I now have my CPC (Certified Professional Coach) designation. I have that because I took the training and passed the certification assessments. And I am proud of it.
While I have been offering coaching in addition to mentoring and consulting (though not as prominently as the mentoring), some people think they are pretty much synonymous. They aren’t, really. Each serves a different purpose.
Coaching is about helping you achieve your (relatively) short-term goals. Quite often, a coaching engagement will last for a block of 3 or 4 or 6 months. That is enough time to actually accomplish the short-term goals of most people. After that, many individuals have the tools they need to keep going on their own.
They may come back after a time with a new, bigger goal they need a coach to help with. After all, a coach is both a resource, a cheerleader, and an enabler. Some people need that coach to push them to greater efforts. They want to do it, but need the encouragement and accountability to make it happen.
A mentor, paid or unpaid, has a longer-term view in mind. He usually has a one-year to many-year viewpoint. His work with you is aimed at more ambitious and long-range development for you.
The mentor also brings a different set of tools and skills to bear in working with you. He is likely to have “been there, done that” in the specific industries, positions, or skill-sets that you are seeking help with. In many cases, you are paying for his wisdom. He will work with you to develop areas in you that need enhancing so that you can grow into your long-term goals. They may not always be comfortable.
A consultant does a different job. He works on a specific project with specific deliverables by a specific deadline. The consultant may be using a variety of tools to meet his deliverables. Those tools might be his wisdom, his experience, his knowledge, his industry know-how or skills, or some combination of all of them.
The consultant’s engagement could be for one day (as specific task or analysis) to a couple of years (a complex project with many different aspects of the consultant’s talents and skills utilized.)
As you can see, they each fill a different need. And different people have different talents. One individual might excel at being a coach, another as a mentor, and third as a consultant. Others are find it easy to be one or two of them. And, some, are able to be all three (although not at the same time in the same engagement.)
Have you had experiences with coaches? Or mentors? What is your take on it? Use the comments and let us know.