Stan Gershengoren’s Best Practices for Management Consulting

The term “best practices” is used often in articles, handbooks, and papers written about management consulting, but rarely defined. The Business Dictionary defines a best practice as “a method or technique that has consistently shown results superior to those achieved by other means, and that is used as a benchmark.” But what are these best practices so often alluded to?

The qualities, skills, characteristics and purposes of a management consultant that rise to the level of best practices may be distilled into the following list.

Maintain Good Communication with Clients

This seems to be at the top of everyone’s list. A good consultant should be an excellent communicator. They should be able to make themselves clearly understood, both by use of oral presentations, and in written reports. You should clarify with your client at the outset, which forms of communication they prefer, to avoid misunderstandings. There should be continuous communication between you and your client to mitigate any surprises. This is also helpful if the project needs to shift direction. The client should be apprised not only when the project is going well, but also when there are problems. And it should be agreed beforehand, as to how any conflicts that might arise during the project should be resolved.

Understand Client’s needs

A consultant should employ active listening skills so that they understand their client’s needs clearly. Sometimes, what a client asks for and what may be needed, are two different things. But, listening carefully, and asking thoughtful questions, can help you to get to the heart of the matter to better address you client’s actual problem. Your client may just be looking for information, or your expert opinion on a managerial matter. Once you have pinpointed the problem, then you can go forward with solutions that focus on the proper issue. Taking the time to listen and identify the actual problem to be faced, not only addresses your client’s needs, but also avoids costly misunderstandings later.

Clarify Scope of Work

You should be crystal clear with your client about what your roles and responsibilities are, and what theirs are. Of course, these can be somewhat fluid over the course of your relationship. So long as you maintain good communication throughout that relationship, everyone should know what is expected of them. You should also be clear what you can and cannot do for your client. Some clients may expect quick fixes that just aren’t feasible. Setting expectations and taking care of these matters at the outset, will help avoid issues as the project progresses.

Efficient Problem Solver

You must be able to think the problem through from beginning to end. This may sound simplistic, but being able to think through all contingencies, and reason out the problem in your mind may be your single most important skill. While communication is crucial, if you cannot first break down and work through the problem’s components, there will be nothing to communicate to your client. One of the key elements of problem solving in management consultancy is knowing whom to involve in the project, who will need an investment in the outcome, and how best to involve them. For instance, you may want certain members of management involved in the diagnosis phase of the project to help head off resistance to changes recommended later. Also, you can’t be expected to know everything about everything. If you don’t know the answer to a question, it is perfectly acceptable, and preferable, to say so. Consulting others who are experts in the requisite areas is the way to go in such a situation.

Observe Ethical Standards

Many consultants may see this as a matter of personal reputation; and, it should be. In the United States, The Institute of Management Consultants, USA, Inc. is the professional organization for management consultants. Members agree in writing to be bound by its code of ethics; and, the membership is self-policing. Important ethical standards include commitments to clients, such as keeping client’s confidences, keeping client’s expectations realistic, avoiding conflicts of interest and refraining from hiring away employees of the client. Commitments to the public and profession include representing the profession with integrity and professionalism, refraining from deceptive advertising or advertising that in any way maligns other practitioners and promoting adherence to the code of ethics. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has also enacted ethical guidelines, ISO 20700, which provide for transparency and clarity in the consultancy relationship.

Make a Difference

This may sound obvious, but sometimes, a client goes back to its former way of doing things once the relationship is through because it’s easier, or because they didn’t fully understand the change process. Also, if the consultant didn’t take all the necessary factors into consideration, it could be that the changes recommended just aren’t practical. You need to make certain that the work that you do for your client is not only what they asked for and what they needed, but also that any changes you recommend make sense for them and their business. Otherwise, you’ve left nothing of value behind.

Equip for Continued Success

Knowing how to continue with successes: One of the best things you can do for your client is to teach them, not only how to solve the current problem, but to tackle similar problems in the future. This is not to say that they will never need you again. But sharing knowledge and having good mentoring skills will go a long way to promoting goodwill toward you and the profession.

Continued Self-Improvement

To be the best consultant you can be, you must strive to continually improve your skill set. Learn from each new project you take. Read journals and other informative sources. Talk with other consultants. Update your technical skills. The bottom line is, you must be constantly evolving.