The Q&A Corner
Saibal Sen Managing Consultant & Founder of ZENeSYS
Answers to questions you will face in your consulting career.
Who is a (management) consultant and what do they do?
A consultant solves business problems for clients. They are NOT hired for their deep expertise in any established field. Rather they are hired for an outside perspective and their business skills such as research, analysis, facilitation, communications and project management.
Clients generally have sufficient domain expertise in their own areas. 90% of the issues are related to operational problems such as politics, resistance to change, market changes, organizational restructure or financial mis-management.
Needless to say, if technical know-how is all you bring to the table as a consultant, there is very little chance of solving the client’s business problem.
Should I be a jack of all trades or a master of one?
The right answer is both. You need to become “jack of all trades” and master of “consulting skills”. In consulting the capability to “find the right answer” is more important than “to know the right answer”.
Generally speaking, you need to have at minimum a moderate amount of knowledge in the industry you are consulting in. It is important that you be genuinely interested in that field. Prepare yourself well before taking up an assignment and read up as much as you can.
Consultants are valued more for their perspective rather than their knowledge. So it’s best to concentrate more on sharpening up your research and analytical skills.
How do I extract (research) information?
Your efficiency as a consultant is directly proportional to your ability to find the right answers. So you need to develop the skill to get the right answers, fast!
There are two situations you will find yourself in:
A New Situation: In such situations you must go planned. One of the most powerful ways of planning is the concept of developing an Initial Hypothesis or IH. An IH is your guess on what might be the root cause behind any client reported issue. For example if you are tasked with a cost reduction engagement, you should first create a hypothesis on why the running costs could be high. Once you have a list of hypothesis, you can develop appropriate questions and sources for the answers. Read McInsey Way for more on IH or attend one of our seminars on “Best Practices in Consulting”.
A Repeat Situation: For efficiency sake, consultants develop methodologies. The purpose of methodologies is to re-use prior tools and templates. In the case of a cost reduction project on a bank, you should save all the research questionnaires, strategies and tools you have developed and generalize it. Next time you get into another cost reduction project for a bank, you can re-use the tools and templates. One word of caution when you are using repeatable tools – be sure to treat each engagement as unique and be prepared to spot the differences.
What are the career growth options available to a consultant?
As a consultant you will gain experience three times faster than you would in a regular job. Simply put, a good consultant with 5 years experience will have the wisdom and capabilities of someone who has worked for 15 years in the industry.
One of the most valuable skills the consultant develops is taking on a responsibility for a job without the authority to execute it – a leadership skill that is hard to master.
Very few consultants stay on a consultant career track forever even though it’s not a bad thing. My own guestimate figures would be 50% move into senior management positions involving a strategic role. 30% go into business of their own. 10% into Venture Capital related industry. The remainder head on to various other professions.
What are the typical pitfalls in consulting?
I would say these are the top four reasons why engagements fail:
- Consultant Arrogance: This is the top reason for failures. It may not be an issue for freshers but certainly when you get more experienced, resist the tendency to “patronize” your client. Be professional at all times. Large engagements have failed because consultants tried to force their solutions on clients. Read the book Dangerous Company for case studies on failures by the International Big Six.
- Poor understanding of deliverables: Also a top engagement killer. Consultants should spend a lot of time making sure the deliverables are well understood and the scope of work is water tight. Don’t be afraid to change the scope if need be even after the project has started. There should be a formal way of conducting change control on scope.
- Greediness in getting an engagement: Don’t sell an engagement that the client does not need. The simple rule is only sell a “solution to the problem a client has” as opposed to selling a “solution to a problem client does NOT have”.
- Lack of trust: Developing the clients trust is very important. Unless you get full cooperation with the client, your engagement will fail. Client teams and consultant teams need to work as one. For great material on developing trust read a book by David H Maister, The Trusted Advisor.
Hello Prasad,
Though your question is not directly related to a consulting situation, I will try to answer it from the prespective of a consulting career. These points may still be applicable in your case. You be the judge.
- Show Initiative: There is a difference between "polishing up" and showing initiative. I recommend doing a lot of the latter. Be eager and show a lot of "can do" attitude. You will be noticed by all and then you dont have to feel you are polishing anyone.
- Align yourself with the "good side": In every organization there will be a "dark side". If you are stuck with a bad boss or bad colleagues then seek out a strong mentor with solid principles and work ethics. They will help you fight the battle. Don't make the mistake of fighting on your own. Ask for help.
Consulting work environments are perceived to be highly political. This is not necessarily true. The fact is that you will be working with a lot of smart people and smart people have egos. You just have to be aware of this and work around it.Hi,
I have been working in BPO companies since last 8 years. i have missed chances of promotions in many instances due to organization internal politics.
I do not wish to polish high officials and loose self respect. Please suggest.
Thanks