Ep 190 Is it time to hire a coach or consultant?
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[00:00:00] Welcome to the bold goal crusher podcast for anyone looking to stop letting life get in the way and start crushing bold goals. I'm your host, Sara Mayer, and I'm thrilled to navigate this journey with you because it's time to start boldly achieving without working double time. So let's dive in.
Hello, bold goal crushers. I'm excited about today's episode today. We're going to talk about types of professionals that you may need in order to achieve your bold goals. So if you're running a business or you work in business, or you're just looking to do something really cool, maybe one of your legacy goals where you're trying to achieve.
It's always helpful to have somebody guide you along the way. And [00:01:00] as you may know, I'm a consultant and I work with lots of clients as well on the side. Not on the side, it's my main business to help them achieve their goals in business and in nonprofits. And many times people are confused about the difference between a coach and a consultant.
So I thought it might be helpful on this episode for you to think about something. That you may need to seek outside guidance or help with, and then I will guide you as far as what might be better, a coach or a consultant. So both coaches and consultants are professionals who provide guidance and support to individuals and They do have distinct differences and approaches as well as purposes.
And so here are some key differences. So the first one is really around that purpose. What is the purpose of a coach and what is the purpose of a consultant? So [00:02:00] coaches primarily focus on helping individuals. or teams reach their full potential by facilitating personal or professional growth. And so they may work on improving skills, they may enhance performance, and they may help achieving those goals.
And they do it in a different way than a consultant may do. So consultants typically are hired to provide expert advice and solutions, very specific. To certain problems and challenges, and they often offer specialized knowledge and expertise to address those issues or to achieve a specific outcome. And the approach is very different between a coach and a consultant.
Coaches use a client-centered approach. They may use a questioning approach or a facilitative approach to help clients discover [00:03:00] their own insights. and solutions. They often will ask open ended questions, they listen actively, and they do provide support to help clients make informed decisions and take action.
And consultants typically employ a more direct approach, where they may actually diagnose a problem, they may analyze data, they may facilitate focus groups and provide recommendations or solutions based on expertise. And so they often play a more hands on role in implementing changes as well or providing the exact solution to follow.
Now, the relationship between the coach and the client and the consultant and a client may be similar or may vary. So coaches typically build collaborative and long term relationships with clients and they focus on personal development, self [00:04:00] awareness, behavior change. And they can be ongoing. So many coaches work with clients for a longer time period or have regular sessions over a period.
Whereas consultants often have short term or project specific relationships with clients. They're brought in to solve a specific issue. Or to complete a specific project and their involvement may be limited to the duration of the project, or they may do the report and then hand it over to the client.
So coaches are not necessarily, but can be subject matter experts in the client's industry, or they can be in a completely different industry or field or a little more generalist. They are experts in the coaching process though. And the techniques they use help clients unlock their potential and overcome their obstacles.
Whereas consultants are subject matter experts who [00:05:00] provide specialized knowledge and skills and they May know how to, or have handled the problem at hand. And they're typically hired for their expertise in that particular domain. And while the approach may be different, the outcomes also may be different as well.
So the coach, the primary outcome for the coach is personal or professional. growth, the team growing as a group, improve self awareness, enhance skills and goal achievement. And coaches empower clients to become more effective and self sufficient. Whereas consultants, the primary outcome of the consulting is the delivery of a specific solution or results related to the client's problem or project.
And because they're typically expected to [00:06:00] solve a problem, there are usually tangible outcomes and deliverables. So I want you to go back and think about that issue that you were thinking about at the beginning. And now that you know a little bit, more about the different roles that coaches and consultants play, I want you to think about that and really determine which would be the better fit for you, a cold coach or a consultant.
And is it because of the approach or the outcome? And those are the things that you really want to think about when you are out there looking for help. Now. I have clients that come to me and they say, I want to coach and I want to figure out how to tackle this issue. And then what really happens is when I talk to them about the difference or explain the difference between a coach and a consultant, they realize they actually want a consultant or vice versa.
They'll come to me saying, I want [00:07:00] this solved and I want you to coach me. And in reality. They're looking for a coach, they're not looking for me to actually provide them advice. So in summary, coaches focus on the personal and professional development of individuals and teams. They use that client centered approach and build longer term relationships.
Consultants really provide expertise and advice and have a project specific focus and they all often have a shorter term engagement. So the choice between a coach and consultant really depends on your specific needs and your goals for your business, your whatever you're working on, your legacy goal.
Or your nonprofit, but it's always great to have somebody out there helping you through the process. That's what keeps goals alive. So I encourage you to consider hiring a consultant or a coach to help [00:08:00] you achieve your goals. And as you may or may not know, we do take on clients to help you tackle all the things that are getting in your way.
All right, bold goal crushers, it's time to crush your goals and everything that gets in the way so you don't have to work double time. So let's get to it.
Thank you for tuning into the bold goal crusher podcast where we crush goals and everything that gets in the way. I always love to support my community.
I look forward to seeing you crush your goals this year.
