In the past several years, business coaching has gone beyond a luxury reserved for Corporate America's executives but an invaluable tool for small business owners. Yet many small business owners are still unclear on the difference between a business coach and a business consultant.
"The difference is as simple as the old expression ‘give a man a fish, he eats for the day, teach him to fish and he feeds himself for life'," said Karen Boyd, a master licensee for ActionCOACH, the top business coaching firm in the world.
Continued Boyd, "That's not to say that business consultants do not perform a valuable service. Their expertise is used to complete tasks where the business owner is deficient or does not have the time to do themselves. A business coach teaches the business owner either how to do those tasks or how to find the resources to ensure that the task is completed both in the present and future."
So what are the main differences between a business coach and business consultant? Here are a few of the chief differences:
"In its simplest form, a business coach is a teacher. The business consultant is a doer. Both have a place in the business world," said Boyd. "When you own and operate your own business, you get used to calling all the shots, even if some of those shots might be off-target. A business coach not only will tell you why you're off target, but shows you how to stay on target and that's a service that has real value for the small business owner."
"The difference is as simple as the old expression ‘give a man a fish, he eats for the day, teach him to fish and he feeds himself for life'," said Karen Boyd, a master licensee for ActionCOACH, the top business coaching firm in the world.
Continued Boyd, "That's not to say that business consultants do not perform a valuable service. Their expertise is used to complete tasks where the business owner is deficient or does not have the time to do themselves. A business coach teaches the business owner either how to do those tasks or how to find the resources to ensure that the task is completed both in the present and future."
So what are the main differences between a business coach and business consultant? Here are a few of the chief differences:
- Business coach transfers their knowledge to the business owner; the business consultant takes their knowledge when their mission is complete.
- With business coach, plan is driven by client needs; with consultant, plan is driven by deliverable definition
- Business coach works in 90-day planning cycles; business consultant's schedule is based on deliverable milestones.
- Business coach helps implement self-sustainable systems; business consultant sets up maintenance contracts for deliverables.
- Business coach is a generalist; business consultant is a specialist.
- Business coach paid by the program; business consultant paid by the hour.
"In its simplest form, a business coach is a teacher. The business consultant is a doer. Both have a place in the business world," said Boyd. "When you own and operate your own business, you get used to calling all the shots, even if some of those shots might be off-target. A business coach not only will tell you why you're off target, but shows you how to stay on target and that's a service that has real value for the small business owner."