The Business Exchange Swindon & Wiltshire Edition 38: Aug/Sept 2018 | Page 36

BUSINESS ADVICE
DO YOU NEED A COACH OR CONSULTANT?
Which one’s right for you?
Over the years I think I’ve lost count of the
business owners that I’ve spoken to about;
• How they’ve lost clear sight of where they
are going
• How they constantly get distracted and
fail to implement important strategies to
grow their business
• How they need to deliver strategic change
within their business
What’s more the emotional highs and
lows, the feelings of euphoria when a big
new customer is landed coupled with the
frustration with the lack of quality and
consistency in terms of team outputs are
often evident in equal measures.
Having recognised that the skills to
transition the business to the next level are
not currently within the organisation, the
question most of these business owners
then find themselves asking is just what sort
of third party help do I need?
Do I need a consultant or business coach?
So what does a
Business Coach Do?
A great business coach will have successfully
run or owned multiple businesses and will
use all of their experience to look at your
business, your actions and your decisions.
36
THE BUSINESS EXCHANGE 2018
By Chris Spratling , Chalkhill Blue
They will identify your blind spots, and act
as a sounding board whilst recognising your
potential and ensuring that you develop
a strategic plan to realise it. Similarly,
they’ll use their experience to ensure that
you are using the very best systems, tools
and techniques to address all of these
development areas efficiently and effectively.
A great business coach not only helps you
build a winning plan but will also keep you
accountable for delivering it.
They will relish the opportunity to stand
and fall based on the results they help you to
deliver and will have acquired a reputation
for delivering the required results time and
time again.
So what does a Business or
Management Consultant do?
Business & Management consultants tend
to specialise. These specialisms tend to be
either in a particular operational field such
as IT Transformation, Global Outsourcing
or Human Resource Management
or alternatively in a specific industry
sector such Banking, Manufacturing or
Transportation to name but a few.
A consultant will typically work with a
business to improve their performance by
analysing a specific organisational problem,
developing a plan to improve and/or remedy
the specific problem. These plans should
match the organisational needs in terms of
their suitability, feasibility and acceptability.
Similar to a business coach, the
consultant will also look to create value,
maximise growth and improve business
performance.
The primary benefits of using an
experienced consultant is that they reduce
the risk of project failure. Their appointment
may also allow the business to progress the
project somewhat quicker.
The on-going success of the specific
project after the consultant has finished
their assignment is invariably heavily
reliant on the internal team’s ability to
manage the changes going forwards.
Consequently, it shouldn’t be overlooked
that many consultancy projects may also
require the up-skilling of existing staff or the
recruitment of new ones in order to ensure
the projects on-going success.
Consequently, where businesses lack the
necessary internal skills and resources and
are required to make changes quickly the
appointment of a consultant can often be
seen as a highly attractive option.
So what can we conclude?
In summary the most important questions
entrepreneurs should ask themselves before
deciding on any sort of third-party support
are;
• “What are we trying to achieve and by
when?”
• “Do we have the necessary internal
resources?”
• “Are the existing team capable of
delivering the desired outcome?”
• “Do we need to enhance the capabilities
of the team?”
Entrepreneurs must also decide whether
the preferred business coach or consultant
is qualified and capable of helping them
achieve their goals.
This mixture of experience, credibility
and chemistry should be considered very
carefully.
If you would like to learn more about how
Chalkhill Blue help entrepreneurs like
you “unlock the true potential of their
businesses” via business coaching and
bespoke consultancy solutions please
call us now or email us on the details in
the advert below.