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What is the Difference between an Executive Coach and a consultant?
Consulting is generally a more in-depth and lengthy process than coaching, and involves a process of diagnosing organizational problems, conducting analyses, and solving problems on your behalf.
Executive Coaches may perform consultant-oriented functions (research to understand how your executive team is aligned, or an assessment of your company’s strategic and leadership development process).
However, the most successful Executive Coaches require you to answer your own questions, discover your own answers, draw your own conclusions and set your own direction for achievement and success.
Many people are not exactly clear on what executive coaching really is and how it differs from other parallel disciplines like mentoring, consulting, training, counseling and therapy or even life coaching.
Here's a widely accepted definition of Executive Coaching to clarify this discipline:
"Executive Coaching means regular meetings between a business leader and a trained facilitator, designed to produce positive changes in business behavior in a limited time frame."
This definition throws light on the following key points:
- who Executive Coaches are
- what Executive Coaches do
- the timeframe during which outcomes are achieved
Going by this definition, Executive Coaches, generally:
- do not share their personal experience(s) (unlike mentors)
- do not provide advice (as do consultants)
- do not teach or train in specific, subject-related knowledge (as trainers do)
- avoid personal issues (something that comes under the purview of a counselor, therapist or life coach)
Unlike in the days past, when a person who wasn't rising to the task as expected was assigned to a coach, today the trends in the executive coaching field have reversed.
According to a recent 2010 Executive Coaching survey conducted by Sherpa, coaching is being widely used currently as a leadership development tool.
While in the old days, having a coach meant that the executive had some problems. Today, having a coach means you are a valuable member of your organization and must be someone special to have the privilege of being assigned a coach.
Unlike a consultant, an Executive Coach does not provide answers or limit their work to a specific area. They can be likened to a sports coach who motivates and pushes an athlete toward optimum performance using a proven methodology and tools.
Executive Coaches are also different from mentors in many ways. They do not share or draw from their personal experiences or draw from their own business or life experiences when mentoring executives.
Executive Coaching is strictly about the client and focuses on them as unique challenges to be overcome through the executive's active participation so as to fulfill their ambitions and meet their definition of success as they see it.
Executive Coaches are not counselors or therapists' neither are they teachers or trainers imparting specific knowledge to the executives.
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In one study conducted by MetrixGlobal LLC, companies including Booz Allen Hamilton received an average return of $7.90 for every $1 invested in executive coaching.
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A recent study of Executive Coaching in a Fortune 500 firm by MetrixGlobal reported a 529% return on investment and significant intangible benefits to the business.
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A survey by Manchester Inc. of 100 executives found that coaching provided an average return on investment of almost six times the cost of the coaching.
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An internal report of the Personnel Management Association showed that when training is combined with coaching, individuals increase their productivity by an average of 86% compared to 22% with training alone.
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A Hay Group study of Fortune 500 companies found that 21 to 40% utilize Executive Coaching; Coaching was used as standard leadership development for elite executives and talented up-and-comers.
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A 2001 study on the impact of executive coaching by Manchester Inc. showed an average ROI of 5.7 times the initial investment or a return of more than $100,000, according to executives who estimated the monetary value of the results achieved through coaching*.
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A 2001 study on the impact of executive coaching by Manchester Inc. showed an average ROI of 5.7 times the initial investment or a return of more than $100,000, according to executives who estimated the monetary value of the results achieved through coaching*.
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