Contractor vs. Consultant vs. Coach vs. Mentor
When you need help, do you really sit down and decide what kind of help you need? Do you know the differences between contractors, consultants, coaches, and mentors? Do you consider how each of these roles differ in the time and cost required for them to succeed?
I’ve done all of these, and I can tell you from experience that companies often conflate contractor and consultant, consultant and coach, coach and mentor, and any other mix of the four. To really get at the right role to suit your needs, you need to understand what people in each of these roles do.
"The beginning of wisdom is the definition of terms." ~ Socrates
Contractors are task oriented. They bring technical expertise to a task such as programming, writing, graphic design, project management, and so on. They generally work on specific tasks laid out by the client and get paid for their time. The more expertise they bring, the higher the rate. You hire a contractor when you know what you want and need extra hands to get it done quicker. You can think of a contractor as an accelerator to a project you’ve defined.
Consultants may have contractor like skills, but rather than being project oriented, they are goal oriented. They generally work at the concept level to define the direction a company needs to go to reach a goal. They may bring technical skills and work to execute projects toward company goals, though unlike the contractor, they serve in a leadership role. They are typically paid on a retainer plus expenses basis, as the client is paying for the consultant’s mental energy and attention beyond mere billable hours.
Coaches can often have consultant and contractor expertise and will see solutions to company issues. However, solving those issues directly is not what you hire them to do. You hire a coach to help an individual or team to perform at a higher level within their domain. Domain expertise can be just as important for a coach as it is for a consultant, though it isn’t necessarily essential. A broad knowledge base and experience in general business and industry can be more useful in guiding clients.
Mentors, when hired externally, often rise out of a consulting role. They are hired to meet a goal for the company and pass on their expertise to in-house people at the same time. A mentor generally has experience, domain expertise, and the heart of a teacher. Where a consultant will plan and often execute a large project or campaign, the mentor makes room to be shadowed through initial phases and then in turn shadows the protégé who is learning the ropes.
Expectations and costs
As you consider prospects to fill temporary needs in your company, you will need to align your expectations and budget accordingly.
The biggest mix up I see is when a company tries to hire an experienced consultant to fill a contractor role. The first red flag should be when the company spends time explaining exactly what tasks they want the person to do. The consultant, at this point, may begin questioning the bigger plan. That would be a clue to the company that they are dealing with a consultant, not a contractor, and if they press forward to getting a quote, the cost will often be higher than expected. A recent client of mine had an internal miscommunication where one leader thought they were getting a bargain on help running their marketing to grow the company, and another leader thought they were overpaying for detailed tasks he wanted done. A conversation was needed to clear up expectations.
Consultant vs. coaching mix ups can often be avoided by communicating expectations up front. Consulting and coaching are two different skill sets, though many professionals do both. The difference is how you as a client establish your expected end results. If you are trying to accomplish something as a company that you don’t have the expertise to do, you want a consultant. If you do have the expertise, but you are hoping to raise the performance level of an individual or team, you want a coach.
Hiring a consultant or contractor as a mentor also needs to be communicated up front. If I were hired as a consultant and not asked to mentor an individual within the company, I would likely just look at assigned internal talent as resources to accomplish the goal I was hired to accomplish. On the other hand, if the employer communicates that their in-house, budding talent-in-training needs to learn how to run the project or campaign, I would work that into the timeline. Mentoring takes time and can be slightly more expensive, though in the long run, it can deliver higher value to the company.
The short of it is this: know what you need before you hire and then communicate that up front. Don’t be afraid to lay out definitions and clarify with the prospect directly how you see their role. My firm offers consulting and coaching – different, yet complementary, skill sets. Firms like mine will sometimes do contract work, though clients who want to plan and manage all the details are paying consulting rates, while missing out on our consulting expertise. As to mentoring, it’s always available upon request, as I find it the most rewarding kind of work.
About
When he isn’t trying to perfect his golf game or ski just a little bit better, Bob Shawgo runs a consulting and coaching business, Shawgo Group. He brings over 30 years of copywriting, content creation, and marketing leadership to his consulting, coaching, and workshop sessions.