What’s the Difference Between a Business Coach and a Business Mentor?

« Back to Articles

Getting started in business can be difficult. Whether you are an entrepreneur or a newly hired team member, you know that it is important to get started on the right foot. You’re just not quite sure what that looks like in a tangible sense.

Professionals all over the world use external resources to improve their professional efficiency. Of these, mentors and coaches are both viable ways to get the ball rolling quickly. But what exactly do these positions do? How can they be assets to you as a budding business person? And in what way are they distinct from one another?

In this article, we explore the intricacies of the business coaching and mentorship worlds.

What is Mentorship?

Mentorship tends to be an organic relationship. You meet someone who has been in your position before. The two of you hit it off, and then before you know it, you trade thoughts on the industry and learn from their experience.

In the business world, some companies will deliberately establish mentorship programs to help new hires acclimate to professional life. In these arrangements, the mentorship veers close to coaching territory, blurring the already thin line between them.

However, the hallmark of a mentorship is that both people involved are there because they want to be. The relationship is typically driven by a legitimate emotional connection that leads to something approximating a child/parent relationship— at least to the extent that something like that can exist in the workplace.

Mentors will not usually provide you with a strict game plan for how to accomplish your goals. Instead, they will speak from experience, telling you how they navigated a similar situation when they were in your position.

Mentors can also serve as strong networking resources. They may be able to recommend you for promotions or connect you with other professionals in your community who may be able to provide you with some kind of advantage.

They may also receive something from the relationship themselves— though their gain is usually not monetary. It may simply be the joy of company and the pleasure of passing on what they know to someone who could gain from it.

Employer-driven mentorship programs may even feature some type of workplace incentive. However, regardless of how the mentorship program is framed, it will usually never be as formal as the dynamic between a coach and their client.

What is a Business Coach?

It may be fair to think of a business coach as the commercial version of a mentor. Coaches are trained professionals who may not necessarily have a specific knowledge of your business— though it can be possible to find specialised coaches.

Most of the time, the person you hire will have a general knowledge of how to accomplish business goals. They will know how to work with you to not only figure out what you want but also how to get there.

This may involve charting out goals and mapping out specific actions that will need to be taken to achieve said goals. Sometimes, these goals might be monetary. You want to boost your business’s revenue capacity, and you hire a coach to help them get you there.

Other times, the issue may be social. You want to boost your public image by improving your business's ethics, or community outreach.

Most coaches will be versatile in what they can help you achieve. That said, it is always a good idea to discuss their specialties with them before you make a hire.

Coach or Mentor, Which is Right for You?

Generally speaking, mentors will be the ideal fit for people who are working for someone else. If you are newly hired at a company, or simply trying to take your career to new heights, it will be helpful to use people who have been in your shoes before as a resource.

Mentors can certainly also be valuable at the entrepreneurial level, even as they might be harder to come by.

Coaches enter the equation when you need to get specific. For example, maybe you are an entrepreneur. Your business has one location. Your goal is to open up two more. While a mentor may be able to provide you with advice on how to expand, they probably aren’t who you would look to for a granular plan.

A coach, on the other hand, should be able to provide evidence-backed suggestions to get you where you need to go.

Of course, it’s important to keep in mind that neither of these relationships need to be, or even should be mutually exclusive. Business coaching can be a valuable asset from time to time. However, few are the business people who wouldn’t benefit from also having an attentive and responsive mentor in their lives.

If you’ve decided that finding a mentor is the best option for you, then join PushFar. With 100,000 members on the free open-network, you’ll soon find the perfect mentor for you!

This article was guest written by Andrew Deen.