Coaching und Mentoring: Was ist der Unterschied?

Coaching und Mentoring: Was ist der Unterschied?

You don't have to choose between coaching and mentoring as a tech professional. Both can provide invaluable support during critical phases of your career.

Coaching and mentoring can shape and define careers, using subtly different approaches. The two forms of professional guidance can overlap quite a bit. However, here is a basic introduction to coaching and mentoring, and when you should seek each one out.

Coaching is professional

Are you aiming for a new sport or a new job? Then you need a coach. They are there to ensure you are successful in your role and that the team is getting the most out of their investment. For example, you can ask a coach, 'A client filed a ticket today related to the X issue. What's the best way to react to something like that?' - You would never really ask a mentor something like that

Thinking about making a career change? This is a great opportunity to talk to a mentor, but your boss might not want to hear that. It's rare for a coach and mentor to be the same person.

Your employer may even hire a coach for you to help you reach your potential or solve a nagging problem. This type of coaching can be brutally honest and may lack the gentle, nurturing style of mentoring.

Coaching can be situational

Coaching can also be limited to a job or a project. The coach is there to ensure that you can do your best and progress during the time you are on the team. This can look different depending on the situation and project. Tech projects, for example, are to be managed differently than projects in an economic area - so the coaching has to be coordinated with what the goal should be in the end.

Mentoring can last a lifetime

A mentor can be your first boss, a professor, or even an older or younger colleague. You develop a personal relationship with your mentor, who remains a key figure in your career for many years. Often, a casual, private conversation can lead to a mentoring relationship that will shape both you and your mentor for the rest of your working (and even personal) lives.

Mentoring is a Guideline

Mentors – usually more experienced professionals – tend to guide or steer their mentees' career paths. They use the experience, insight, and judgment they have acquired over the years to give their protégés direction on where to look for answers and how to do things. It is a more active process.

Coaching is self-directed

In coaching, you look to your own soul and experience for the answers, rather than getting them from the coach. It's about asking good questions and leading through a phase of self-discovery. Individuals receiving coaching need to learn for themselves what the answers are.

Here's an example of how coaching and mentoring could work for an employee who asks for help with a difficult decision.

With coaching, you would say something like, "Okay, that's interesting. Tell me more about what you know." And they would explain the problem to you. You would then discuss the employee's options with them, including the option that carries the highest risk. So you're asking questions that help you narrow down what you already know.

Mentoring: Asking the employee to explain the situation, pointing out warning signs or risks, and then giving relevant advice based on your own experiences that could help the employee avoid risks in making a decision.

The difference: Mentoring is more about guiding and pushing them in the right direction, while the coaching process is much more passive.

Coaching-Tips for Tech

A coach can provide employees, managers, and leaders with values clarification, career assessment, and decision-making assistance so that they can choose an optimal career path.

Coaches can help tech professionals assess and improve their communication style, develop visions and goals for their career, provide motivation, and also instill a sense of responsibility for their actions. It can be a sounding board for new ideas, promote risk-taking and goal achievement, strengthen trust, self-confidence, and the ability to implement and influence change, and help reduce worries and excessive stress.

Mentoring-Takeaways for Tech

The technology world is constantly changing and evolving. A mentor can help someone who is new to the company to learn the basics and get up to speed, especially in larger companies. In addition, a mentor can use his or her influence with other employees to help the mentee make positive connections or to realize that his or her ideas and work are truly valuable and worthwhile, thus building confidence.

Mentorship can work wonders for entrepreneurs. Technology is changing so rapidly that it's easy to get lost without a plan. This is especially true in the startup world, where most companies don't have the structured career path that you see in larger businesses. Mentorship can play a key role in bridging this gap by allowing entrepreneurs to benefit from the direct, relevant experience of most experienced technologists, learn from their mistakes, and chart a course forward.

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