~ 3x/week - a letter (and podcast) for tech leads, engineering managers, and startup CTOs, giving you clarity, certainty, and confidence in the role. https://techleadcoaching.com
I write and talk a lot about coaching (specifically for tech leads @ the Tech Lead Coaching Network) and I wanted to point out a distinction to see what you think:
You mention that mentor is (roughly) about provided guidance and advice.
In the coaching network, I specifically guide our coaches to NOT provide advice about the problem, but instead focus all their energy on the person who needs to solve it. This difference may prove to be a way that I distinguish mentoring and coaching (to the extent it even needs to be distinguished, of course).
But yeah, I think of mentoring as particularly useful for people who are new in the role (not just junior devs -- even if people are new in senior roles) and sometimes it's useful to just get some clear pointers on what specifically to do.
Maybe, then, coaching is more useful for experienced folks and mentoring is more appropriate for juniors.
IDK, just thinking out loud!
Thanks for taking the time to post this!!
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Awesome detail and guidance James. Nice. 👍
I write and talk a lot about coaching (specifically for tech leads @ the Tech Lead Coaching Network) and I wanted to point out a distinction to see what you think:
You mention that mentor is (roughly) about provided guidance and advice.
In the coaching network, I specifically guide our coaches to NOT provide advice about the problem, but instead focus all their energy on the person who needs to solve it. This difference may prove to be a way that I distinguish mentoring and coaching (to the extent it even needs to be distinguished, of course).
But yeah, I think of mentoring as particularly useful for people who are new in the role (not just junior devs -- even if people are new in senior roles) and sometimes it's useful to just get some clear pointers on what specifically to do.
Maybe, then, coaching is more useful for experienced folks and mentoring is more appropriate for juniors.
IDK, just thinking out loud!
Thanks for taking the time to post this!!