Introduction
In the course of your career (and likely life as well), you’ll come across unsolicited feedback and advice. You’ll also often consider seeking feedback, advice, mentoring and/or coaching to improve your performance or help achieve your goals.
But how are they different and similar and when should you leverage each one?
Let’s take a look.
Feedback
Feedback is generally:
- A reaction or response to an activity, process, action or behaviour
- Can be solicited, unsolicited, positive or negative
- Delivered as an observation
Because feedback is an observation, often without actionable suggestions, some suggest that asking for advice is more effective than asking for feedback.
When to ask for feedback: Feedback is usually most effective if you want to understand other’s perceptions, feelings or reactions to something (e.g. if you want to know if someone thinks a process you implemented is helpful). Feedback usually comes from someone you work with directly.
Advice
Advice is generally:
- An opinion or recommendation
- Can be solicited, unsolicited, corrective or proactive
- Action-based
Unlike feedback, advice will come in the form of an action-oriented suggestion or recommendation. When the advice aligns with your goals or objectives and comes from a knowledgeable or experienced source, it’s more valuable than feedback because there’s less guesswork involved. The onus isn’t on you to interpret the feedback and create an action plan (e.g. trying to figure out what to do with the feedback that you’re not confident enough), but is ready for you to act on if you agree with it (e.g. if you speak clearly and at a slower pace, you’ll keep the audience’s attention longer).
However, keep in mind that both feedback and advice come with the opinion and prejudices (positive or negative) of the person giving it.
When to ask for advice: When you’re seeking the guidance of someone more experienced or knowledgeable than you about something (e.g. career advice from someone in a role you’re targeting). The advice can come from someone you work with or someone in the same or your target industry or role.
Mentoring
A mentor-mentee relationship is generally time-limited for a specific developmental goal. In a mentorship:
- Mentor shares knowledge, skills or experience with you
- Mentor guides through direction
- Mentee asks questions to gain mentor’s knowledge or experience
Think of mentoring like an ongoing solicitation of advice from the mentor.
People usually seek mentors through their company or through professional associations, and the mentor typically volunteers their time. Professional associations that offer mentorship programs sometimes charge a nominal fee to mentees to join the program to cover administrative costs and ensure some level of commitment to the mentor-mentee relationship.
When to seek a mentor: A mentorship is generally effective when you have a specific development goal in mind, such as finding a job in a specific field or developing a certain skillset. Mentees generally seek mentors whose success and values they admire or want to emulate, and should be in the industry and role they are targeting.
Coaching
Unlike mentoring or advice, a professional coach:
- Provides guidance for your goals to reach your full potential
- Is non-directive (i.e. specifically does not give advice or feedback)
- Asks questions to help with decision-making, reflection and awareness
Rather than learning from someone, when you work with a coach, they help you uncover and reach your goals in a way that works for you. They’ll often push you to consider options that you don’t naturally consider, and ask questions to help you become more aware of your own goals and values. A coaching relationship can be time-limited (based on specific goals) or more long term for someone seeking ongoing development throughout their entire career. Coaching fees can vary widely, although some coaches offer group coaching or coaching programs for when one-on-one coaching isn’t a viable option.
When to use a coach: Coaches are helpful for when you don’t get value from advice, feedback and mentoring. Coaches are often sought by people mid-career or later, who have exhausted development potential through other means. Coaches typically charge for their services.
In Summary
Feedback, advice, mentoring and coaching can all help with professional development. They serve different purposes and can be immediate, short-term or long-term. Depending on your development needs, a combination of the four can sometimes be very powerful to help with the different development opportunities you want to address.
