What is the difference between a coach and a consultant?
In this episode, Ray Rood, founder and Senior Consultant at The Genysys Group, shares his thoughts on the difference between coaching and consulting.
Consultants work with organizations. Coaches work with people.
This doesn’t mean you can’t play both roles in the context of a consulting project or engagement. As a consultant you are working on organizational needs. As a coach, you are working on individual needs. In both contexts, you are also focused on the relationship between the two.
The need for coaching can emerge as part of an assessment or intervention process during a consulting engagement. In these contexts, it’s important that the coaching client create a goal that serves both the organization and them as an individual.
It’s also important that the coaching client have a third party that they are accountable to – usually a supervisor – but in the case of executive coaching with a CEO, this can also be the board chair or even a trusted mentor outside of the organization.
With consulting, the organization is the client – not any one individual. With coaching, the individual is the client.
If you have both roles in an organization – consultant and coach –you have to be aware of which hat you’re wearing at any given time because they are interrelated but you’re serving different clients but, ultimately, it helps both.
How can a new consultant determine whether to offer coaching or consulting first?
It can be helpful to start with consulting because you’re dealing with where the organization is headed and how well the person and organization align.
Conversely, it can sometimes be easier for new consultants to come in as a coach so key contacts can experience what it’s like to work with them which can lead to broader and deeper consulting work within the organization.
Ultimately, the organization is the context for the work. It’s important to understand the organization and where it’s headed so you can support people to make their best contribution or to choose another path if it turns out they are not in alignment.
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