Consulting 101 – Learn to be a consultant and not die trying.

Throughout all these years, developing all kinds of consultancy services, for large, medium, national or multinational companies around the world, I found my interlocutors on duty with long faces during the first meetings, scolding things like "... yeah, sure, you remind me of these consultants who came a year ago, and their 'great job' was to tell us what we already knew”. Sometimes I must admit that it was intimidating to meet with a manager of revenue, operations, technology, or any other strategic area, to be able to identify what their main pain points were and propose possible – and feasible – solutions.

In my first consulting projects, while my interlocutor would speak, I could only see the lips moving, without listening, because in my head I did nothing better than question my own knowledge acquired at lightning speed (sometimes the weekend before the meeting) and compare this limited understanding of the company or the market, with the years – and many times, even decades – of experience that the manager or team sitting in front of me did have (some of you will ask why not virtual meetings instead? Absolutely YES! but let us remember that consulting has existed long before the "new normal").

"Stage fright" is a disturbance typical of young consultants, who, overnight, are assigned to projects, as conscripts sent to war, with a laptop (or paper notebook) as a weapon, and hundreds of ideas, assumptions and goodwill, as ammunition.

However, experience rules. The more projects I attended, the more I understood that it does not matter how much the client knows, or how much less the consultant knows about a particular matter. The reality is that the client never has enough time available to seek the improvement of their business, or to solve a structural problem. Or if time is not a constraint, she does not have a framework to apply. It is a fact that she/he knows much more than the consultant, but cannot put it into practice because is absorbed by attending the day-to-day activities.

"Stage fright" is a disturbance typical of young consultants, who, overnight, are assigned to projects.

Despite these challenges, there are many clients who are reluctant to hire external consultants, because in practice they do not see their expectations crystallized. And sometimes they are quite right, because it often happens that the consulting service acquired, is sold without a defined or achievable scope. Not only does it offer the resolution of a specific problem, but it also includes making the company walk like a Swiss clockwork, and possibly even becoming them, once the project is delivered, the undisputed market leader. As we well know, the higher the balloon of expectation rises, the more painful the fall will be.

"Piano Piano, si va Lontano" (Slowly, Slowy, you will go far)

Consulting is half science, half art. Methodology is combined with data analysis. Even better if good data storytelling is included. The consultant must join good skills of holistic analysis, with capabilities of writer, leader, presenter, joke teller, etc. As one of my mentors told me once: "the best consultant is able to get information where apparently it does not exist, or the customer, somehow, is reluctant to share it with you". And all the above skills must be used either together or separately, to achieve this goal.

Indeed, a professional consultant must be able to differentiate myths from reality, as well as balance big problems versus just-quick-wins (which many times pays the whole service). If you pretend to come into the consulting world, keep always in mind to look at everything with patience and perspective.

"The best consultant is able to get information where apparently it does not exist, or the customer, somehow, is reluctant to share it with you".

Definitely, it is desirable if you have the "consultant vein", and if still not, go to develop it along handling scenarios of uncertainty, processing incomplete information (or delivered in droppers), facing uncomfortable users, users who cry to be lack of time, or users who act as firefighters every day of the week. Consultancy is not easy, but it is always entertaining, and certainly provides challenges to overcome.

Since my learning, a junior consultant must try to follow 7 simple golden rules, to try to ensure that the project is successful. These rules are:

1. Have an Action Plan – Avoid walking in circles around the tree. And have a plan B, C, …
2. Use a known methodology or framework – or design it before starting the service.
3. Be creative – try not repeating the work the same way. Innovate!
4. Present tangible and attractive results – based on consistent information, not on beliefs.
5. Do not pretend to know more than the client – Learn from the opportunity and try reading! (not good for reading? then go and look for online knowledge!).
6. Retro – Either you are a sole consultant or work for a firm, at the end of the project, take a time to draw and review your conclusions from the learning. You will need them for future projects.
7. Always be an optimist – Take by granted you will hit walls in your growth as a consultant. You came here because all what you did until today. It is part of your process!

Undoubtedly, these 7 rules are numbered just as a brushstroke of what is needed. They also have nuances, depending on the project and the context. We could discuss them in details, but I do not pretend to bore you in one single article.

There is no book or master degree that synthesizes the infinite variants of consulting projects. Mastering consulting practice is only achieved with experience, patience, and optimism.

In future publications, I will try to deepen this topic and others related that you may be interested. I read you. So long! 

#consulting #projectleader #businessprocessanalysis