When I first meet with clients, we talk about the difference between mentoring and coaching. These two spaces share a lot in common so they’re easily conflated, and I’ve shared previously my pithy way of approaching the topic:
Mentors answer questions. Coaches question answers.
Even after we had talked it through, clients would struggle. I would see them give a deer in headlights look to some of the “weird” questions I would ask. Or clients would ask me questions in the hopes that I would supply the answer. It was clear a pithy description wasn’t enough. After all, what does it even mean? And I suppose we could turn those questions back around on our client, but I felt like there had to be a better way.
There is. And it starts with four lines and four words, one on top of the other.
[Read more…]