Cheryl Stein on Coaching versus Consulting

By Cheryl Stein
Monster Personal Coach

My name is Cheryl Stein and I am a coach. I work as a business coach and as a personal coach and I am going to be writing weekly about people and the issues that they have. I will try to help solve those issues with coaching.

Changes in Your Life

Coaches help people make changes in their lives and help them to become their best. Change is hard and most people will try to do whatever they can do to keep things the same. There are times though, when change is unavoidable, and that is when coaching becomes helpful. When you really need to change, or really want to change, a coach will help you figure out the best way to achieve your goals and help you break down what may seem like the impossible into smaller more manageable steps.

When you are getting coaching, don’t expect your coach to tell you what to do. It isn’t their job to give you the answers. A good coach will help you see the big picture and will help you figure out the way that is best for you to change. We do this by asking questions and really listening deeply to the answers. One of our favorite things to do is to take a client who says, “I can’t” and ask them to look at the problem differently so that they “can”. Our aim is to teach you the tools to help yourself so that when you get stuck in the future you are able to coach yourself. We assume that our clients are the experts on themselves and we use their knowledge to work through challenges.

Coaching versus Consulting

Coaching and consulting are very different. When a company hires a consultant, they usually want that person to come in, figure out the problem and provide the answers for fixing the problem. Coaches are not consultants. We do not offer advice or tell our clients what to do. (Well sometimes we offer suggestions but we are careful to let the client know that we are not coaching when we offer it). When a client will ask me what I think, I will often answer, “it is more important for you to tell me what you think”. Really interesting answers come out of that kind of question.

Coaches versus Mentors

Coaches are not mentors. Mentoring is a wonderful way to take the information that someone has gained over many years and teach it to someone less experienced. A mentor passes on his or her expert knowledge to someone else. Coaches do not need to be experts in the businesses that they work with or experts dealing with the problem that the client is facing. They need to be experts at asking the right questions to get their clients to see things differently. Those questions work if you are a farmer, a dancer or an accountant.

Coaches versus Therapists

Coaches are not therapists. Therapists help you figure out why things have gone wrong and work with you to make things better. Coaches don’t try to go back in history to discover and deal with the stuff that may have been difficult in your life.

Move your Life Forward

Coaches focus on the future and help you move ahead. There are business coaches, personal coaches, relationship coaches, executive coaches, life coaches and many other types of coaches. They are essentially similar but tackle issues in different areas of life. Coaches are your partners in change.

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To reach Cheryl Stein, contact Stein Coaching and Consulting

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