๐๐ซ๐๐ง ๐๐๐๐ก ๐ก๐๐ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ค๐ช’๐ง๐ ๐ฃ๐ค๐ฉ ๐๐๐ฉ๐ฉ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐ข๐ค๐จ๐ฉ ๐๐ง๐ค๐ข ๐ฎ๐ค๐ช๐ง ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐จ๐ช๐ก๐ฉ๐๐ฃ๐ฉ๐จ?
Hereโs how you can change that – Part 1
1๏ธโฃ๐๐ฒ๐ณ๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ ๐๐น๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ท๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐
โ Be explicit about what you want to achieve.
โณ Clear goals lead to targeted efforts.
Ambiguity only causes confusion and inefficiency.
๐๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ’๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฎ๐ฆ – ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ข๐ด๐ฌ ๐ช๐ด “๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ถ๐ญ๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐บ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ?” ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต’๐ด ๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ณ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ? ๐ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ถ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด ๐ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ค๐ถ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ.
2๏ธโฃ๐๐๐๐ฎ๐ฏ๐น๐ถ๐๐ต ๐ข๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ป ๐๐ผ๐บ๐บ๐๐ป๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป
โ Build a collaborative relationship.
โณ Regular checkins ensure alignment and progress.
๐ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ข๐ญ๐ธ๐ข๐บ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ง ๐ค๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฌ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐ญ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐จ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด.
3๏ธโฃ๐๐ผ๐ป’๐ ๐น๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ผ ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฎ๐ถ๐น๐
A quick call can save hours of misunderstanding.
๐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ค๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด, ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ. ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ข๐ช๐ญ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ก๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ด. ๐๐ณ๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ข๐ค๐ฆ ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ, ๐ด๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ข๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฑ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ค๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ.
4๏ธโฃ๐๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ด๐ฒ ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฟ ๐๐ ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ
โ Utilize their knowledge beyond immediate tasks.
โณ Tap into their industry insights and experiences.
Consultants often bring a wealth of knowledge from different projects and regions.
๐ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ค๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ข๐ด๐ฌ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ข๐ด ๐ช๐ต ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ-๐ฃ๐ถ๐ช๐ญ๐ต ๐ค๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ฐ๐ด๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ค ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด. ๐๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ค๐ถ๐ด๐ด ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ – ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ข๐ด๐ฌ ๐ช๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ!
5๏ธโฃ๐๐ฒ ๐ต๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ ๐๐ถ๐๐ต ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐บ๐ถ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐๐๐น๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐
If the project isn’t heading in the right direction for you, there’s been some miscommunication and its best put right early on. No consultant wants their work to gather dust unused on a shelf.
6๏ธโฃ๐๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐๐๐น๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ ๐ท๐ผ๐ฏ
โ Have a clear idea of the type of expertise you want, and ask around
โณ Define the skills and experience needed, make this a key criteria.
๐๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ’๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฎ๐ฆ – ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ซ๐ฐ๐ฃ’๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ด๐ฆ.
7๏ธโฃ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฑ๐๐น๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐น๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐บ๐ถ๐น๐ฒ๐๐๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ๐
โ Set clear objectives and goals, and align deliverables to payment milestones.
โณ Ensure both client and consultant share the understanding of deliverables. Put in the payment milestones around delivery.
99% ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ถ๐ญ๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ช๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ถ๐ญ๐ต๐ด, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ณ๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข๐ท๐ฐ๐ช๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ 50% ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต’๐ด ๐ข ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ.
8๏ธโฃ๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ธ ๐๐ฝ ๐ฏ๐ถ๐ด ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ท๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ผ ๐ฝ๐ต๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐
Most consultants thrive on 2-4 month jobs. Break up a big, long-term project into phases if possible.
๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ถ๐ญ๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ถ๐ฎ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ฆ๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ถ๐ญ๐ต๐ด. ๐๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ค๐ถ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ซ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฎ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ด. ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด.
9๏ธโฃ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐ถ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐๐ฎ๐ณ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฑ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐ผ๐๐๐ฝ๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ผ๐ฟ๐
โ Ever had the consultants presentation where the partner or Director says they will be leading this day to day, hands on, special treatment? then you never see them again?
โณ If an output is not up to quality or expectations then the partner or director is the one to target – they should be quality assuring this stuff.
๐๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต๐ฑ๐ถ๐ต๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ – ๐ฎ๐ฆ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ – ๐’๐ฎ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐บ.
๐๐ ๐ด๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐๐๐น๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ ๐๐ถ๐น๐น ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ฒ๐ป๐ด๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ถ๐บ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐น๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐
There’s some very experienced consultants, like me, who’ve been around the block a few times and can suggest improvements. Give us a listen!
In sum, ย the biggest tip to get the best out of consultants is:
๐๐๐ซ๐ ๐ ๐๐ค๐๐ช๐จ๐๐ ๐ค๐๐๐๐๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐ค๐ง ๐ฎ๐ค๐ช๐ง ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐จ๐ช๐ก๐ฉ๐๐ฃ๐๐ฎ ๐๐๐ง๐ ๐ฉ๐๐๐ฉ’๐จ ๐๐ค๐ข๐ข๐๐ฃ๐จ๐ช๐ง๐๐ฉ๐ ๐ฌ๐๐ฉ๐ ๐ฎ๐ค๐ช๐ง ๐๐ช๐๐๐๐ฉ
Folks – I’m asked sometimes to respond to a consultancy brief with 20+ asks, for a budget that is maybe reasonable for 5 of those asks.
๐๐ฐ ๐ข๐ด๐ฌ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง – ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ? at the end of the day what will this consultancy project or work help you do? how will it help in 3 months, 1 year, 2 years?
For those of you that know me – the first question I will ask is “so what do you need this piece of consultancy for? – to make which decisions, to win funding to delivery what? to improve what?”
I’m not being difficult, I just want to be impactful and add value.
