Understanding “Coachsulting”, a blend of Coaching and Consulting

Entrepreneurs, executives, and small business leaders often face a similar challenge: how to grow their business while growing themselves.

• Coaching helps them pause, reflect, and find clarity.

• Consulting brings methods, frameworks, and external expertise.

Yet on their own, each can leave a gap.

• Coaching may bring clarity, awareness, and direction, but not always the tools to execute.

• Consulting may bring direction but not always ownership or change.

That’s where coachsulting comes in. A partnership that connects reflection with action, clarity with structure.

It helps leaders think with perspective, decide with clarity, and move forward with confidence, building sustainable growth for themselves, their teams, and their business.

Bridging reflection and action

In a coaching relationship, both the human and operational sides of leadership can be explored. Through reflection and focused questioning, leaders gain clarity, make decisions, and commit to the actions that matter most.

Coachsulting builds on this foundation by offering additional structure or perspective when needed. Some leaders benefit from frameworks, tools, or expert input to move faster or see new options. Others simply need space to think, decide, and stay accountable.

The balance between coaching and consulting shifts depending on each person’s goals, background, and timing. 

A seasoned entrepreneur may need a sounding board to refine strategy. Someone newer to leadership may need more guidance to structure priorities. And sometimes, when speed matters, consulting can help move things forward more efficiently.

What stays constant is the partnership, one that combines reflection with action, awareness with direction, and thought with tangible progress.

	Coaching	Consulting
Focus	Self-awareness, growth mindset, decision-making, intentional action.	Expertise, strategy, solutions.
Style	Facilitating reflection, challenging perspectives, and helping leaders turn insight into action.	Advising, analyzing, and providing direction.
Outcome	Clarity, ownership, accountability, personal growth.	Strategy, frameworks, recommendations.

Both approaches have clear value, but also limitations.

Coaching builds awareness, clarity, and accountability, while consulting provides structure, methods, and expert perspective.

Alone, each can fall short: coaching may lack the external tools to accelerate progress, and consulting can limit ownership once the consultant steps away.

For many leaders today, a combined approach is the most effective.

Coachsulting connects these dimensions. Think of it as two gears working together: one slows things down to uncover what’s really happening, the other adds structure, tools, and outside perspective to turn that clarity into action.

It gives leaders space to reflect, the frameworks to move forward with confidence, and the accountability to sustain progress.

Why Leaders choose a blended approach

1. To navigate a fast-changing environment

Markets are evolving quickly. Leaders manage multicultural teams, global clients, and shifting priorities. Coachsulting helps them cut through day-to-day noise to focus on what truly drives performance. By combining reflection with structure, leaders can adapt faster and make more deliberate decisions grounded in clarity, not urgency.

2. To turn vision into execution

Strategy provides direction, but people bring it to life. Coachsulting helps leaders translate intention into action by defining priorities, aligning teams, and creating routines that sustain progress. It offers the frameworks and accountability that connect purpose with performance.

3. To create growth that lasts

Consulting helps solve today’s problems. Coaching develops leaders to face tomorrow’s. Coachsulting blends the two. It builds self-awareness and leadership capacity while addressing immediate needs. This makes change sustainable, because leaders take ownership of both the “why” and the “what next.”

4. To share clarity with a unique partner

Working with separate coaches and consultants can create fragmented progress. Coachsulting provides shared clarity by offering one trusted partner for both reflection and action. A practical advantage for founders, heads of function, and leadership teams alike.

From insight to action:

Coachsulting is ultimately about helping leaders turn awareness into results. It starts with asking the right questions, identifying the real challenge, and finding the right balance between reflection and guidance at each step. 

The process is dynamic, moving fluidly between reflection and structure, exploration and direction, insight and execution. What remains constant is clarity, accountability, and a shared commitment to progress.

Through ongoing dialogue, clear direction, and mutual accountability, coachsulting sustains both momentum and trust, turning reflection into tangible, lasting progress.

At Thriving With Me, this approach empowers leaders and entrepreneurs to make better decisions, stay focused, and achieve sustainable growth, for themselves, their teams, and their business.

If this resonates with you, or if you’re curious how coachsulting could support your leadership or business, feel free to reach out for a conversation.

References

1. Ibarra, H. and Scoular, A. (2019) ‘The leader as coach’, Harvard Business Review, November–December. Available at: https://hbr.org/2019/11/the-leader-as-coach. 

2. Olson, A.B. (2024) ‘Why isn’t your strategy sticking?’, Harvard Business Review, 27 March. Available at: https://hbr.org/2024/03/why-isnt-your-strategy-sticking.