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Coaching Coaching is similar to mentoring and many people use the two terms interchangeably. At Spark we understand coaching as being much more specific than mentoring. Coaching will have a focussed goal which relates to a specific project or to a specific development need of an individual. Mentoring goes further in offering support and development that is more focussed on the person than the specific goal. The coaching pages are still under development and will be updated shortly. The table below highlights the main differences between Coaching and Mentoring. Please contact us to find out more about the coaching we offer. Coaching is goal centred Mentoring is person centred

	Mentoring	Coaching	Training
Focus	On the person	On the outcome	On skills, knowledge and attitudes
Agenda	The person's developmental needs	Negotiated around a specific project or problem	Professional skills or knowledge needed to perform specific tasks or roles within the organisation
Context	One-to-one Outside of line management structures		External or internal training courses On-the-job training Computer based training
Examples of processes	Reflect and learn from experience Ask tough, strategic questions Provide an insightful sounding board Make links between behaviour and results Challenge resistance to change		Exercises Simulations and case studies Demonstrations Discussions and seminars Projects Questions and tests Multimedia
Outcomes	Helps executives improve personal and organisational performance	Helps executives complete a project or deal with a problem	Helps develop specific skills, knowledge, understanding and experience