“So you wanna be a Consultant?”

Posted by Rory on Jun 17, 2010 in Articles | 0 comments

There is something rather special about the word ‘Consultant’. It somehow conjures up an image of someone rather important and knowledgeable who has gained a certain level of respectability in their field of work.

It sounds more important than many other job titles, even if it isn’t, and implies that the person referred to as a Consultant has ‘expertise’ which is highly sought after.

The reality of course is that the word ‘Consultant’ can have a whole variety of interpretations ranging from an extremely well qualified Consultant in something like heart surgery to a lowly paid office clerk where the word ‘Consultant’ is actually completely inaccurate and used just to bolster up the recruitment process by making the job role sound more attractive to would be applicants.

True consultancy though is all about applying a structured process to solve a problem and a true ‘Consultant’ is usually someone who is very experienced in their own specific line of business and applies their knowledge in a structured way to help others. This is particularly true in the case of ‘Management Consultancy’ where large corporations tend to bring in independent consultants to assist with problem solving or to tackle very specific tasks.

Consultancy is therefore all about the application of expertise (gained over time whilst working within a chosen profession) added to the ability to apply a set of problem solving techniques to solve a problem. This means that someone can be an ‘expert’ in their job but still not qualify as a Consultant because they don’t have the skills to apply problem solving techniques. Equally some people are very good at solving problems but are certainly not ‘experts’. It is only when both sides of the equation balance that someone can honestly claim to be a ‘Consultant’.

But what exactly is consultancy and how does it work in reality?

The answer is that it can be a very enjoyable, well paid and satisfying career and interestingly the principles on which it is based can also be applied to all sorts of aspects of life outside of the work place. In other words many management consultants apply the same problem solving techniques to their home life as they do to their work life in order to achieve results.

By way of an example let’s look at a few simple concepts that a management consultant would have in his ‘toolbox’.
Firstly the Consultant will want to learn as much as possible about their client – which is usually, but not always, the person paying for their services. The Consultant will know that every client is an individual with their own motives, desires, behaviours, emotions and thoughts. The first thing a good Consultant will do is work closely with their client to understand more about them as an individual in order to better understand their viewpoint, goals and objectives. The Consultant will also strive to see the ‘problem’ from the client’s perspective rather than from his own. This is very important.

Once the Consultant has won the respect of his client and demonstrated his or her willingness to help the second step is to start to examine the problem or issue in more detail.

The very fact that a Consultant is an ‘outsider’ rather than an employee means that the Consultant can bring an independent viewpoint and examine a problem based on his or her own relevant experience as well as examining a problem with a fresh pair of eyes. The other thing a Consultant will strive to do is to try and bring to the surface any ‘hidden’ or related aspects of the problem which the client may not see or be aware of. The goal of this second step is to fully examine the problem from all angles until every aspect is clarified.

The third step of the process is to look at all of the potential solutions that could be applied to the problem and to test the merit of each ‘solution’ in terms of its cost, sustainability, ease of application and other success criteria.

Once the client and the Consultant have agreed on the best possible solution then they need to work together to make change happen and this is often the hardest part of the process. Change can be painful in many ways both on a personal level (e.g. changes to employees’ job roles, terms and conditions etc) as well as on a procedural level. For this reason a Consultant is often the best person to help drive change within an organisation as long as they are both sensitive to the ‘human factors’ associated with change as well as focused on ensuring that the process of change is well managed and kept on track.

After the initiation of organisational change to solve a problem, the Consultant must also use both qualitative and quantitative methods in order to ensure that the problem or issue has actually been solved to the satisfaction of the client.
Finally the Consultant must bring the assignment to a satisfactory conclusion by demonstrating to the client that not only has the problem been solved but that the Consultant has provided ‘added value’ by bringing both expertise and independence to the issue.

This ‘process’ has been deliberately simplified to make the steps clear. In reality these types of assignments can be extremely complex and lengthy but the important point to note is that a good Consultant will use a whole variety of tried and trusted techniques to solve all manner of corporate issues and problems.

When you think about it the steps described above are really ‘common sense’ and can be applied to almost any situation. Think about it. If your partner (the ‘client’) suggests to you it might be nice to go out for a meal tonight then you (the Consultant) might examine the motives, objectives, goals etc behind the request. You might then examine the logistics of the suggestion – are we busy tonight? Can we afford it? Then you will go on to explore potential solutions – What restaurants are nearby? Are they open? What sort of food do they serve? You will then offer a ‘proposed solution’ to your client and if they agree you will then implement the solution by going out together for a meal. If the meal is a good one and you are happy to pay then the ‘project’ has been a success! Okay – this is simplifying the principles but I’m sure you can understand the connections.

A good Management Consultant will use the above process as a ‘framework’ for any project or assignment and in addition will also utilise a number of other more ‘boring’ techniques to analyse problems in different ways (process–flow diagrams, data analysis etc) These are all techniques taught at business schools in order to make things that are complex easier to understand and deal with.
So if you have a desire to enjoy a career as a highly paid, jet-setting international consultant with a big expense account and a fast car then you now know what to do – become a recognised expert in whatever profession or job you do today – and then learn about the tools that Consultants use to work with their clients to help them meet their goals.

Just one word of warning though – if you do make the grade and then find yourself stuck in an airport lounge at midnight struggling with data analysis to meet an impossible deadline – then don’t blame me. If you can’t take the pressure of the job then go see a Consultant!