I recall when I was first commencing my coaching journey back in 2000 my mentor at the time made a comment like ‘a consultant is someone you love in the moment because they have provided a solution but dislike in the morning because they have disempowered you’.
At the time I remember being intrigued and somewhat puzzled by that comment as I thought, ‘what’s wrong with knowing the answer to a problem’? The obvious answer on the surface is nothing and to understand why we need to refer to the three knowledge gaps.
- The gap between what we know and don’t know.
- The gap between what we know yet fail to apply.
- The gap between what we don’t know we don’t know.
In the first example above the gap can be filled by providing training and/or asking someone like a consultant with specialised skills to provide the answer. The latter is often done for three main reasons.
- The problem or challenge is more complex in nature and outside the normal range of company expertise.
- The problem or task is outside the normal range of day-to-day company activities.
- To provide short-term resources to meet seasonal demands and peak workload situations
The training or knowledge gap is definitely an issue but, in our experience, the most significant gap is number two, or the gap between what we know yet fail to apply. This is what we like to call ‘the coaching gap’. This means the skills of coaching can work to bring out the best in people, allow their natural and intuitive skills to rise to the surface.
For all sorts of reasons, people fail to deliver on their performance potential for a number of reasons. Here are our top seven reasons with apologies to a number of others.
- Lack of an inspiring vision and purpose. The ‘why’ is missing or not powerful enough.
- Lack of clear thoughtful goals, action plans and supportive accountability.
- Lack of personal belief and having someone believe in them. (It’s lonely flying completely solo).
- Lack of reflective learning techniques. (Previous mistakes keep getting repeated).
- Failure to grow at a personal and professional level.
- Poor focus, lazy thinking and low on personal productivity/too easily sidetracked.
- Lack of resilience to bounce back from temporary setbacks.
A qualified and skilful performance or business coach can work with an individual or team to help identify the factors that will lead to the solutions required to overcome the above and more challenges.
Those particular skills that a coach brings to the table to individuals be the best version of themselves. Here are seven:
- Superior listening skills.
- Highly advanced questioning skills.
- Helping collate thoughts and calls to action.
- Implementing reflective learning and associated remedial strategies.
- Teaching individuals to fish and not simply being a fishmonger.
- Improve contextual problem-solving and decision-making skills.
- Challenging but not leading the thought processes. Road testing the perspective but only through questions.
The third gap which is ‘the gap between what you don’t know you don’t know’ is again primarily as coaching gap for two main reasons:
- A good coach will encourage his student to undertake a journey of lifelong learning through training and professional development. In that way they discover their own gaps.
- Through coaching conversations, the student can explore new ways of thinking and connecting knowledge dots in ways not previously conceptualized.
In simple terms, a consultant says’ you will never have the expertise to solve the problem on your own. Move aside and let me solve it for you’.
On the other hand, a coach says ‘I believe you have the potential to rise and meet this challenge using your own internal resources of knowledge recall, applied intelligence and intuitive reasoning. Let’s start this journey together’.
I know why I chose to move from being a consultant to coach back in 2000. The satisfaction one gets from seeing another person or group develop their potential using the skills and tools of coaching is far more rewarding experience.
There are definitely times when an opinion or solution is required but, in my experience, the immediate or instant gratification model should be used sparingly and not as a first resort. The empowerment model is far more powerful and one that builds individual character and confidence. That’s where I recommend starting and why I’m an advocate for coaching over consulting.
