Coaching/Mentoring/Consultancy – What is the difference?

I was involved in a Zoom Coffee Break chatroom the other day, when we drifted into the meaning of coaching, mentoring, consultancy and training. It highlighted that there are multiple understandings/definitions of the concepts. Additionally, we explored the different skills/qualifications and expectations needed for each. I apologies for the length of this one but there was context needed.

So, this article is an attempt to put some clarity and assist people making a decision what support they really need. I will admit I get frustrated with banding these words around without some level of appreciation for the work involved in being a professional coach or the years needed to become a mentor or the complexity of adult education to be a trainer or the function of a consultant to bring value to the client. With this in mind I will keep my personal understanding/definitions to the end of this article.

Every methodology strengths and weaknesses the comment theme of all the development tools is the fact they are all designed to support a client/trainee to improve their current situation. Inherently if the client needs are at the heart of the service being offered then there will be improvement. Knowing these strengths and weaknesses supports identifying the right approach and support needed to succeed, also it is important to match the needs/styles of the client/trainee.

There is whole industry dedicated to teaching the tools needed to be consultants (Globally USD 160 Billion in 2019), mentors, coaches (USA USD 15 Billion in 2019) and trainers. Creating an industry worth billions as clients need/use these services. As with all industries there are those doing a wonderful job and those winging it or focused on the bottom line rather than the impact.

Lets start with some definitions

Coaching

• International Coaching Federation (ICF) defines coaching as partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential. International Coach Federation (ICF) Website.
• International Coaching Community defines coaching as: It unlocks a person’s potential to maximise their performance. Coaching helps them to learn rather than teaching them Website.
• Association for Coaching defines coaching as Website

1. Personal Coaching "A collaborative solution-focused, results-orientated and systematic process in which the coach facilitates the enhancement of work performance, life experience, self-directed learning and personal growth of the coachee."
2. Executive Coaching “As for personal coaching, but it is specifically focused at senior management level where there is an expectation for the coach to feel as comfortable exploring business related topics, as personal development topics with the client in order to improve their personal performance.”
3. Organizational Coaching “As for personal coaching, but the specific remit of a corporate coach is to focus on supporting an employee, either as an individual, as part of a team and/or organization to achieve improved business performance and operational effectiveness”
4. Speciality Coaching “As for personal coaching, but the coach is expert in addressing one particular aspect of a person’s life e.g. stress, career, or the coach is focused on enhancing a particular section of the population e.g. doctors, youths.”
5. Team and Group Coaching “As for personal coaching, but the coach is working with a number or individuals either to achieve a common goal within the group, or team to develop high performance.”

• International Mentoring Group defines coaching as: Coaching is a method of achieving set goals. The coach through dialogue helps the coachee (client) to correctly set a goal, to find the best way to achieve the goal and reveal hidden inner potential in a person. The coach does not say how to achieve success, but asks questions through which the client himself finds the solution to his own tasks. The Cambridge dictionary defines the word "coaching" as "the job or activity of providing training for people or helping to prepare them for something". But the definition isn`t quite right, because coaching is not training or preparation - it helps and supports on the way to achieving the goal. Website

 Mentoring

The Training Journal provides 16 mentoring definitions divided into 8 definitions and 8 what it takes to become and mentor Website

• 8 definitions of mentoring

1. “Mentoring is a long term relationship that meets a development need, helps develop full potential, and benefits all partners, mentor, mentee and the organisation” - Suzanne Faure
2. “Mentoring is a protected relationship in which learning and experimentation can occur, potential skills can be developed, and in which results can be measured in terms of competencies gained”. - Audrey Collin
3. Mentoring is “A mutual relationship with an intentional agenda designed to convey specific content along with life wisdom from one individual to another. Mentoring does not happen by accident, nor do its benefits come quickly. It is relationally based, but it is more than a good friendship…mentoring is not two people who just spend time together sharing”. - Thomas Addington and Stephen Graves
4. “Mentoring is a supportive learning relationship between a caring individual who shares knowledge, experience and wisdom with another individual who is ready and willing to benefit from this exchange, to enrich their professional journey”. - Suzanne Faure
5. “Mentoring is an important adult relationship since it creates a legitimate and special space where people can take chances by trying to be authentic about, and find meaning within their real-life professional experience” - D Doyon
6. “The purpose of mentoring is always to help the mentee to change something – to improve their performance, to develop their leadership qualities, to develop their partnership skills, to realise their vision, or whatever. This movement from where they are, (‘here’), to where they want to be (‘there’). - Mike Turner
7. “Mentoring involves primarily listening with empathy, sharing experience (usually mutually), professional friendship, developing insight through reflection, being a sounding board, encouraging” - David Clutterbuck
8. “Mentoring is an intense work relationship between senior and junior organisational members. The mentor has experience and power in the organisation, and personally advises, counsels, coaches and promotes the career development of the protégé”. - Anne Stockdale

Consulting

• Consulting .Com defines consulting as: Consulting is the business of providing expert advice to a specific group of people. Website
• Harvard Business Review article “Consulting is more than giving advice” and goes on to describe the hierarchy of consulting purposes including: Providing information to a client, Solving a client’s problems, Making a diagnosis, which may necessitate redefinition of the problem, Making recommendations based on the diagnosis, Assisting with implementation of recommended solutions, Building a consensus and commitment around corrective action, Facilitating client learning—that is, teaching clients how to resolve similar problems in the future and Permanently improving organizational effectiveness.
• The Business Dictionary defines consulting as: The providing of expert knowledge to a third party for a fee. Consulting is most often used when a company needs an outside, expert opinion regarding a business decision. For example, a company seeking to sell its products abroad may look for a consultant familiar with the business practices of the target country. The consultant will tell the company what best practices should be followed, what to expect from customers, and how to deal with foreign regulations. Website

As you can see from the number and variety of the definitions there is no one clear understanding across the globe. In my opinion the diversity is good and bad as every client is different and every individual has different learning styles/temperaments/structures. I personally prefer the personal touch to the read a book approach. Others prefer the book and figure the practical out themselves.

My understanding of the different titles is as follows (if you disagree with me that is great, debate is a source of learning also);

• Coaching is the process by which a facilitator/coach allows the individual/client to clear their own blockages to overcome challenges. Based on positive psychology that everyone has the power to solve their own challenges they just need help seeing the possibilities and the make their own mind up on the actions to be taken.
• Mentoring is a process of using a wealth of experience to support the individual/client to learn new skills, overcome challenges, be challenged (sounding board), take a model/template and personalise it etc. The relationship is more “well in my experience I might do any of the following, what will you do?”
• Consulting is a process of using several different tools to support the organisation/client to change or improve. Each project is similar and completely different, there is no opportunity for cut and paste as every organisation like every human being is different. The focus is always on creating a long term, understandable and implementable solution not to baffle with jargon or lengthy reports.

My last comment is don’t get caught up in the details or definitions all of them can help you individually and collectively. Analysis what you need, define the relationship with the service provider, agree methodology and move forward identifying challenges and finding solutions.

Good luck on your journey.