Episode F.005 Consulting Models and Roles

Consulting Models and Roles
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4 Roles a Consulting or Consultant can play: Virtual or Fractional Executive, Subject Matter Expert, Coach, and Trainer. Each has important underlying assumptions, and each can, under the proper conditions, be useful. A consultant may also choose to play any role depending on their area of specialization and the context in which help is needed. However, many consultants primarily act from being in charge, taking over a specific function, helping Owners/Executives to improve, or conducting a technology transfer.

• Virtual Executive - Although the VE is being “employed” by the client, in reality it is a different type of consulting assignment. Instead of giving advice and coaching members of the company on implementation, the role is execution. The process is collaborative with final decisions made by the client, however the individual in the FE role is responsible for delivering on contract specifications.
• SME – The consultant offers some information or service that the client is both requesting and unable to provide for himself. There are important assumptions in this model. Has the client correctly identified their own needs? Have they considered the consequences of expert data collection and recommendation on organizational change? Is there one reality about their organization that can be objectively studied and rendered useful to the client? This model puts great power into the hands of the consultant.
• Coach – the consultant assists and guides the business owner in running a business by helping to clarify the vision of the business and how it fits in with their personal goals. It​ is a process used to take a business from where it is now to where the business owner wants it to be. 
• Trainer – The consultant endeavors to increase the client’s capacity to learn so that it can fix its own problems, today, and in the future. It is a philosophy and practice built on the idea that problems are solved more effectively and sustainably if the organization itself is at the core of both diagnostic and remedial efforts. This model keeps both responsibility and control with the client.

Understand that the terms of consulting, coach, or trainer are artificial. Each are a methodology for sharing and incorporating information the client needs to deal with immediate issues and handle long term growth challenges.