As a leader in your company or as a specialist with years of experience in your field you are often called upon to help others address their challenges on a regular basis.

From some recent learnings i've had there are 5 different ways that advice is given or received, and i have found this useful to reflect upon as often as specialists we focus on solving others problems rather than enabling them to solve their own problems.

The 5 ways of giving advice

1, Consulting
Giving specific advice and describing actions to solve problems

2. Training
Transference of skills, you impart knowledge of a specific process to enable them - "teach a man to fish"

3. Mentoring
Being available as a wealth of knowledge and experience and sharing past experiences and their outcomes

4. Facilitating
Amongst a group of people, managing the flow of engagement to create an outcome while having no personal agenda

5. Coaching
Creating awareness of the actual current position, thereby enabling people to explore and make choices to create real action and be empowered to solve their own problems

It's important to realise what kind of advice you are giving the people who ask for your time and input. Providing consulting advice is useful in scenarios of high-risk where a solution is needed now, but really doesn't scale as your company grows.

The role of a CEO or leader within a high-growth company should ultimately progress from Consulting to Coach, for example, how many business cards from 1 man companies have "CEO" written on them do nothing else but consulting, contrast that to the CEO of a fortune 500 company who would almost never engage in any kind of consulting, training, mentoring or facilitating but actual purely as a coach to their key executives.

So consider your role within your company or in your engagement with others. How can you progress from beyond being a pure consultant to one that empowers others and creates a multiple of value?

Labels: business, entrepreneurship, leadership

Posted by Nick HaC @ 9:51 AM