Here, Mark Leone, managing director & partner at Madclarity dispels the myths of consulting and coaching and peels back some of the layers to show what makes an excellent consultant.
Yes, I know a lot of the jokes… “A consultant is someone who borrows your watch to tell you the time” … and some of the other ones that aren’t clean enough to be shared here.
I understand where the jokes come from and personally enjoy them. If you can’t laugh at yourself, then life isn’t much fun. But there is a difference between good and bad consultants and coaches, and we often find ourselves having to explain this. It is not found somewhere in a 100-page PowerPoint document.
Mark Ritson has long argued that marketers should be trained in marketing. Outside of the convenient connection to his training, for the record, I agree. This has nothing to do with my piece of paper that says I have a marketing degree from way back when.
Which leads me to this week’s topic. Most believe coaching or consulting is something anyone can do. It is often a convenient pit stop for many that have left long term roles in the industry. Something to do whilst working out what next. But many underestimate how difficult it is to be good at it.
I was reminded of this when we recently received a brief from a prospective client for a pitch we are involved in. It can be strange pitching, when you also facilitate pitches. Part of you wants to advise them on the best way to run it, whilst the rest of you knows your job is to focus on responding to the best of your ability.
During briefing, they shared they had never written a brief like this before. Strangely, it was one of the best we’ve received. Potentially because they were honest with themselves and us, rather than trying to pretend they knew everything. In most other cases where pitches are run for consultants, they struggle to both brief and evaluate the responses. What do good consultants look like? What questions do you ask to work this out? The fact is, most incorrectly believe subject matter knowledge is the most important ingredient.
This is a myth. It is like a lot of thinking around the industry:
You have participated in lots of pitches, of course you can run them.
You’ve worked in agencies for years, you would be great at managing them.
You have received plenty of briefs, you can help me write a better one.
You’ve put plenty of media plans together, you can tell me what’s wrong with mine.
… amongst plenty of other examples…
I haven’t included sports analogies in my last few articles. I think that means I can pack this one full of them. There are lessons, even if you don’t follow or potentially dislike sport.
It is often said the best sportspeople don’t make the best coaches. I am not sure anyone really understands why. Some suggest it has to do with the fact the game came too easy for them, they can’t relate to the struggles of average players. Others suggest they were skilful free spirits, rather than hard-edged and disciplined. They can’t instil these characteristics into their teams. Others simply suggest the skills aren’t transferable.
I subscribe to the latter opinion.
The three coaches currently on top of the NRL ladder can best be described as a journeyman, a reserve grader and a mediocre first grader during their time in the game. They all have one thing in common. None of them walked straight into a top coaching job. They all served apprenticeships under other high performing coaches and honed their craft, before going on to be successful.
In the business world, we know of the ‘Peter Principle’. Great technicians being promoted to incompetence. Taking on leadership roles because of their performance as technicians, without the appropriate skills or coaching support to succeed. There are also similarities here.
The evidence of great consultants and coaches is the impact they have on the people they work with. The confidence they instil in them and their ability to perform better in their roles. If you are looking for a good one, perhaps start your search by talking to the people they work with.
