Consulting:
A business consultant, sometimes called a business advisor is directing. The communication is more of a one way conversation where they are giving you specific advice. They are experts in their fields. Some examples are CPA’s, insurance agents, lawyers, or financial advisors. If a person is hiring a lawyer they are essentially hiring someone that knows the law and is informing you of the best course of action and the action steps to get there. Coaches, on the other hand are experts at coaching, but they do not need to be experts in the area that is being coached. We are expert listeners, brain-stormers and we do this by asking the right questions. In our role, we assist you developing your whole self. However, there are times we as coaches will refer you to an advisor. We may assist you in adding the use of an advisor/consultant as one option, if it becomes something that you discover will be something you feel you will benefit from and something you want to do.
Coaching:
Coaching is very collaborative. We look at the bigger picture and we work as a team in order to assist you in reaching your goals. We focus on your strengths and build on them. We tend to address struggles or fears if they are getting in the way, or when they are speed bumps on the way to your finish line, but we do not focus on problems. We also help you discover your inner wisdom and assist you in bringing it to the surface, in order to improve your life on many levels, not just one. Where a CPA is expected to help you navigate taxes to your advantage, coaches are able to broaden their collaboration into several aspects of your life. We cheer you on and assist you in improving your life based on your beliefs, strengths, values, and desires.
We also hold you accountable. As you discover the aspects of your life you want to flourish, we help you focus on short term and long term goals and ensure that you stay on track. You decide what things you need to accomplish in between our sessions and we follow up on your successes. We also help you refocus if you have become distracted, or have not completed the things you said you wanted to complete. We do this in a non-judgmental and supportive manner. Maybe you decided that you changed your mind and have a different goal you want to focus on instead. With exploration, if you still want to keep the goal or task the same we keep it as an assignment for the following session. Hopefully this will help clarify what the difference between coaching and consulting.
