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| Coaching or Consulting Client? |
Short and sweet.......you've got to understand the difference between coaching and consulting.
Consultants have specific skills, experiences and responsibilities they take to achieve a specific result. A turnaround consultant should have plenty of skill sets; a good number of which include: business analytics, financial profiling, above average accounting literacy; organizational/financial symmetry; integrity and character; negotiating capability; wide ranging operational experiences; insolvency/business law knowledge; human performance assessment; diplomacy under fire; "flow-controlled" personality; abstract thinking ability and vision to see "end-to-end" while developing strategy on the fly. This is just the beginning; there are more.
Overall experience in corporate recovery is crucial if-not critical. In terms of responsibility it really boils down to just how much leadership is required. A pure-play consultant serves as the hub of action plans he or she may develop with other teammates and may act as supporting cast to existing management, that is ultimately charged with the result.
On the other hand, the turnaround manager..........now note the key word "manager" goes a step further and leads not only fellow consultants but the business' managers as well. Finally, the interim manager is usually a turnaround manager who supplants existing operating management. In the trying times of 2009 the term interim CEO became known as the turnaround person that took the helm in the wheel-house and was charged to navigate the storm or ultimately sink; taking down the ship (metaphorically) with the turnaround manager alongside the client.
It is important to understand that consultants represent companies in most cases. Coaches, on the other hand, represent individuals, generally.
So apply the knowledge and skills of the turnaround consultant to the coach. The big difference is the coach is empowered to be a catalyst, a personal agent of change; an encourager. Why? Because the coach takes a client owner, principal or executive to a higher degree of enlightenment and knowledge to facilitate that individual (or individuals) to act in their best interest and their company's. Ultimately it is the small business leader that acts for the enterprise not an expensive consulting team.
But let's not kid anyone. Turnaround coaches are not coaching Fortune 1000 executives - although anything is possible - it is highly improbable. If a company is public or revenues exceed $25 million; when the enterprise crashes, usually the "C" level executives are ejected rather quickly from the wreckage. It is interim turnaround manager that normally fills that void.
But for the companies below $10 million in revenues, turnaround coaching facilitates creditors, lenders and other stakeholders to "dance with the one that brung them" [but to different music]. A third party coach can empower an owner, principal or executive to summon courage, become enlightened, make sea-changes, and execute a realistic plan of renewal rather than fail, as most have and likely will in the future.
Coaches tend to offer their services through in-person sessions or virtually, through any number of web enabled communications. Fees are usually on an hourly or flat rate basis. Consultants may be hourly, daily, flat-flat, project but whatever it is, considerably more expensive because leading the turnaround is a fulltime proposition in most cases.
There is a big difference between coaching and consulting. The turnaround consultant is paid to be in the driver's seat when there is a wreck, and the coach's role is to empower the current driver to be enlightened, vigilant, knowledgeable and safe; so every possibility to avoid an accident has been tried. In the end the coach may not be on board, but has nevertheless failed when the client has the crack-up.
For the smallest of businesses - underserved at best when trouble develops - a coaching option may be the best step toward self-help for companies otherwise on their own - more than likely, destined to fail.
