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Private/Executive Consulting - The *NEW* Professional???

Posted by Joseph Riggio on Thursday, February 01, 2007

The *new* profession of Private/Executive Consulting combines the best of traditional consulting, coaching and the professional advisor into a unique role as a personal expert-advisor who will focus on you and your performance improvement.

Personal or professional performance improvement, building better relationships or leading dynamic teams, if you are thinking about how to reach the next level in your existing career or if you are thinking about how to change careers completely - these kinds of issues and more are the heart and soul of Private/Executive Consulting ... if you are ready to find out more about the *new* profession keep reading.

Howdy all,

For a few years now I've been using the reference of private consulting to refer to what I do with/for clients - especially in a corporate or organizational environment. Although I think it would be appropriate to use this same terminology for any kind of one-to-one professional development work I do. In fact I even use this title when working with any individual in a one-to-one format.

So what the heck does Private Consultation (or Executive Consultation) mean?

Well the way I've been using it Private Consultation refers to one-to-one consulting for a client. While it can be similar to coaching depending on the coach or the coaching methodology/approach chosen, private consulting tends to be more directive and outcome oriented (yes even more outcome oriented than coaching tends to be as I've come to understand the coaching approaches I'm familiar with and the coaches who use them).

Let's look at some of the specifics as I think about them in regard to Private/Executive Consulting:

  • Organizes around a specific well-defined outcome
  • Defines the approach as well as the actions to be taken
  • Sessions vary in length depending on the issue(s)
  • Client may be the organization and not the individual
  • May address multiple parties with varied outcomes
  • Tends to be very directive - i.e.: active intervention
  • Consultant provides expert content/context knowledge/skills
  • Consultant provides as much or more input as the client does
  • Consultant may provide actual implementation beyond simply providing advice to be implemented by others

    • So these are some of the distinctions that would tend to identify private or executive consulting work. While this list may seem like a list that could be applied to any kind of consulting work in the context of what I'm calling Private/Executive Consulting the work always revolves around the personal performance of the consulting client(s). Even when addressing a team the Private/Executive Consultant will be addressing issues of personal performance - albeit over a span of multiple clients and their interactions with one another within the team setting.

    Performance refers to the relationship between behavior and outcome - the more elegantly (i.e.: efficiently and effectively) the behavior produces the intended outcome the higher the performance can be said to be.

    So using this reference to performance what a Private/Executive Consultant does with a client addresses assisting the client shape their behaviors to produce their outcomes. This may include developing appropriate strategies for producing these outcomes as well. Doing Private/Executive Consulting can get tricky in terms of setting the appropriate frames and boundary conditions within which the consulting occurs. Both the consultant and the client need to be clear about what defines a successful outcome and then agree to the terms under which they agree to work together to produce the outcome. This often requires that the consultant and the client build a close working relationship that demands a high degree of trust, confidence, commitment and confidentially.

    The role of consultant can be extremely rewarding as well. Rewards can range from economic to deeply personal satisfaction. The work itself while extremely demanding often culminates in a successful outcome that the client reaches that would have been impossible without the input of the consultant. Depending on the value of the outcome the consultant may have contributed significantly in economic terms and shared in that economic success themselves. The sense of achievement of having been part of a successful endeavor may also be part of the consultant's reward for work well done. In many cases though regardless of the specific external rewards the consultant often find themselves having built a significant relationship with the client that may be a kind of reward unto itself.

    However, one of the risks that consultants can face includes the possibility of a client becoming disillusioned with the relationship that has been established after a great deal of intimacy has been fostered (between the consultant and the client). When a client turns on a consultant at this point in the relationship the result can quickly become ugly because the client has gone from holding the consultant in an unreasonable position of being a infallible savior of sorts to being just another flawed human being. The breakup at this point can resemble a bad divorce more than a failed business relationship. This just goes with the territory, and the professional consultant will field any such consequences of a relationship gone sour by simply allowing the experience to roll off their backs like water from a duck. In fact the experience may become a valued resource in the consultant's toolkit with another client down the road someday.

    It may be clear about the practice of Private/Executive Consulting as I've defined it by now that the consultant brings a plethora of knowledge, skills and experience to the table in their work they do with clients. Not the least of the skills are those that address the concerns of business and the professional aspects of the work they do with clients. Beyond process skills the consultant can be expected to bring a great deal of professional content and contextual expertise to the table as well. This kind of expertise often eludes those who practice coaching, even when they possess significant process skills. Yet the Private/Executive Consultant must possess both significant process skills as well as the depth of professional expertise to provide high-quality, high-value advice.

    Essentially the Private/Executive Consultant lives at the top of the Expert Advisor totem pole - bringing both the expertise of a professional consultant and the significant process skills of a talented facilitator and coach to the work they do.

    Of course I could understand if you are wondering why I've used so much 'ink' discussing the idea of Private/Executive Coaching when you haven't even asked. Let's call it 'Professional Pride' - a character trait that you should include in the short list of those possessed by someone qualified to call themselves a Private/Executive Consultant`;~> ...

    Joseph Riggio, Ph.D.
    Princeton, NJ

    BTW - I presented this idea verbally on my Internet radio talk show, Leadership Intuitions today. You can either stream or download to my broadcast on VoiceAmerica.com on the distinctions of Executive Coaching vs. Executive Consulting: 01 Feb 2007 - Leadership Intuitions.

    If you are interested in discussing Private/Executive Consulting with Joseph send an email to jsrggio@josephriggio.com or call our offices at +1/609.275.1845 - limited openings in Joseph's schedule are available at venues internationally and for remote virtual private consulting.

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