Chapter 3: What Makes Consultants Truly Valuable: Lessons from the Field
Let me qualify this chapter: I'm not the ultimate authority on all things consulting. Having said that, I certainly possess an informed perspective.
If you've read chapter 1 or chapter 2, you know that I've spent most of my career thus far in enterprise technology and business process consulting, so I've seen my fair share of well-oiled machines, train wrecks, and green fields. In my experience, the best consultants working these engagements all had a few things in common, and they may not be what you expect.
Before I tell you, let me attempt to paint a picture. Say what you will about consultants. They have the reputation they do for a reason, notwithstanding Hollywood depictions. For every consultant out there fighting the good fight and trying to make a tangible difference for their clients, there's at least one more spending just as much time on perfecting a deck that no one asked for, confusing people with circular and verbose consultant-speak, or delivering an expensive white paper that regurgitates re-stated facts you could've otherwise found for free on the internet.
So, what did the former, honest ones have that really made a difference? How did they differentiate themselves? And remember, this is in my own, nuanced, experience:
They saved time
Even when they were forced to pull out the deck and go for the thud factor, they paraphrased the minutiae to save time for the audience. They recognized that, in this example, it was an exercise in pageantry and tradition, not always one in efficiency.
Many consultants charge hourly rates, so it follows that to maximize their fees, they should try to occupy as much time with stakeholders as reasonably possible on any given engagement. Great consultants, however, play the long game and appreciate the ultimate currency that is time, and thus don't squander it. They respect it, even save it or give it back, when able. As a corollary, the product of their efforts saves the client time in the long run.
They were honest
This is a multi-faceted trait:
If they didn't know the answer to something, they said so, but they didn’t leave it at that. They made it a priority to find out and deliver a response by an ordained point.
They provided truth to power.
No one knows everything, so it's refreshing to hear someone—even experts in various domains—admit when they don't know something, but also commit to finding out and closing the feedback loop.
Providing truth to power is important because consultants are known for being verbose and talking in circles that sound intelligent, but if you could record one of their lengthy statements and play it back later to really distill it, you'd probably take away very little of value.
Those worth their salt say what needs to be said. Now, that doesn't necessarily imply that they're blunt about everything. (Remember, discretion is the better part of valor.) It means that they're comfortable delivering messages that clients may not necessarily be pleased to hear but that they need to hear to make the most informed decisions.
They were principled
Consulting, like many other lines of work, is a people business. You cater to a lot of different personalities, which can introduce risk to your book of business if you can't be socially adaptable. But being socially adaptable doesn't have to mean compromising your principles. As a consultant, you're hired for your expertise—expertise that, presumably, the client is not equipped to provide themselves. So, it's incumbent on you to perform and deliver a product built on integrity, even when stakeholders who review your drafts request them to be softened or redirected to fit alternative agendas or narratives.
Remember, delivering and discussing challenging news is an inseparable part of being trustworthy. Attempting to separate the two breeds an unhealthy relationship. My points, here, ought to reinforce that clients really need consultants who are demonstrably trustworthy—consultants who seek to partner with clients rather than transact—arguably, the most important principle that consultants share with entrepreneurs. More on that transition in the next chapter.
-Chris