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Tips and Traps for Internal Consultants
By: Charles L. Fields
Are
you in a position to influence others but have no authority to make
changes or implement programs? If so, then you meet the definition of
a consultant as found in Peter Block's book,
Flawless Consulting.
As
internal consultants we want to solve our clients' problems. We work to
have our expertise used and our recommendations implemented. We strive
to build and maintain partnerships with our clients.
Too
many times the results we get fall short of what we want. Too often we
end up with no-win consulting situations. Flawless Consulting outlines the five phases of consulting: Contracting, Diagnosis,
Feedback, Implementation, and Evaluation and offers a process that
will minimize those no-win/no-fun situations.
Contracting, Diagnosis, and Feedback
are considered the preliminary events. Consulting project failure can
usually be traced to failure in one of these phases. What follows is a
brief description of the purpose of each phase with some Tips & Traps to
help you be more successful.
The
purpose of the CONTRACTING phase is to negotiate roles and
responsibilities and to reach an agreement on how to proceed with the
project.
TIP:
State YOUR wants for the project. Clients usually spell out what THEY
want from a project, but, as consultants, we frequently don't! Answer
this question before your next contracting meeting - "What do I want
front the client to make this a successful project?" We usually don't
get what we need because we don't ask!
TRAP:
Solving the client's problem during the contracting meeting! Our
tendency is to listen and prescribe immediately, We often think that
this is what the client wants - immediate solutions. A rush to solution
trivializes the client's situation. We need good active listening
skills here, not quick solutions.
During the
DIAGNOSIS phase we are attempting to draw our own clear, independent
picture of "what's happening" and to identify how the client is
contributing to the situation.
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