the individual.

Tailored to each individual’s needs and styles

When I speak to potential clients, my first goal in the free 25 min chat is to understand what makes them tick, what current issues they’re facing, and who they’re looking to become.

With this initial knowledge, I come up with a highly personalised plan that combines mentoring, coaching, and training in a way that works for them. We constantly reevaluate this plan as we work together, and it evolves as they grow and change.

If you’re interested in working with me, hit the button below to get in touch. I’d love to hear from you and see how I can help you grow and achieve your goals.