Flawless Consulting summary

Let’s imagine a consultant – a confident individual in a sharp suit, strutting around your office taking notes. Although this person might look important, in reality, he has very little direct power.

A consultant can do two things: advise people and try to motivate them to implement new ideas.

So your company has a huge problem that you as a manager can’t solve. The light bulb goes on: I can call a consultant and let him figure it out! Maybe you could even go on vacation while the consultant goes to work.

A dream scenario, sure, but the reality is different. Consultants and managers are both needed; a consultant comes up with a good solution, but a manager is the one who actually puts the solution into action.

Each consulting opportunity is built on a series of stages, from setting expectations at the beginning of a job to collecting feedback once a successful solution has been implemented.

The first stage is the contracting phase. Here is where a consultant and her clients establish the scope and general expectations of a project. This is an important step, as managers often are concerned that a consultant will exert too much control over the company.

You know the saying: you can’t make an omelette without breaking a few eggs. Well, a consultant can’t change things at a company without upsetting a few people.

People can be scared of change, but consulting is all about change! Resistance is only natural.

Having the best ideas in the world doesn’t make a difference if you can’t communicate them to other people. And that’s especially true in the world of consulting.

After all, even if a consultant develops a correct solution using sound logic, if she can’t convince people to implement her solution, the consultation is basically a failure.

Good consulting is like raising a child. You deal with a lot of problems in the beginning, but if you do things correctly, eventually you’ll have raised an adult that can resolve issues independently.

But unlike a parent, a consultant only spends a bit of time with each company. And she needs to have as much of an impact as possible in that very short time frame.