Avoid These Three Types of Consultants

As helpful as modern-day coaches and consultants can be, there are a lot of drama-based practitioners out there. Here’s what we hear from our clients who’ve had bad experiences in the past.

“The coach was a know-it-all. He didn’t take time to understand my situation before starting to give me advice.” (Rescuer consulting)

“The consultant kept us guessing and didn’t give us all the information. We didn’t feel as though we were getting more confident in ourselves. I think she wanted us to be dependent on her.” (Rescuer consulting)

“The consultant did whatever we wanted. He just caved in and didn’t keep us accountable. What good is that?” (Victim consulting)

“If I disagreed or pushed back, the consultant would treat me like I was ignorant and tell me to just trust him. I thought I was paying him to help me!” (Persecutor consulting)

If you can relate to any of these statements, you may have been in a relationship with a drama-based coach or consultant. Drama-based helping is very common in the coaching and consulting world because it preys on fear, insecurity and has no interest in building long-term competence.

Drama-based helping is not motivated by a sincere desire for all parties to struggle together towards a great solution. It is motivated by a desire to be justified instead.

The Rescuer consultant preys on your insecurities posing as the all-knowing expert, quick to give unsolicited advice, willing to make you dependent on them.

The Victim consultant second-guesses themselves at every turn, quick to give in, unwilling to push back when necessary.

The Persecutor consultant will throw you under the bus if you challenge his authority. He doesn’t care about you.

Alternatively, compassion-based coaching and consulting supports environments that are safe, curious, and consistent instead. A relationship with a compassion-based consultant should leave you with a confident answer to these three questions:

Am I worthwhile?

Am I capable?

Am I accountable?

Learn more about how we conceptualize compassion in this post. 

Want to become a trusted advisor? Get these three things right.

Copyright 2016, Next Element Consulting, LLC,  All rights reserved

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