While business coaching may still be a relatively new profession, it has already grown by leaps and bounds and become a firmly established and valuable resource for countless businesses, small and large.
If you’ve considered a business, leadership, or executive coach for you or your business, you’re likely aware that there is no shortage of options available.
Unfortunately, many professionals use the terms coaching and consulting interchangeably, which can make it difficult to determine what’s being offered and what you really need. Is it consulting or is it coaching? Is there even a difference?
There most certainly are differences, and a better understanding of the differences between business coaches and consultants can help you make a more informed decision about what you truly need and what’s best for your business.
What Is a Business Coach?
As the name implies, the origins of business coaching can be traced back to the sports arena in which coaches have helped athletes improve their results and achieve their goals for the past couple of millennia.
However, the facilitative approach to coaching — in which a coach primarily asks questions and challenges an athlete or client to find the answers from within based on their values, preferences, and unique perspective — was pioneered by a tennis coach named Timothy Gallwey in the 1970s. Before this, coaching was largely a skills-based learning experience provided by a master in a sport, and it often remains nothing more than this even today.
That having been said, the analogy of a business coach to a golf or swim coach is relevant and helpful in understanding the differences between business coaches and consultants.
For example, a golf coach will often work with a golfer, showing the athlete which skills need improving and helping the golfer create a plan to strengthen those abilities. The plan enables the golfer to think for him or herself and determine the best course of action in pressure situations.
Using this analogy, a business or professional coach typically works from the assumption that you have all the resources and capabilities necessary to effect the changes you seek. A coach’s job, then, is to put the client in charge of the scope and direction of the work to be done. As opposed to simply teaching, a coach will work with you to help you choose the goals you want to work toward, as well as create effective strategies, make the best use of resources, remove obstacles, take action, and stay accountable.
Business and professional coaching revolves around a coach and client working collaboratively to find a solution and create an action plan. Coaching often involves a broader, more holistic perspective than consulting, and strives to help individuals and businesses create processes that allow them to move forward and achieve their goals.
What Is a Consultant?
A consultant is a specialist with expertise in a specific area, such as an attorney or systems integration professional, and the consulting relationship usually focuses on finding solutions to a specific problem or set of problems.
Unlike coaches, who are often incredibly effective regardless of their experience in a particular industry (and sometimes specifically because of their lack of knowledge of a specific industry, allowing them to bring in a fresh perspective), consultants rarely get involved in areas outside their field of expertise and are hired to provide expert advice and specific solutions, not fresh perspectives.
Consultants, and the programs they typically provide, tend to focus on teaching or training.
A consultant’s role is to provide you access to new, high-quality information, and your role as a client is choose whether or not to adopt the methods and solutions they provide.
The Differences between coaching and consulting Are in the Details
Effective coaches and consultants have very distinct skill sets.
Coaches need to be able to help others uncover and maximize talents, resources, and opportunities. They ask questions, actively listen, and are experts at helping clients create strategies and execute them in order for clients to achieve their goals.
Consultants, on the other hand, must not only be experts on a particular topic, but they must also be excellent teachers. And being able to amass a considerable amount of knowledge, as well as be able to deliver it to their clients in a way they can understand and use is no small feat.
Given these differences in skill sets, one shouldn’t assume that consultants will make good coaches or that coaches will be effective consultants. Therefore, you need to determine the specific services the professional offers from their marketing and promotional materials or through direct questioning. Is the professional offering you their experience and training (a consultant) or are they focusing on the goals you’d like to achieve and the processes necessary to do so (a coach)? A professional who is effective at both will be able to explain the differences between the two and help you determine which role will be most effective in meeting your needs.
Assess Your Needs and the Value of Coaching and Consulting before Making a Choice
Business coaches and consultants can both be valuable resources for you and your business. However, the true value of a coach or consultant will be determined as much by your needs as by the professional’s qualifications and experience.
For example, if you or your business is in need of specific skills or resources, hiring a consultant who specializes in a certain industry or field can help you obtain the additional training you and your staff need. On the other hand, if you or your business is lacking a customized plan to make the most use of the knowledge, experience, and resources you already possess, then a coach can be invaluable in helping you or your team develop and execute strategies that will help you achieve the success you desire.
Make the Life Coaching Certificate and become a highly paid life coach.
To learn more about executive coaching, visit Lori Ciano’s website on professional coaching in Palo Alto, CA.
