When coaching becomes mentoring

Three coaching sessions in one week. Three times, I ended up mentoring.

Each client asked the same thing in a different way: "What would you do?"

So I stopped and offered a choice. Do you want me as a coach, to help you find your own answer? Or as a mentor, sharing what I have seen in 20 years of management?

Each of them chose.

But the question stayed with me after. If this happens 3 times in 1 week, it probably comes from me too.

Maybe my contracting at the start was less clear than I thought.

That is what supervision is for. Looking at what happened in the session, and at how I helped create it.

Coaches: how do you handle the "what would you do?" moment?