Why Business Consulting and Not Coaching
Have you noticed the growing trend of business coaches springing up all over the place? Log on to any social media site and you will likely find people pitching their services as a business or a life coach. I prefer consultants over coaches, but what’s the difference between the two?
As defined by Cummings and Worley (2009), coaching is a development process whereby an individual meets on a regular basis to clarify goals, deal with potential stumbling blocks and improve their performance. It is an intervention that is highly personal and generally involves a one-on-one relationship between coach and client (Cummings & Worley, 2009, p. 451)… A coach employs methods such as asking questions so that the client may gain insight into their assumptions, clarify a meaningful vision or outcome, and identify action steps to achieve a specific end result. A coach facilitates by introspective methods so that a client can discover his or her own answers based on personal values, preferences and unique perspectives. As such, coaches do not offer advice or therapize their client…(Cummings & Worley, 2009, p.452).
A consultant is a person who gives professional advice or services to companies for a fee. A business consultant provides information and ideas on how to actually run a business- your business. Where a business coach will work on convincing you that you’re good enough to run your own company, a consultant will tell you how to run the company and run it well. A business consultant has experience in business, facts to back up the things they are telling you, case studies to reference and enough success in their own line of work to prove they know what they are talking about.
When I think of most business coaches I think of personal cheerleaders rooting you on but not actually knowing how to play the game. Regardless of whether you choose a consultant or a coach you need to consider the credentials of the person you are working with? What have they done? Do they have a successful business? Do they really know what works for others in business or are they just telling you that you can be successful without telling you how?
The truth of the matter is anyone can wake up one day and decide they want to become a business coach. If they have enough positive affirmations, happy thoughts and vision boards perhaps they can inspire you to make some changes. However, they can’t tell you what to change or how to change it but a business consultant can. A business consultant has been where you are. They have been at the bottom and worked their way to the top and they can teach you the methods they used to take your business to the next level too.
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