Lately, we’ve been having more conversations with client organizations about how we work – specifically, the difference between how we work compared to consultants.
At Limelights, we like to classify ourselves as facilitators with a touch of consulting. While we share some similarities with more traditional consultants, there are a few important differences in what we do as facilitators. Let’s break it down.
Consultants are professionals who provide expert advice in a given field. Their tasks typically include:
💼 Providing expert recommendations
💼 Bringing specialized knowledge and experience
💼 Solving specific problems
💼 Developing strategies
💼 Implementing solutions
Facilitators, on the other hand, are professionals who help a group of people work together better. Their tasks usually include:
🌐 Guiding processes
🌐 Helping people understand their common goals (and how to achieve them)
🌐 Working with groups to make decisions, resolve conflict, or generate ideas
Facilitators also tend to take a “neutral” position in the discussion. Thus, the main difference between consultants and facilitators is that consultants provide direct solutions, while facilitators focus on supporting and empowering groups to work collaboratively and come up with their own solutions.
We like to put it this way:
✨ Consultants vs. Facilitators = Logic vs. Magic ✨
Consultants focus on innovation. We focus on engagement.
Consultants focus on data. We focus on people and processes.
Consultants focus on strategy. We focus on strategy and co-ownership.
Consultants tell you what to do. We don’t.
To give you an even better idea of what we do and how we do it, here’s a breakdown of a recent project we completed with a large agritech company in Europe:
❎ Strategic communications support, including 1-1 collaboration with your comms team.
❎ Strategy workshops, where we connect and strategize on purpose, create an aligned and focused team, accelerate innovation, and bring in guest speakers to inspire you and your people.
❎ Consultancy & innovation, where we set up and run an innovation process with you led by trained facilitators (who are often ex-consultants).
❎ One-on-one tailored trailblazing, consisting of regular brainstorming sessions where we act as your “co-pilot” to empower your leaders, come up with disruptive and innovative ideas, build your personal brand, and future-proof your skills and profile.
There is no right or wrong way to go about driving change within your organization – though we are slightly biased toward a facilitation approach. In our experience, we’ve found that serving as facilitators helps foster a sense of co-ownership and inclusion within large organizations, allowing every employee to “live” the strategy and push for positive change.
👉Looking for an experienced co-pilot in your journey to accelerate sustainability? Contact us today to learn more about how we can facilitate change within your organization.
