The benefits of coaching and mentoring have been well-known throughout mankind’s recorded history. The trend now in the training world is to embrace these techniques more than ever. This is part of a wide spectrum of "informal learning" techniques, which includes various types of peer-to-peer knowledge sharing. The terms coaching and mentoring imply that someone with skills and experience is willing to share this with others, to help them attain a useful level of competency quickly. For example, a programmer on a software development team may learn a new language or protocol for a specific business purpose and later share that knowledge through a coaching process to reduce the learning curve of other team members in a position to benefit.

Coaching and mentoring will occur much more readily in corporate cultures that encourage such interactions. In analyzing, from a high level, the training program within an organization, consider how the corporate culture does or does not encourage such efforts, and whether changes can be made to enhance the culture. Training professionals should take an advocacy role in promoting these concepts to management.