If you are not already familiar with the characteristics and professional goals of tutors, mentors and coaches in corporate training, this article is for you. To untrained eyes, in fact, these three training activities might seem to be the same thing: let's see why they are not. 

Coaching, mentoring and tutoring: partial synonyms

Let's start with the basic definitions: 

• Coaching (shadowing/guidance) is a personal development methodology in which an experienced person (the coach) supports another person (the coachee) in achieving a specific professional goal. A coach provides support toward the acquisition of a higher degree of awareness, responsibility, choice, confidence, and autonomy.
• Mentoring is a methodology of training (more informal than coaching) one-to-one, between a person with an advisor, consultant role (senior, mentor) and another (junior, mentee), in order to have the latter develop certain skills. The relationship built is medium- to long-term, a true guided learning path, in which the mentor (facilitator of change) shares knowledge and skills acquired through experience, in order to foster the mentee's professional growth.
• Tutoring is training support, especially in academia, usually provided by a person with in-depth knowledge or expertise in a particular subject. The tutor provides assistance to one or more people (tutees) on certain subjects or skills. Emblematic is the case of peer tutoring (peer learning) which is based on a cooperative learning model. 

1. Coaching

The term coach is derived from coche, coachman (the guide who leads the carriage). In fact, the coach (as an expert figure) is one who supports his or her "student" or client in achieving set goals. Working alongside the person in training, the coach identifies the latent peculiarities of the other person, provides tools to strengthen them, and provides moral and psychological support.

Coaching is a real structured and methodical process, made up of study, analysis, improvement through error and teamwork. It is a role that presupposes first and foremost asking the right questions. 

The coach: 

• Guides his or her client through dialogue 
• Helps the client bring out his or her characteristics
• Psychologically motivates the client
• Never imposes his own ideas but creates a method to support the client's evolution
• Incentivizes teamwork

2. Mentoring

Mentoring is a two-way training process between mentor and learner, a true one-to-one relationship of exchange and learning.

The mentor does not elevate himself to a higher position than his learner, but guides him to assimilate new content, in a relationship of mutual trust, through listening, patience and empathy.

Mentor:

• Creates a one-to-one relationship with the learner
• Bases the relationship on exchange and mutual esteem
• Sets growth goals for the learner in the world of work or education
• Listens to and takes ownership of his or her learner's experiences

3. Tutoring

Tutoring is a training process where a more experienced figure accompanies the learner toward learning. The tutor teaches, imparts knowledge, creates and shares content, making sure that its assimilation is promoted, provides feedback.

The tutor: 

• Introduces his or her students to a subject in which he or she is considered an expert
• Accompanies learners in their study and learning
• Evaluates improvements with positive and corrective feedback
• Mediates between learners and content, to make the content understandable

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator