What do Mentors do?
Mentors advise and inspire.
In short, practical terms:
- Mentors make introductions – to people, to programs or companies.
- Mentors give recommendations to best resources – reading, classes, experiences.
- Mentors give feedback for the mentee to consider.
Mentoring overlaps with coaching and sponsorship but there are differences in the three methods.
Katy Dickinson with TechWomen, Giza – Egypt 2018
Mentoring vs. Coaching vs. Sponsorship
| …… | Power | Topic | Duration | Boundaries | Reward |
| Sponsor | Hierarchical or Positional Authority | Succession Planning, Leadership Building | Long-Term: Years | Part of Regular Work | Career Direction, Protection |
| Coach | Special Knowledge | Transfer of Specific Information, Teaching | Short-Term: Class or Program Duration | School or Training Scope and Vision | Student: Passes Test, Coach: Payment |
| Mentor | Wisdom Authority | Career or Personal Growth | Mid-term: 6 to 12 Months | Program Scope and Vision | Mutual Learning, Recommendations, Feedback |
Adapted from a 2014 work by Katy Dickinson while at Everwise, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License
Published as a Mentoring Standard web page 15 Sep 2015. Updated 22 Nov 2018.
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