Commandments for consultants: First, do no harm
Granted, most consultants are not affecting outcomes as dramatic as life or death, but they do have the ability to seriously cripple an organization with bloated bills, bad advice, and self-serving policies that only serve the health of the consultant’s bottom line.
As someone who’s been in the technology consulting and training world for years, I have strong opinions about how consultants can best meet the needs of clients. I’ve developed my own ‘commandments for consultants,’ which serves as a guidepost for the operation of my firm.
While not carved in stone and handed down from a bearded guy on a mountain top, these ‘commandments’ should be considered by anyone involved in a consulting relationship, whether you’re the consultant or the client.
Commandment 1: Put clients before process.
As a rule of thumb, I’ve observed that the bigger the consulting firm, the more ‘process-oriented’ it becomes. The process can be eloquently justified and looks great on paper, but frequently it adds many unnecessary steps and costs.
Think of it as the ‘Super High Quality Delta Six (SHQDS)’ approach. Clues to watch for: expensive collateral materials to explain SHQDS, the involvement of many people in your organization, a plethora of meetings and even offsite retreats, and an elaborate timeline that doubles or triples the amount of time that is necessary to get the job done.
It’s easy for clients to get sucked into the fantasy of SHQDS: After all, who doesn’t dream of driving a BMW or Lexus everyday? The problem is that most of us can’t afford to purchase or maintain such a luxury vehicle. And we don’t need the most high-end car to get where we need to go.
The same is true with consultants. Consultants who care about clients don’t try to push unnecessary products and services in the guise of fancy processes, even if that means smaller consulting fees.
Commandment 2: Get clear upfront.
Nothing sinks an effective consulting engagement faster than misunderstandings about a project’s definition and scope. While most consultants approach new clients with the best of intentions, misunderstandings invariably arise if a project begins without a clear definition of assumptions upfront.
The situation is similar to the love-struck couple who, after a whirlwind romance, decide to get married. They’ve been so preoccupied with moonlit strolls and candlelight suppers that they’ve neglected to discuss who takes out the trash, how the bills get paid and how they’re going to deal with pesky in-laws. Once those mundane aspects begin emerging (and they always do!), the romance quickly fizzles and the couple soon may be heading to divorce court.
Write it down
Consultants with foresight and experience never let a new client relationship get underway without first hammering out all the details that really matter in the thick of the engagement. Here’s what the upfront assessment should describe in writing in as specific language as possible:
- What services will be included.
- What will be excluded.
- Aspects of the engagement for which the consultant is responsible.
- Aspects of the engagement for which the client is responsible.
To be honest, a written project assessment protects consultants as much as clients. This was the case at my company when a piece of software we were building needed to be installed on the client’s database by another party. We were clear in the assessment that the timely implementation of our software project was dependent on that second party. When the server installation deadline was missed, while regrettable, it was clear that Intertech had delivered on our part of the project on time as promised.
Commandment 3: Create a risk plan.
Even with a clear upfront assessment, unexpected problems and project creep can occur. One way to minimize these risks is to anticipate and write down all the things that might go wrong in advance. This written document becomes your risk plan.
It allows both consultant and client to calmly discuss, before the heat of pressing deadlines or overextended budgets are bearing down, how unforeseen circumstances will be handled.
The risk plan should specifically describe to the best of the consultants’ ability what the time and budget implications will be if the deliverables get expanded due to one or more of the risk scenarios coming true.
Commandment 4: Provide frequent deliverables.
Consultants should not expect clients to enter the murky ‘trust me’ cave. That cave is dark and leaves a client feeling worried and insecure about the wisdom of its consulting investment.
It’s much better to provide updates or deliverables within short cycles. This iterative approach really shines a light on the health of a consulting project and encourages greater accountability on the part of the consultant.
Skip the heartburn
Commandment 5: Don’t over-promise.
Better yet, under-promise and over-deliver. As a consultant, I understand the subtle pressure to make unrealistic promises to a potential client. You want their business. You want to impress them by making your consulting services sound more appealing. But there’s a problem with this: You have to deliver.
If you can’t, you’ll eventually lose that client anyway. It’s a much sounder business practice to only promise what is realistic and to build a client’s trust over time.
My company once lost a lucrative software development project to a consultant who promised to deliver the moon on a silver platter, all for the cost of a hamburger on a paper plate.
Needless to say, that vendor didn’t deliver and the client was left with heartburn. We ended up being their second choice but that relationship started off on an honest footing and continues to this day.
