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Tips for Successful Consulting
An Interview with Peter Block
...continued
The Advisor: Should consultants ever guarantee their
work, and if so, what should they know to protect themselves?
Peter Block: We can guarantee the integrity of our
promise and actions. We cannot guarantee results, because it is the
client who gets credit and is responsible for outcomes, not us. When we
claim results for ourselves, we have stolen something from the client.
TA: Should consultants ask clients to evaluate their
performance, and if so, what is the best way to do this?
PB: It should not be a formal process, but part of an
ongoing conversation.
TA: There are many pricing models in the consulting
world. What is your philosophy on pricing?
PB: Assess the market price, and then peg your rates
against that. Money is not the point. Charge a rate that honors your
skills, but do not underprice just to get business. Clients do not make
decisions based on price. If they do, they are lousy clients.
TA: Networking is important to consultants. Where have
you found the best networking connections?
PB: Conferences and professional meetings.
TA: Many times, consultants’ initial point of entry with
a client may be at mid-level or even at low-level. After some time with
the organization, it appears that consultants’ interventions may need to
be a bit more global than the authority level of the original
contracting point, yet the original contact has ownership or refuses to
pass consultants “up the chain.” What advice do you have for those in
this situation? What has worked for you?
PB: Do not worry about what level you are working at.
Those in top management are the slowest learners. Go where there is
energy and passion to make a change. When we want to move up the chain,
that is our contribution to patriarchy.
TA: Please expand upon the importance of the contracting
process and how many problems result from not taking the time to get
this part right.
PB: All failures are caused by poor contracting. The
contracting is the work, not the prelude to the work. This is the point
where you teach the client how to work with you.
TA: What tips do you have for consultants who attempt to
manage their practices and end up doing less of the work of consulting?
PB: Pray. It is the destiny of consultants who are
entrepreneurial to end up managing. One hedge is to make sure that the
managing partner spends at least 40% of their time doing direct service.
If this does not occur, they will lose touch with the market.
TA: What should consultants do to avoid falling into the
trap of taking work they would rather not do just to make the “sales
volume?” Please address this from the point of view of consultants who
are just starting out as well as from that of consultants who might be
in this position after starting their practice.
PB: Taking the work to build the practice is an ethical
issue. You betray the client when you show up for cash. The resolution
is to decide not to measure your success by the growth of the practice.
A small firm can make a good living. The only reason to grow is to
bolster your self-esteem, in which case it will not have that effect, or
to please your father and mother. This does not work either.
TA: Have you ever been asked to work on the problems of a
group that is a step or two above your entry point to the organization?
For example, “I would like you to work with the senior management team
so that they can have a better vision for safety and embrace the
necessary changes in order to change our culture.”
PB: Any project that begins with the client trying to
change someone else starts with a built-in fault line. Resistance to
change is caused by coercive strategies. Top management is fine; they do
not want to change. Get over it and focus on places where there is
motivation to create a different future.
TA: If senior management is part of the problem, is it
best to involve them with the project from the beginning, or does this
hamper the consulting process (assuming that they did not call the
consultant in)?
PB: Top is always part of the problem, as are people at
every level. The wider the involvement, the better the outcome.
TA: What are the most common reasons that cause
consultants to turn down projects, and what is the best way to do this
gracefully?
PB: We turn down projects because we have no interest in
the client, we are overloaded, or we do not think we can be successful.
Grace comes from putting the reason for the refusal on no one else’s
shoulders but our own.
TA: What are your tips for firing a client?
PB: We do not fire clients. They do not work for us, and
we do not own them. End the relationship at the moment when you feel you
are no longer useful.
TA: Do the ideas presented in Flawless Consulting apply
equally to internal consultants, such as in-house safety experts, as
they do to external consultants? Why or why not?
PB: The book was written for internal consultants. All
staff people are consultants, it does not matter what the expertise.
Every staff person is trying to have influence without control.
TA: The section in Flawless Consulting on being authentic
is terrific! What other suggestions do you have for building trust with
a client?
PB: Respect them; treat them as people with great
capacity, as friends and partners. Being authentic is simply putting
into words, in a compassionate way, what you see happening, including
your own role in that.
TA: Without naming names, who is the best client you ever
had and why?
PB: The best forgave me for my clumsiness, they acted on
their instincts long before I arrived, and at a deeper level, they never
really needed me.
TA: How can consultants can improve their
effectiveness?
PB: Everything above is about effectiveness.
Effectiveness is about how we show up, about pursuing our own sense of
purpose and supporting the client in the same. Tools, techniques and
elaborate models never changed the world or made a difference. The
person is the product and that will never change.
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This
article appeared in “The Advisor,”
Consultants Practice Specialty Newsletter of the American Society of
Safety Engineers, Vol 6, No. 1, 2006,
www.asse.org
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