It is easy to blur the roles of a Coach and Consultant. The role of an Executive Coach and Consultant performs different activities and each role draws from specialized training and expertise while focusing on specific outcomes.
You must understand your current reality and decide where you, your leadership team, direct reports, and the organization desires to be so that the greatest transformation can be experienced.
There are distinct differences between coaching and consulting. We hope you find that the following paragraphs provide clarity on these distinctions and help you to determine the best fit for your organization.
Coaching
Coaching is a development process used to increase a leader and team performance. Coaches help their clients navigate through personal or professional challenges resulting in them exploring viable solutions. Coaches do not tell their clients what to do. They do however help their coaching clients expose impediments and roadblocks to their success. Coaches take their clients on a journey of self-exploration, self-insight, and self-discovery. Coaches help their clients build their self-awareness and develop in areas of weakness. Coaches help their clients explore solutions and find answers to their own challenges. Coaches can serve as sounding boards for their clients.
Do you need a coach?
Yes, if you desire to develop your leaders and teams, address destructive leader and team behaviors, or develop high-potential internal candidates for succession. Our experienced coaches will partner with you in customizing a development plan that results in your leaders, team, and organization operating at optimal performance levels.
Our coaches can help shine a light on your blind spots and bring awareness to your roadblocks of effective leadership. Our approach is collaborative. We work with C-Suite Executives, HR Professionals and HR Business Partners and customize a development program that helps to achieve leader and team goals.
Consulting
Consultants are SME’s (Subject Matter Experts) in their respective areas of expertise. Consultants have extensive experience in their core competencies. Typically, consultants are retained by organizations to address specific business and organizational challenges within the organization or teams. Consultants analyze and diagnose problems and provide options to solutions.
Consultants are retained on a project basis where deliverables are defined within a scope of work for a specified period of time period. Consultants are collaborative with the organization's project team.
Do you need a consultant?
Yes, if you have specific leadership and team challenges that have impacted the organization in a way that needs strategic interventions for a successful turnaround.
Advising
Advisors provide advice based on personal and professional experiences. They serve as a sounding board for their clients. They do not do the work of a coach or consultant but may advise you like a consultant. Some engagements transition from coaching and consulting to advisory after significant strides have been made with the client.
Here are some questions you can discuss with your team to determine the best solution for current reality and where you desire to be.
Do we have specific challenges within our business or organizational team that we need to address?
Do we have staff that we want to empower and develop?
Do we need to make some important business decisions that will impact our employees? Our bottom line? Our customers?
Do we need to make some adjustments to resources and not sure where?
Do we need a business strategy to pivot into this new COVID reality?
e2s Strategies can help your organization address specific business challenges, develop your executive leadership team, coach a recently promoted leader and an emerging leadership team. We are professionally trained, certified and credentialed coaches, consultants, and advisors with decades of collective experience working with mid-sized organizations in the public and private sector, small businesses, C-Suite Executive Leadership teams, and business units.
To learn more about how we can partner with you in improving the performance of your leaders, team and organization, GET IN TOUCH with us.
