People ask me this every week. Do I need a coach or a consultant?
Both words get thrown around like they mean the same thing. They don’t. Pick the wrong one and you spend six months solving the wrong problem.
The short answer. If you’re already running OKR and want to get sharper at it, you need coaching. If you’re building OKR from scratch, or your current rollout is a mess and you want it fixed, you need consulting. Plenty of teams use both, back to back.
The longer answer is worth a few minutes of your time.
What the two actually mean
OKR consulting is project work. We come in, look at how your business runs, design an OKR model that fits, train your people on how to use it, and run the first cycle with you. We do the heavy lifting on the model. You participate, but the consultant brings the framework, the workshop agenda, the writing standards, and the cadence design.
OKR coaching is ongoing work. Your model exists. Your team writes the goals. The coach sits beside you, and beside your champions, and challenges the work as it happens. They catch the OKR that is really a task list with metrics taped on. They notice when the weekly check-in starts to drift. They give you the call you need when your model is shaky and another quarter is coming.
That’s the structural difference. Consulting builds the program. Coaching builds the capability.
Side by side
| OKR Coaching | OKR Consulting | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Teams already running OKR | Teams building or resetting OKR |
| What we do | Guide and challenge your leaders | Co-design and embed the model |
| Who does the work | Your team, with our guidance | Us, with your team |
| Typical shape | Ongoing, often a 90-day cycle | Project-based implementation |
| Main outcome | Confident OKR leaders | A working OKR model, live |
| Starts from | $2,500 per month | $45,000 |
When coaching is the right call
You already have OKR in some shape. The basics work. But you keep second-guessing the model. Your team writes goals that drift toward tasks. The energy fades by week four. The CEO asks “are these actually right?” and nobody has a confident answer.
A coach removes that doubt. The coach is the trusted advisor who answers the tricky questions your team asks, holds you to the weekly rhythm when it would be easier to skip a week, and challenges the goal that looks fine but isn’t.
Coaching is also where the in-house capability gets built. After two or three cycles with a coach, your leaders should be able to run a setting workshop without us in the room. That’s the goal. We are not trying to live inside your business.
If your situation is “we’re doing OKR but I’m not sure we’re doing it well,” coaching is the move.
See OKR Coaching for the shape of the work.
When consulting is the right call
You’re starting from scratch. Or you tried, and it stalled. Or your goals are technically there but nobody believes in them.
You do not want to lose two quarters learning OKR the hard way. The pattern of failed rollouts is so consistent I could draw the diagram from memory. Too many goals. Tasks dressed up as key results. Top-down handover instead of co-authoring. No weekly rhythm. We have seen each one a hundred times and we know how to design them out.
Consulting is faster and more directive. We co-design the model for your culture, train your people, facilitate the workshops where your team writes its first real OKR, and run the first cycle with you so it actually lands. Project-based, with a clear shape and a clear end.
If your situation is “we don’t have OKR yet but we want to,” or “our OKR is broken and I want it fixed properly,” consulting is the move.
See OKR Consulting for the shape of the work.
The most common case: both
Most of the work I do is both. Consulting to build the model right the first time, then coaching to keep it alive across cycles.
That is exactly what The 90-Day OKR Quickstart Blueprint does. The first 60 days are consulting: assess, design, co-author. The back third is coaching: weekly confidence scoring, mid-cycle check-ins, end-of-quarter retro. Same engagement, two modes.
If you’re at the start of the journey, that’s the cleanest shape.
How to choose if you’re still not sure
Three questions.
First, do you have OKR in some form already? Yes means coaching. No means consulting.
Second, is your team confident writing key results from a starting metric to a target? Yes means coaching can sharpen what they already do. No means you need consulting to build the writing capability first.
Third, how much budget do you have? Coaching starts from $2,500 per month. Consulting starts from $45,000. The price reflects the work shape, not the quality. Coaching is the lighter touch for teams that need an advisor. Consulting is the heavier engagement when the model itself is the thing.
If you are still not sure after those three, book a free 15-minute OKR Strategy Call and we will tell you straight. No pitch. If you don’t need either, we will say so.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between OKR coaching and OKR consulting?
Coaching guides your own leaders to run OKR. Consulting co-designs and embeds the OKR model for you, then runs the first cycle with your teams.
Do I need both?
Often yes. Many teams use consulting to build the model and coaching to keep it sharp over time.
Which is cheaper?
Coaching starts from $2,500 per month. Full consulting and implementation starts from $45,000. Coaching is the lighter-touch option.
Can I switch between them?
Yes. Most engagements start as consulting to build the model and shift to coaching to keep it running. You do not need to commit to one shape for the whole journey.
How long does each take?
Consulting projects typically run 60 to 90 days. Coaching engagements usually run on the same cadence as your OKR cycles, ongoing as long as it is useful.
