Advice to Consultants

Preamble:  I believe consulting to be an honorable and noble profession.  I work to help solve common process and system issues in very varied industries and company cultures.  Succeeding requires my skills as a teacher, an analyst, and a project manager.  It also requires a deeply rooted sense of humor.  Consulting provides me with opportunities to work with many more people and companies than I could as an employee.  To gather my experience in a serial employment scenario, I would need to be much much older (and I am old enough, thank you very much) and would have a resume with too many jobs to be considered employable.  What a concept!

I am a consultant and I have worked with consultants.  I have worked with enough to entertain changing my job title to something or anything else.  But, "Advisor" seems like a sales clerk at a retail chain store or Brokerage. "Outside Expert" is haughty.  "Outsourced Resource" is closer to the truth and more poetic.  And "Mercenary" seems a bit over-the-top.  All in all, Consultants are what we are and Consulting is what we do...

I have collected a number of "Helpful Hints" for anyone about to consult and the rest of the ragged hordes.

Note: These are my personal editorial comments and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of your management...

...wc

• What Consultants Can Be:

  • An important external Resource (Expert) for temporary projects or problems (think Plumber or Mechanic). 

  • A reliable source for another point of view or second opinion (and hopefully objective and independent). 

  • A focused resource to help the project proceed more consistently and smoothly. 

  • A periodic business process auditor and sounding board. 

  • A skilled troubleshooter.

  • An off-site member of the team.

   

• What Consultants should Not Be:

  • "The Solution to a Problem" (we are only a part of the package). 

  • The only opinion considered. 

  • Advertised as "God's Gift to..." (we may be good, but let's try to be humble about it)

  • Permanent and Full Time (just hire them)

• Avoid this Mission Statement: "My goal is to generate as many billable hours as I can." (an actual quote and a common belief)

Yes, without billable hours, consulting is relegated to the position of hobby or martyrdom, but, it is not the primary mission.  "Find a need and fill it" and the billable hours will be a natural bi-product.  If Money is your goal, become a Snake Oil salesman...

• The Consultants' Natural Advantage (over the real world):

 We know we are Temporary.  Everyone else believes they are Permanent.

We must strive to provide value and service, every day, or our services will not be required.  (Now, that's incentive!) 

As Consultants we are unencumbered by Fringe Benefits and company perquisites.  Nothing extra is included.  We are not owed any more than our negotiated contract or billing rate.  We have no Sick days or Vacation to accrue.  No Work = No Pay. It seems very fair to me.  We can focus on the project and avoid the other stuff. 

• Think of the "User" first.

I have seen too many technically advanced solutions stumble because the User was the last facet to be considered.  Yes, the User probably is inept, whiney, arrogant and self absorbed, but please remember,  we are ALL users.  The User has a valid point and needs assistance, that is why we are involved.  And by the way, if the company had all of the needed resources in-house, we wouldn't be there in the first place.  We can help either by changing the process or educating the User.  (You must pick one). We cannot leave the User to "deal with it".  You and I chose to serve, so let us serve well.

• All we can offer is integrity.

Skills, Training and experience got us in the door but integrity keeps the door open.

I have been wrong before and will be again.  Admit it and move on.  My blunders and scars blend with my successes to form my experience.  I am not as naive as I was, nor as wise as I will be (hopefully).  Honest mistakes can be overcome but fraud has other consequences.

• Enjoy Consulting (or get a real job).

I believe this is the best job I could have. The pressure is always on, and I can't remember the last rut I was in.  I work with many creative people on various interesting projects and, on top of that, I generate "Billable Hours".

...wc