Show and Tell or Seek and Find?

Business Consulting v’s Business Coaching – What’s the difference? What about a hybrid model?

Deciding on how to get the right support for your business as an SME owner is never easy. Limited budgets, limited time and limited access are often an owner’s challenge.

So what do you need? A Coach or a Consultant? Are they not the same just presented in a different wrapper? It’s not always clear what someone is offering and it’s not always clear what someone needs, in many cases the interpretation of the outcomes or expectations are very different. It might even be that an SME owner or a business unit leader, is reluctant to acknowledge that they need support. To then have to delve deep into the support they require is both intimidating and challenging.

Surely SME Owners/Entrepreneurs/Business Unit Directors are supposed to know it all anyway? So why would they have the need of a consultant or a coach? Tricky…

It’s hard to tell your colleagues or people in the business that you have a coach or a consultant helping you – just think of the concern that you don’t know what you’re doing generates. But what is the cost of not acknowledging that you don’t know everything?

It’s OK

In a modern forward thinking business environment it’s ok to not know everything. It’s ok to put your hand up and ask questions and it’s ok to have both a business coach AND a business consultant. They might even be the same person! Shock horror a hybrid.

So what is the fundamental difference between these two similar but very different roles?

Why would you use one and not the other? What if they are the same person? Is that even possible? So is it show and tell or seek and find?

Finding and working with the right business coach or consultant can really help you develop and grow your business creating a new dynamic for both you and your venture. To cultivate and support a growing business or to turn one around or to find new opportunities bringing in additional and very specific resource to help and provide guidance will ultimately save you both time and money – bit which do you need? Consultant or coach? Do you have to choose?

Which One Do You Need?

Maybe you need both to run a successful business! In my view I think you do! The coach/consultant hybrid is a model that I think works really well in the SME sector. Why? Well they can help you discover and develop bringing the clarity, accountability and support with the additional experience on the more technical side of business, for example: sales, marketing, strategy etc., combining these attributes to deliver great results for you and your business.

But if you’re trying to decide which service you need right now, there is a way to think about it.

Seek and Find

A good business coach will support you in many ways, but primarily will help you to seek and find.

Telling business leaders or their team members how to get from A to B or how their strategy should look or their business ethics should effect or reflect their company culture is quite simply not what a coach does! Instead, a business coach works with their clients to help them discover those things on their own.

So in practice a good business coach will always:

1.     Think of the strengths, weaknesses and operations of the company, coaching accordingly.

2.     Coach with management to uncover and resolve underlying issues that may be present.

So what Does A Business Coach Do?

A business coach works with you to help you develop the skills you already have. They work to bring out the “best” of you, seeking and finding to transform your mindset.

A business coach can help you to discover what motivates you, develop your purpose, and help you to create, brainstorm and innovate your ideas in your business.

Addressing mindset issues such as: imposter syndrome, limiting beliefs, fear and self-sabotage (which are vital to address) are some benefits of good coaching.

A good coach will also provide support and accountability to ensure that you are following through on your agreed action plan!

Your coach will support you as you implement your plan of action for your business that you have developed.

Show and Tell it’s what a Business Consultant Does

You can think of a business consultant as more of an expert who you turn to for help or support with your business. They can help you develop and teach you skills you don’t know, scrutinize and evaluate your business and build an action plan for you to implement.

They are experienced and knowledgeable in business planning, strategy and implementation. They can advise you on direction and scalability or business growth in your business. They can also work with you on customer challenges, systems, packaging of services, pricing, sales and marketing!

Business consultants evaluate the goals you have for your business and work alongside you to help you build the plan of action required for you to accomplish your goals!

In short a business consultant is far more of a showing and telling role. It’s a role that requires experience, knowledge obtained from both success and failure, from past responsibilities and accountability. Showing and telling you how to improve or develop, for faster success, whatever that might look like.

So what about a Hybrid model?

I see that in many instances, the role of a coach or business consultant in an SME often overlaps. One can support the other. It’s of course a matter of choice, but finding someone with the experience, knowledge and the ability to coach is perhaps a way to ensure the best of both worlds.

Whichever you choose, Coach, Consultant or Hybrid it’s important that it’s the right choice for you. So consider:

1.     Running your business - What are the missing parts, where do you need support?

2.     The level of support you require - Do you want to grow, develop, and benefit from experience.

3.     The outcomes and results you would like to achieve, personally and for your business.

Knowing the difference between a business coach and consultant can save you a lot of time and money to say nothing of disappointment.

Let me know what you think, how can my hybrid approach help you to be the best and Raise the bar?

Michael Collett

Business Consultant and Business Coach

Raise the bar

www.exalta.co.uk