Consulting and coaching are similar in that they both seek to help the client achieve outcomes. They require similar personal and professional skills such as authenticity, an ability to reflectively listen, competency in their area of expertise, and an ability to integrate theory and practice (Rothwell, 2015). Additionally, both roles require the professional to be open minded, sensitive to diversity, flexible, and a clear communicator. Both need to possess a strong self-awareness that alerts them when they need to know how their own biases and strengths and weaknesses will affect their work with clients (Rothwell, 2015). In consulting, where the role may serve an entire organization, the consultant will need to be able to collect and analyze data and have strong research skills (Rothwell, 2015; United States Department of Agriculture Virtual University, n.d.). While both the coach and consultant will need to be familiar with theories of change, the consultant will likely come into contact with more conflict as it relates to teams and organizational structures changing and involving more people as teams and groups as opposed to individuals. The consultant will need to know organizational development theories while the coach will need to know theories related to motivation. Both roles need a firm understanding of their discipline’s ethical codes. The consultant’s role is to impart their expertise in organizational development to management and employee teams, directing them via evidence-based methods and techniques. A coach would use the client’s own words and ideas to challenge their thinking and guide them to their own insights. While the coach will need to adopt a theoretical framework from which to view the role of coaching and problem-solving, they do not impart their expertise directly to the client, but rather facilitate the client getting there on their own (Giberson & Miklos, 2012; Schermuly, 2018). The consultant will transfer their skills and techniques to the teams that need to learn new behaviors whereas the coach will help the individual utilize their current skill set and strengths to enhance their performance (United States Department of Agriculture Virtual University, n.d.). Theoretical frameworks for coaching come from the counseling and mentoring disciplines whereas consulting frameworks, while similar in some regard, come from the human resources and organizational development disciplines. While both have their roots in psychology and sociology, the coaching role is emphasized by the processes that occur within the relationship between client and coach and the consultant role is emphasized by the skills and techniques that are introduced to facilitate change and growth (Myers & Bachkirova, 2018). The coach seeks to develop an individual on a personal or professional level while the consultant will develop an organization. A coach will help the individual come to an awareness of the answer by what they already possess (Neenan, 2009). A consultant may need to bring in new tools and methods by which new learning is acquired through teaching and practice and is not a self-guided journey, but is dictated by the changes the organization needs to make. Coaching guides discovery whereas consulting provides the answers.

Identify a situation where consulting would be most appropriate and beneficial and a situation where coaching would be most appropriate and beneficial.

Coaching would be beneficial when there are individual employees who need to enhance their performance versus the entire organization (Schuneman, 2019). If there is a small group or team that could benefit from increased competency or awareness, coaching would be ideal. Conversely, consulting would be necessary if the organization is undergoing structural changes, changes in management, rebranding, or implementing whole new processes or programs (Schuneman, 2019). When a large systems change is required, the expertise of a consultant to dictate the best route to get there is needed. When one person’s behaviors or attitude is affecting their job performance or others around them, a coaching approach is desirable. While there are methods of evaluation for both the coach and consultant, the coach is looking to the person’s new insights to evaluate change where the consultant will use surveys and other data-gathering tools to evaluate effective change on a larger scale. Coaching is more individually tailored to one person or a small group of people and consulting is focused on a larger system with individual parts (Schuneman, 2019).

 

References

Giberson, T., & Miklos, S. (2012). Coaching. TIP: The Industrial-Organizational Psychologist, 49(3), 53-56.

Myers, A. C., & Bachkirova, T. (2018). Towards a process-based typology of workplace coaching: An empirical investigation. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 70(4), 297–317. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/cpb0000118

Neenan, M. (2009). Using socratic questioning in coaching. Journal of Rational – Emotive & Cognitive – Behavior Therapy, 27(4), 249-264. doi:10.1007/s10942- 007-0076-z

Rothwell, W. J. (2015). Organization development fundamentals: Managing strategic change. Alexandria, VA: ATD Press.

Schermuly, C. C. (2018). Client dropout from business coaching. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 70(3), 250–267. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/cpb0000112

Schuneman, F. (2019). Sorting out coaching vs. mentoring vs. training. http://www.invistaperforms.org/sorting-coaching-vs…

United States Department of Agriculture Virtual University. (n.d.). Differences between coaching, counseling, managing, mentoring, consulting and training. https://www.dm.usda.gov/employ/vu/coaching-diff.ht…