Many organizations provide both mentoring and coaching programs to their employees to enhance career and interpersonal development. Although mentoring and coaching are both valuable tools, fundamental differences exist between the two programs. Mentoring focuses on providing individuals with guidance, direction, and career advice; coaching focuses on maximizing individuals' potential by working on their perceptions, selfconfidence, and creative drive. Mentoring tends to have a relatively broad scope and focus, whereas coaching is more structured with specific performance goals in mind. Depending on the individuals involved in the process, mentoring and coaching programs may provide varying levels of added value. In fact, incompatibilities between individual needs and program objectives can leave participants unhappy with and underserved by the mentoring or coaching program.

It can be inferred from the passage that the author most likely holds which of the following opinions?

Because it focuses on specific performance goals, coaching is usually more valuable than mentoring.

Organizations should require individuals to participate in a mentoring program before participating in a coaching program.

Mentoring programs provide little value to individuals in higher$-$level or supervisory$-$level positions.

Steps should be taken to determine whether a mentoring or coaching program would best meet an individual's needs.

Compared to mentoring, coaching programs are more personalized because they focus on an individual's perceptions, self$-$confidence, and creative drive.