The first step in understanding the differences between mentoring and coaching is to define what a coach does. Coaching will be focused on an individual's performance, and it will assist a staff member who is having difficulty learning a required job skill in overcoming their mental block; in other words, coaching is about improving the way a staff member performs and is designed with a specific agenda in mind. Mentoring, on the other side, is all about personal development. Rather than having a defined relationship between the mentor and the person being mentored, both sides are able to relax a little, build trust, and contribute to that relationship. While mentoring is intended to assist newer employees - even those new to a specific department - in learning the job, it is also intended to assist those being mentored in growing as individuals. Figure 1 : Mentoring Real Estate Programs Coaching is specialized; in a spor...