Executive Coaching Should Replace Management Consulting. Here’s why:
There’s been no shortage of bad press for management consulting firms in recent years. From charges of corruption across international borders, to regulatory trickery, to acting in service of authoritarian regimes; it’s been a busy period for the respective public relation teams at the usual suspects – firms like McKinsey, BCG, and Bain.
Coupled with this negative press are two recent books, each heavily critical of the consulting industry, and especially critical of its most powerful firms. These books are: When McKinsey Comes to Town and The Big Con: How the Consulting Industry Weakens Our Businesses, Infantilizes Our Governments, and Warps Our Economies.
It’s clear that companies ought to rethink their dependency on management consulting firms. Executive coaching may be able to fill the void.
The principle of consulting is that firms are hired to solve problems. In theory, the consultant possesses special knowledge and/or subject-matter expertise that the client does not. This is fundamentally different than the principle of executive coaching. In a coaching relationship, the coach typically does not possess special knowledge and/or subject-matter expertise, but instead supports the client who does.
A consultant tells a client what to do. A coach, on the other hand, is a thought partner. They can challenge problematic thought patterns, empower the vision of emerging leaders, and act as a sounding board as the client solves complex problems on their own.
In short, consultants charge large sums because they market themselves as having the answer. Coaches believe their clients likely know the answer already, but just need some help finding it.
And while it may be wishful thinking to imagine that a trillion-dollar industry will evaporate overnight, the transition from consulting to coaching requires two key changes if it is to be successful.
First, there needs to be a mindset shift in company (client) leadership in which existing employees are trusted, and second, there needs to be a concerted effort on the part of coaching firms to recruit exceptional talent.
The mindset shift in company leadership is critically important. That’s because to hire consultants presupposes a distrust of one’s team. Think of it this way: suppose you have a team of salaried employees but still feel the need to shell out millions in consulting fees. This demonstrates a lack of confidence in your employees, while it simultaneously reflects poorly on your ability to hire the right talent. If you don’t believe your team can solve complex problems, then why did you hire the people on your team to begin with?
Top consulting firms prey upon this lack of confidence, and present resumes of analysts and associates – many of whom are still in their twenties – with excellent academic pedigrees. By hiring a premier consulting firm, clients are effectively paying to borrow the best and brightest young minds.
Coaching has, unfortunately, been plagued by a lack of thought leadership and a stubborn refusal to stand in contrast to its consulting foes. By embracing a renewed sense of purpose and function for clients, coaching firms should prioritize hiring the best and brightest minds, not only from the field of business, but also alternative fields like psychology and philosophy. This will ensure a superior product, and only further reinforce the value added by executive coaches.
Who knows what the future will hold. But given the myriad of problems facing the consulting industry at present, it seems top firms ought to consider hiring executive coaches for themselves.
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Co-authored by David Brendel and Ryan Stelzer, Think Talk Create: Building Workplaces Fit for Humans was published by the Hachette Book Group under the PublicAffairs imprint on September 21, 2021. Now available to order!