What is the difference between Coaching, Mentoring, Counselling and Advice?

Coaching is a process that helps you achieve your goals or intentions. Sometimes that even includes working out what those are!

Coaching involves identifying what you want, finding out what might be getting in the way and helping you choose a way forward. A coaching programme provides the space, accountability and support for you to take action.

Mentoring is different from coaching. Mentoring provides guidance from the experience of the mentor. I combine coaching and mentoring depending on what you need from me and the goal or intention you are working on.

For the right clients, I also bring in more practical advice around pricing, product development, marketing and social media.

I've found coaching, mentoring and some consultancy to be a powerful combination. It is also why I am accredited by the European Mentoring and Coaching Council, one of the world leading coaching accreditation bodies for coaching and mentoring.

Counselling or therapy is a little from coaching and mentoring. Counselling is used to address mental or emotional health issues which are impacting on your day to day life. I am not a counsellor or a therapist. I am mental health first aid trained so I know how to help signpost to the right support.

How do I know what I need?

In our first call, I am working out what will serve you best and checking that coaching or mentoring is what you need right now.

At the centre of my business is a commitment to what providing what my clients need. This value is above profit, revenue or anything else.

If I feel you would benefit from counselling, therapy or working with a different coach or mentor, I will share that with you and share any resources I have.

There are often some signs that you may need mental health support rather than coaching. I have trained as a mental health first aider to make sure that you are safe working with me and it is what you need.

What does this look like in practice?

One of my clients is a CEO of a charity. The majority of the work we do together is coaching. She uses her coaching sessions to reflect, think out loud, explore options and feel supported. The only mentoring I do with her is around her relationships with the Board as this is an area I have experience to share as both a staff member reporting to a Trustee board and as a Trustee Board Member myself.

For another client, she is setting up and growing her own coaching business. She has had a lot of coaching previously as part of her coach training. She wants much more mentoring support and advice to help her make decisions and take action to grow her business.

For another client who is a fundraising consultant. We work together to scope out her offerings, set her pricing, put structure around her client pipeline and help her set and manage boundaries with clients. Her sessions are very practical and often include advice from my experience as a consultant in management, product, fundraising and data science.

I hope that this has helped your understanding of the differences between coaching, mentoring, counselling and advice.

If you'd like to explore how we could work together and how coaching, mentoring (and some advice) could help, book a chat.