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The Three Is of Consulting

~ David Straker ~

 

Industry | Intelligence | Integrity

 

Business consultants have a very varied reputation. They are sometimes called 'the second oldest profession' and indeed they can be seen as bodies for hire, there to perform your every bidding. The core premise of the consultant, however, is that you get a superior brain as well as a pair of hands. Yet the managers who hire consultants often feel cheated, that they are paying too much and getting too little.

This article explores the conundrum of client dissatisfaction and offers the 'Three Is of Consulting' as a balanced offering that should be at the heart of every consulting firm.

Industry

The first thing that a client gets from a consultant is industrious hard work. When they are paying top dollar they do not expect a languid nine-to-five stroll. They are not paying for coffee-machine chatter or extended lunches, nor do they expect slow deliberation or the ‘spinning wheels’ of apparent effort with no result. The consultant's output is expected to be prodigious and constant. They are paid by the day and the client expects their pound of beef every day. While full-time staff may take on a varying workload, consultants who follow suit are likely to be viewed with disappointment.

To match this requirement, consultants may well work evenings and weekends to get the job done. They do not have holidays: much like actors, they have paid days and days when they are 'resting'. And when they are acting, it is a full-on performance with no chance of stopping.

In consultancies, the trio of 'finders, minders and grinders' caricatures the three roles of business development, supervision and, most notably, the sheer hard work of doing the job. This, however, can cause a problem for clients. Whilst they may accept the high rates of the grinders, they may see less value in even higher-paid minders and are very wary of the finders.

Industry is the basic platform of consulting and in some engagements this is mostly what is required. Where the client has known and urgent work to complete, they just want a pair of hands to get it done, often to demanding timescales that their own employees could not meet. They are in charge and are not seeking thoughtful input – they just want someone to do what they are told, without question and with significant industry.

When all that is needed is a pair of hands, it can be a little disappointing for the consultant who seeks more intellectually challenging work--but at least it is bread and butter. A danger here is where the consultant tries to offer unwanted advice that only manages to irritate the client.

The bottom line for consultants: Be industrious always. Visibly work hard on value-adding activity (and remember that the client always defines what 'value' means).

Intelligence

Whilst industry is a basic promise of consulting, significantly more value may be added through the application of the consultant's brain. The consultant is more than a simple grunt (who can be hired for far less). In fact the primary value proposition of most consultancies is that they bring significant new intelligence to the table, and this is often what is sought.

The intelligence that the consultant brings can be in three forms: experience, knowledge and raw brainpower. These three intelligences can all be found to some degree in most consulting firms, although most consultancies specialize in one more than the others.

In the knowledge-based consultancy, significant efforts are expended on gathering, sifting and organizing huge amounts of business and industry knowledge. Libraries, case studies and databases are core tools and, after each engagement, consultants take time to extract and integrate explicit new knowledge. This is based on an assumption that many problems recur across organizations and that a well-stocked pharmacy can provide a standard solution for a properly diagnosed problem. In such consultancies there is typically a pattern of taking in younger and impressionable consultants who are taught the system and then carefully supervised in implementing the solution to a problem that has already been diagnosed by a more senior consultant.

In the brain-power consultancy, significant effort is put into the intellectual elite, who are typically recruited from the cream of top institutions and then continuously developed through tough business challenges. The basic assumption through which they sell themselves is that, although each problem is superficially similar to others, every problem is unique and at best standard solutions will only partially address the issue. Thus it is concluded that there is no substitute for raw IQ in getting to the real root of the issue and devising customized solutions that fully address the real problem. Such consultancies are staffed with fewer but higher-powered consultants who will forge long-term relationships with individual clients. It is the person and their potential that is sold to the client, not a knowledge base delivered through any available consultant.

Finally, the experience-based consultancy works on the principle that, as a basis for advising others, there is no real substitute for hard-fought, hands-on experience. These consultancies are a common destination for older managers and professionals who have retired early, been the victims of cutbacks or who have grown tired of the same old treadmill and who want more variety and the ability to share something of what they have learned. As with other consultancies, such organizations live and die on the abilities of their consultants, so must still be careful in their selection and management processes. Just experience is not enough and abilities to think and engage are also important.
Consultants who were once themselves senior managers must know that they are no longer in charge and that a good bedside manner is now a critical skill. Nevertheless, what they lack in general consulting skills they more than make up with in empathy for the client's real problems. When you know that your consultant has faced and overcome similar issues, then you are more likely to accept their proposals for a solution.

An issue occurs for clients when they have a need for one type of intelligence in which their consultants are not strong. The problem is compounded when the client and the consultancy are blind to this, resulting in unrealized client-consultancy incompatibility. The best that happens in such cases is that intelligence and empathy are applied to find an effective solution, despite differences. The worst that happens is an acrimonious break-up, with each declaring the other impossible to work with.

The bottom line for consultants: multiply value by what you know and your ability to think, both rationally and creatively. Stay ahead: never stop learning.

Integrity

The final 'I' is a perhaps one of the most problematic areas and is certainly the one where, when I have presented these three Is to practicing business people, there has been most concern. It is a sadly common reaction to laugh and declare that, whilst they agree that integrity is a very important thing, in practice they encounter it somewhat infrequently. A typical complaint is that consultants seem to spend excessive time (and your money) in looking for ways to extend their stay, rather than delivering the desired goods.

It is noteworthy is that, when companies do find a consultant with strong integrity, they seek to retain them and will, in future, seek that person out for their most critical engagements.

A fundamental aspect of integrity is confidentiality. Whilst with a client the consultant may have access to documents and information that could profit them or damage the client in some way. Any transgression of this trust could result in damaging lawsuits or even more damaging loss of reputation, not just for the consultant concerned but also their entire firm. Many client companies require signing of non-disclosure notices, but even without these, consultants should be scrupulous honest about sustaining client confidentiality and privacy.

The ideal position that many consultants seek is that of 'trusted advisor' whereby the client seeks and accepts their advice with little question. In such situations the consultant can deliver significant value and can charge accordingly. And herein lies the paradox: the client will not fully trust the consultant unless they believe that the consultant has their best interests at heart – yet the very fact that they are paying the consultant makes them doubt the consultant's true intent.

Trust, in the longer-term, comes with evidence. If you can show your clients an unwavering alignment of words and deeds, being reliable in your actions and delivering what you promise them, they will begin to trust you. If you are consistently honest, telling a complete and unvarnished truth -- including admission of your own limitations – then they will trust you more. And if, on top of this, you show that you truly care about them and will proactively seek to protect and support them, always having their best interests at heart, then they will trust you far more again.

It is worth noting that, although the client may consciously notice what the consultant does, trust is actually a feeling that is driven from a subconscious overall assessment. As a counteraction to our innate tendency to deceive we have an intuitive ability to detect that deception and hence are pretty good at figuring out who we can trust, especially over the longer term.

The most effective way of achieving and sustaining such intuitive trust is through an unshakable integrity of being. Faking and short-term tricks will not sustain an illusionary integrity and will only serve to deepen distrust.

A dilemma for the consultant is that in the constant pressure to sustain employment there is great temptation to stretch the time for an assignment, spending time looking for the next job or otherwise seeking to make the client dependent. Given such temptation, it is perhaps unsurprising that full integrity is so infrequently found. Yet whilst there may be some profit in outstaying the welcome for a while, the client will grow to hate the consultancy for any parasitic activity and will eventually wriggle free, never to return.

It is also not unknown for consultants to charge for development of items that were already paid for by other clients, but it is also known for clients to discover this. Milking the client may give short-term gain but it leads to long-term loss.

Dysfunctional relationships are another problem for consultant integrity. When the client wants a study done and gives very strong hints as to what they want it to conclude, does the consultant collude to produce a supporting report, despite disconfirming evidence? When the client wants someone else to blame when a high-risk project goes wrong, should the consultant willingly play the fall guy? Such tacit games of corruption are frequently played and consultants have to make deep and personal decisions as to whether or not they will be complicit in a wider organizational deception. This is seldom a straightforward or easy choice and may requires negotiation between personal and professional values.

Conclusion

Perhaps the metaphor of prostitution is not so far away after all, as the industry, intelligence and integrity of the consultant represents the hands, head and heart of the body. But the real difference is that 3I consulting is a far cry from the minimal result that clients too often experience. Done well, it not only offers significant value to clients and lays the foundation of a sustainable business, it also is a deeply satisfying way of working in which good people can earn an honest and worthy living.

High-value consulting comes only with trust, and that trust comes only with a scrupulous integrity that is a core part of the consultant's being, not something that is turned on when it seems advantageous.

In summary, 3I consulting is not an easy option. However, for those consultancies that can cut the mustard, it may form the basis of a high value, highly desirable and distinctly profitable business.

 

 

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