There is a rise in consulting and coaching services by a recent shift in employment due to the pandemic. It is vital to point out to those migrating into the field to realize Consulting is more than giving advice, taken from a title to an article written by Arthur N Turner, Harvard, Professor of Business Administration, Emeritus of the same name.
There is no doubt when a person has been working for an organization in a particular field for a period of time the experience gives them the authority to advise others in or looking to enter into that particular field. The caveat to that advice is that it is capped by that consultant and coach’s experience. Most organizations are set up for employees to have limited scope in the full aspect of a role. No one employee will take the product from start to finish. The best example of this is in manufacturing and service marketing companies. Each employee will work an individual assembly line task repetitively passed to the next employee who adds the next individual task on the line until the finished product has been completed. This method was created to protect the company against employees who may venture out copying the process or sell the process to competition in the market.
Giving Advice over Opinion
Anyone can give advice. It is not limited to any specific type of person or education level, but good advice derives from the curation of both research and experience over time as he continues to state in his article for the Harvard Review Journal. With many careers and consulting is no exception, too much focus is placed on experience and not much enough is given to research. When focus is placed on conducted research, methodology allows the client to realize the advice given is not just an opinion because it has been examined and proven across a number of situations.
Advice Is Only the Start to Consulting / Coaching
When a consultant gives advice they are giving recommendations based on gathered data packaged as a tangible deliverable in a binder and/or digital presentation. However, this is not where the consultant’s job ends if the consultant stands by the recommended advice. In order for the advice to be effective and add value to a client’s organization the advice must act as the preparation, the starting line for performing and executing the compilation of recommendations.
As Arthur N Turner summarized in his article and Rhodes-Porter uses as its current business model, the best management consultants define their objective as not just recommending solutions but also helping institutionalize more effective management processes. This trend is significant to consulting firms because it requires process skills that need more emphasis in firms’ recruitment and staff development policies. It is equally significant to managers who need not just expert advice but also practical help in improving the organization’s future performance.
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