THE DIFFERENCE

When Vips agrees to mentor it is because she has first-hand experience in your line of work. She will offer our knowledge, expertise, and advice to those who has less experience. When she coaches she might not have hands-on experience in your field as such, but she masters systems and methodologies she can share.

Mentoring is long term process and will, therefore, build a longer term relationship based on mutual trust and respect and will aim at developing relevant skill-sets for your present and future job. It will require full commitment from you, there is no easy short term “fix” here. Our role will evolve as your needs change over time. We will have an informal or a formal relationship depending on your desires. The difference is that, in the formal relationship, we will follow a more structured approach to set realistic expectations, tasks, deadlines and, hopefully, we will gain mutual benefits. If you are not interested in investing in a long term haul let us talk about coaching instead.

WHEN WE MENTOR

When we mentor we are leveraging our experience and skills, we guide you with a firm hand in the right direction. We can help you explore your career options for growth, set development goals, develop new contacts, and identify resources. We can help you consider opportunities for career growth, gain confidence, and improve interpersonal skills. In this way, a we serve as a professional advisor and role model for you. We will offer our knowledge, expertise, and advice to you.

WHEN WE COACH

For many people, identifying and prioritizing goals is a big challenge. When we coach, our focus is on helping you become more accountable and goal oriented in identifying your own growth vision and core strengths and to help you break down your development goals and identify the specific present and future needed skill-sets to achieve these goals. We will ensure that you stay true to the importance of your goals, that they are SMART [Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Timely] and that you are prioritizing them as planned. We will help you choose the best path for you and break these SMART goals into concrete tasks to be completed within a specified period of time to achieve the desired results. We will challenge you, question decisions, and inspire you to take a closer look at your own perception of yourself and your traditional approach to challenges.

Coaching is a burst for a short period of time and our goal is to improve performance and impact on what you presently are engaged in.

If you are interested in exploring this further, contact us and let us know more. We will then suggest who of us who will most likely be the best match for you and we can see if you agree or have a different view.

If you want to read more about mentoring versus coaching this is a very good, informative resource that is not as heavy as a textbook: