The Practice of Professional Consulting E-Book

Edward G. Verlander

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 473

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2012

Beschreibung

The Practice of Professional Coaching Change is the life-blood of consulting just as organizations endure only through successful change. The reality of this mutual need lies at the heart of what consulting is all about. Consultants solve problems created by the powerful forces of change in an organization's environment and in so doing, create change themselves. The Practice of Professional Consulting is a comprehensive examination of what has been called "the world's newest profession." In this practical resource Edward Verlander offers an overview of the industry and includes the most useful processes, tools, and skills used by successful consultants to produce solutions for their clients. The book also reveals why consulting is a growing and attractive career option. The best practices used by leading consulting firms are included in the book as well as the capabilities skillful consultant use in each stage of engagement. Verlander also recommends ways to ensure a consultant can solve a client's problems in a systematic, professional way. At the very heart of the book is the emphasis he puts on what is needed to become a truly trusted consultant. Filled with a wealth of must-have information from a wide range of consulting professionals, the book includes: a model of the consulting cycle; a diagnostic instrument for assessing consulting roles; ideas of how to develop political intelligence to navigate client organizations; tools for managing consulting meetings, risk assessment, and skills transfer; techniques in communications, emotional intelligence, presentations, and listening; and much more. Written for anyone wishing to start a consulting business, new employees at established consulting firms, facilitators of consulting training programs, and faculty at business schools, this important resource provides an easy way to understand the stages, roles, and tasks of consulting found in any type of consulting and it provides simple and easy-to-use techniques and templates for implementation.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

COVER

MORE PRAISE FOR THE PRACTICE OF PROFESSIONAL CONSULTING

TITLE PAGE

COPYRIGHT PAGE

DEDICATION

ABOUT THIS BOOK

PREFACE

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

PART ONE: SETTING THE STAGE

CHAPTER ONE: THE NATURE OF CONSULTING

It’s an Industry

Types of Consulting

Scope of Consulting

Trusted Consultant and Advisor

Consultant Qualifications

What Is Professional Consulting?

Conclusion

CHAPTER TWO: WHY COMPANIES HIRE CONSULTANTS

Why Consultants Are Needed

Faster, Bigger, Better, Cheaper Outcomes

Forces That Drive Business Consulting

Expectations of Consultant Services

Changes in Client’s Business and Organization Needs

Future Challenges

Conclusion

CHAPTER THREE: A MODEL FOR PROFESSIONAL CONSULTING

What Do We Mean by “Process”?

A Framework for Consulting

The Four Stages of Consulting

The Four Roles of Consulting

Consulting Competencies

Conclusion

PART TWO: APPLYING THE MODEL

CHAPTER FOUR: STAGE ONE: THE DEVELOPING AND DESIGNING PROCESS

Stage One Competencies: Winning the Business

Understanding the Client’s Business and Industry

Making a Good First Impression

First Meeting Dynamics

Conclusion

CHAPTER FIVE: STAGE ONE, CONTINUED: ASSESSING CLIENT NEEDS AND MANAGING EXPECTATIONS

The Purpose of Conducting a Needs Assessment

Types of Questions: The Fundamentals

Conducting a Needs Assessment: A Question Strategy

Needs Assessment: Listening Actively

The Proposal Development Process

Managing Expectations

Conclusion

CHAPTER SIX: STAGE TWO: THE MOBILIZING AND ALIGNING PROCESS

Stage Two Competencies: Mobilizing and Aligning

Work and Project Plan Reviews

Risk Assessment Factors

Project Launch Meetings

Conclusion

CHAPTER SEVEN: STAGE TWO, CONTINUED: TURNING A CONSULTING GROUP INTO A TEAM

Defining a Team

Stages of Team Development

Diagnosing Project Team Performance

How Team Building Is Conducted

Special Problems in Building Project Teams

Characteristics of High-Performing Teams

The Project Leader Style Needed for Team Building

Conclusion

CHAPTER EIGHT: STAGE THREE: THE BUILDING AND PRODUCING PROCESS

Stage Three Competencies: Building and Producing

Data Gathering

Performance Management and Coaching

Coaching Consultants

Motivating Consultants

Progress Review Meetings

Navigating Organizational Politics

Project Management Issues

Conclusion

CHAPTER NINE: STAGE FOUR: THE IMPLEMENTING AND DEPLOYING PROCESS

Stage Four Competencies: Implementing and Deploying

Managing Change

Implementation Strategies

Skills Transfer

Measuring Customer Satisfaction

Satisfaction Assessment Metrics

Conclusion

PART THREE: THE BIGGER PICTURE

CHAPTER TEN: IMPROVING CONSULTING AS A PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

A Reality Check About Consulting

The Need to Professionalize Consulting

Professional Capabilities of Consultants

Building Block One: Client’s Business Focus

Building Block Two: Business Management

Building Block Three: Technical Requirements

Building Block Four: Interpersonal Attributes

Building Block Five: Effective Leadership

Conclusion

CHAPTER ELEVEN: LESSONS OF EXPERIENCE

How to Grow in Professional Capability

Lessons from McKinsey

The Pain and Joy of a Consulting Career

Professional Proficiencies in Consulting

Trends for the Twenty-First Century

Conclusion

APPENDICES

APPENDIX A: THE CONSULTING ROLE PREFERENCE INDICATOR

The Use of Competencies

Development of the Consulting Role Preference Indicator

Consulting Roles Description

APPENDIX B: GUIDELINES FOR SUCCESSFUL CONSULTING

Developing Stage Guidelines

Mobilizing Stage Guidelines

Building Stage Guidelines

Implementing Stage Guidelines

APPENDIX C: THE LEADERSHIP ROLE OF CONSULTANTS

Leadership Thinking for Consultants

Types of Thinking

Consulting Activities and Strategy

Leading and Managing

APPENDIX D: CONSULTING CASE APPLICATIONS

APPENDIX E: DIAGNOSTIC PROCEDURES AND INSTRUMENTS FOR CONSULTING TEAMS

Properties of Groups

Factors Affecting Group Performance

Context of Group Dynamics

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND RESOURCES

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

INDEX

More Praise for The Practice of Professional Consulting

“A timely, thorough, and thoughtful primer on the art and practice of consulting. Packed with practical tools and punctuated with the wisdom of experience, Verlander’s book provides a great introduction to the profession, a detailed inventory of the skills of an effective consultant, and a solid foundation upon which to build a successful consulting practice.”

Dr. Albert A. Vicere, president, Vicere Associates, Inc.; Executive Education Professor of Strategic Leadership, The Smeal College of Business, The Pennsylvania State University

“An invaluable, indispensable reference for independent consultants, scholars and firms of the consulting industry; Edward Verlander’s The Practice of Professional Consulting unlocks the mysteries of the business by providing a clear, comprehensive guide to a practice often misunderstood by the masses.”

Chengang Zhou, director and senior vice president, New Oriental Education & Technology Group, Beijing, China

“Developing a consultative mindset and accelerating professional (consulting) skills is critical to succeeding in business and growing a career. The skills described in this book are relevant not just for aspiring consultants, but for anyone interested in sharpening communication skills and improving their personal brand.”

Bob Hannafin, Ph.D., former director at PricewaterhouseCoopers; dean, College of Education, Information, and Technology, Long Island University

“This engaging book provides a unique overview of the practice of professional consulting and what it takes for a successful and productive relationship with the ubiquitous consultant. In order to select a trusted advisor, from the onset the employer needs sufficient knowledge of the competencies required to coach, motivate, and navigate the consultant. Edward Verlander’s book provides a fundamental knowledge of the basic principles for nonconsultant practitioners and should be especially useful for the medical and scientific communities who frequently rely on consultants without possessing essential knowledge to maximize their return on investment.”

Martin R. Evans, Ph.D., MT (ASCP), director, Technical Affairs, manager, Environmental Sciences, Public Health Laboratory, NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene

“For young consultants who need to get a good start in this profession, for consultants who want to grow professionally, and for experienced consultants who seek new perspectives, Edward Verlander’s book explains a proven consulting process. The book comes with a great set of tools for immediate use and explains new insights on consulting.

“Year after year, I have seen young and experienced consultants become enthusiastic, motivated, and eager to immediately apply Edward Verlander’s ideas, tools, and techniques. Some felt awakened to a new level of professionalism; certainly everybody felt empowered for new successes. Chapter by chapter readers will ignite a better understanding of how to provide more business-oriented, more client-oriented, and therefore more successful consulting services.”

Elmar Buschlinger, former CEO of several IT companies; entrepreneur and coach in IT-related businesses, Karlsruhe, Germany

“To build on the momentum of great ideas that are truly innovative, the business must move today with unprecedented velocity. Verlander’s model of consulting describes the capabilities needed to develop ideas with a pace giving rise to product that is truly differentiated in the market. A strong read for anyone looking to take the consulting discipline to a new level.”

Darrin Solomon, vice president, Product Management, CA Technologies, New York

Copyright © 2012 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Verlander, Edward George.

 The practice of professional consulting / Edward G. Verlander. -- 1st ed.

p. cm.

 Includes index.

 ISBN 978-1-118-24184-4 (cloth), ISBN 978-1-118-28605-0 (ebk), ISBN 978-1-118-28419-3 (ebk), ISBN 978-1-118-28311-0 (ebk) (hardback)

 1. Business consultants. 2. Consulting firms. I. Title.

 HD69.C6V475 2012

 001–dc23

2012012454

Acquiring Editor: Matthew Davis

Director of Development: Kathleen Dolan Davies

Developmental Editor: Byron Schneider

Production Editor: Justin Frahm

Editor: Kristi Hein

Editorial Assistant: Michael Zelenko

Manufacturing Supervisor: Becky Morgan

For Naresh and Maya

ABOUT THIS BOOK

Change is the lifeblood of consulting, just as organizations endure only through successful change. The reality of this mutual need lies at the heart of what consulting is all about. Consultants solve problems created by the powerful forces of change in an organization’s environment, and in so doing, they themselves create change. Collectively, they drive a $300 billion, worldwide industry dedicated to improving the purposes of business organizations and how those purposes are achieved. To be in the midst of such a fascinating, global endeavor makes consulting an attractive, exciting, challenging, and rewarding career for the twenty-first century.

The Practice of Professional Consulting is a practical examination of what has been called “the world’s newest profession.” The book traverses the industry, the processes, tools, and skills used by consultants to produce solutions for their clients, and why it is a growing, attractive career. It discusses best practices used by leading consulting firms, specifies the capabilities needed in each stage of an engagement, and recommends ways to ensure that consultants solve client problems in a systematic, professional way. A core theme is learning what is needed to become a trusted consultant.

New information in this book includes:

A model of the complete consulting cycle

A diagnostic instrument for assessing consulting roles

Ideas for how to develop political intelligence to navigate client organizations

Tools for managing consulting meetings, risk assessment, and skills transfer

Techniques for communications, emotional intelligence, presentations, and listening

Tools for conducting effective needs assessment and problem framing

Concepts of trust needed to become a trusted advisor

Factors affecting the stature of consulting as a profession

A general set of guidelines or competencies for effective consulting

References and handy website sources

All of the ideas, tools, and competencies described in this book have been vetted by a wide range of consulting practitioners and thus represent their accumulated experience about successful consulting. They are gathered in this book for the first time.

Who should read The Practice of Professional Consulting?

Anyone wishing to start a consulting business

. 

The book supplements other books on how to start and run a consulting business. Rather than taking a project management view, this book adds to the reader’s understanding of how to deal with the rational and emotional, conceptual, and practical requirements of consulting. It presents, describes, and analyzes consulting as both a delicate interplay of human interactions and motivations and a cold application of expertise and logic, all applied to solve real problems for people and client organizations. The book is broad enough to be useful to anyone starting any kind of consulting business, yet specific in explaining typical client situations.

New employees of consulting firms

. 

Any new employee in a consulting firm should read this book as a supplement to the firm’s own formal training program. Consulting firms that provide in-classroom training as well as mentoring will find that this book accelerates development by providing new employees with a perspective of the rules, roles, values, methods, and techniques used across firms in the consulting industry.

Instructors of training programs on consulting

. 

The book can be used to design and develop training programs on professional consulting or as a supplement to existing training, to give attendees more details and perspectives not covered in the training.

Business school faculty

. 

The book can be used as the main text or supplementary text in a business school course on consulting (or related disciplines such as human resources, change management, or organization development). It is well-referenced and introduces students to standard industry practices. Importantly, it shows how to become a trusted consultant.

The Practice of Professional Consulting provides an easy way to understand the stages, roles, and tasks found in any type of consulting—management, information technology, human resources, strategy, or training—and it provides simple and easy-to-use techniques and templates for implementation. The book gives insight into how to think and behave as a consultant, practical advice about project teams, explanations of what clients expect of their consultants, and the personal qualities needed to be an outstanding, trusted consultant.

PREFACE

There has never been a better time to be a consultant. Like the medieval craft guilds that built the great cathedrals of Europe, consultants are the modern-day builders of business cathedrals, using data, information, and technology systems to develop business strategies that help businesses grow. Technology consultants design systems that enable companies to make money through the manipulation and selling of information. Strategy consultants conceive future plans; management consultants reengineer organizational structures, administrative systems, and workflows; and human resources consultants train employees on the skills to make it all work.

As was true for medieval craftsmen, the quality of the products and services produced by consultants—in terms of cost, efficiency, accessibility, usability, and effectiveness—depends on the quality of the people producing them. The quality of the people is tied directly to the level of their professionalism, technical knowledge, intellectual power, and interpersonal skills and the reach of their business perspective. These are the building blocks and mortar of today’s business cathedrals. These critical success factors determine the quality of individual consultants and the quality of consulting firms.

I’ve said that change is the lifeblood of consulting—and we are in the midst of fundamental and widespread change at every level of human society. In government, business, not-for-profit organizations, schools at every level, churches, families, and individual lives, the scope of change is unprecedented in human history. In this context, leaders of every organization and institution are trying to answer the basic question: What should we be tomorrow that is different, more effective, and more efficient than we were yesterday? The very survival of an organization depends on the answer to that question and the corresponding actions taken to help it adapt. Failure to act can be disastrous. In recent years, we have seen the demise of very large, seemingly impregnable companies—such as Kodak, Circuit City, GM, Tribune, and Bethlehem Steel—that either could not or would not answer this question or were unable to make changes quickly enough to survive.

It is the role of consultants to help company leaders craft solutions to their strategic, operational, and human problems and then influence them on the scope, speed, and direction of the changes they need to make. In this role, consultants serve as agents of change by asking the right questions, identifying relevant issues, gathering and analyzing the facts, developing a plan of action, searching for solutions, and advising on their implementation. Consulting is the wellspring of change.

Consulting is also a strategic endeavor that enables people and organizations to better adapt to the changing conditions of their environment. The questions consultants face are often complex and challenging, involving matters at the very heart of an organization’s vision and purpose. As such, consultants solve problems in organizational processes and workflows, governance structure, organizational culture, the skills and capabilities of people, management systems and administrative procedures, policies and practices, as well as business strategy. Consulting is therefore a vital and an incredibly important responsibility, with thousands of people in an organization often affected by the consultant’s work.

Today, graduates from science and technical disciplines as well as the humanities go into consulting because it is a lucrative, exciting career, and consulting firms are looking for diverse backgrounds in their employees. Consulting is especially attractive to newly minted MBAs because it is a natural extension of MBA studies. Armed with a broad swath of theory, experience, and a systems view of the world, MBAs can apply their knowledge to many organizational problems. McKinsey, Booz, Bain, Deloitte, and Oliver Wyman, to mention just a few, annually hire hundreds of MBA graduates who can bring a combination of broad business knowledge, teamwork, energy, analytical skills, and excellent communications to the complex problems of their clients. Consulting is a well-paying career that provides many opportunities to travel, learn about many companies and industries, solve real-world problems, help people, and have a substantial impact in the world.

To be clear, this book is an introduction to consulting. It is not for consultants with many years of experience or for senior consultants in large consulting firms. Although the content may serve as a handy reminder to such people, most of the principles and practices will already be part of their professional repertoire. The target audience for the book encompasses four kinds of people: (1) individuals considering consulting as a career and wanting to know more about it, (2) new consultants who need a primer on building a consulting practice and business, (3) corporate professional development staff who need a text to accompany a related training course, and (4) university faculty who need a text to teach a course on consulting.

The book covers many consulting topics, some in more depth than others. But amid the myriad of principles, practices, values, tools, and techniques are several themes. The first theme is a unifying model of the cycle of consulting, from finding and winning business to managing client relations and deploying solutions. A second theme concerns the issue of professionalism in consulting. We offer a starting point for discussing the education, certification, and standards of practice needed to increase professionalism in consulting. It is ripe for a closer examination, and we hope this book makes a contribution to that end.

A third theme concerns the skills needed to build long-term client relationships. These are people skills or what McKinsey calls the “soft skills” of organizational effectiveness: shared values, style, skills, and staffing. Developing staff with strong people skills (not just technical ability) is a key differentiator for professional service firms, and as such, we highlight the many opportunities to demonstrate such skills throughout the consulting cycle. Finally, a fourth theme is the journey of becoming a trusted advisor. As an introduction to the field of professional consulting, in this book we point the way, discuss the building blocks, and suggest the success factors for achieving that important goal—of turning an apprentice consultant into a trusted advisor.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This book has taken over five years to write and draws on the author’s twenty-five busy years of international consulting experience. It is an obvious thing to say, yet true, that it could not have been written without the support and help of many people. It also true that over such a long period of time, the names of all the many people who helped to shape my thinking and practice cannot be remembered; but their teachings remain.

I would like to mention a number of consultants, professors, researchers, and leaders who have given their generous insights, advice, and support to me over the years (even if they did not know they were teaching me at the time): Robert Arning of KPMG; Michael Grimstad of Bain; Rachel Miller of Deloitte; Erin Zola of Russell Reynolds; and William Blanchard, Francis Bonsignore, Hagen Buchwald, Warner Burke, Deborah Cornwall, Ram Charan, Paul Croke, John Dinkelspiel, Don Dinsel, Ferdinand Fournies, Michael Golden, Don Hambrick, Bob Hargadon, Manual London, James MacHulbert, Ian MacMillan, Victoria Marsick, Peter Mathias, Jack Mezirow, Paul McKinnon, Elizabeth Nelson Cliff, Gerald Prior, Hastings Read, Paul Robertson, Hoke Simpson, Andrew Souerwine, Marian Verlander, Kirby Warren, and Geritt Wolf.

Special thanks must go to my colleague Elmar Buschlinger. As an entrepreneur and now an advisor to CEOs, Elmar has provided many years of useful counseling and new ideas with a combined high-touch and high-tech approach to consulting. Elmar has given his support and assistance generously. Never ceasing to test the validity of my work, he encouraged new ways of examining the challenges of growing a business and continues to be a champion of the ideas and tools contained in this book. I could not have finished this book without his enthusiastic urging, practical business knowledge, creativity, and great sense of humor.

I would also like to thank my MBA students at Long Island University and Stony Brook University for the critical thinking they applied to the essential elements of this book during our many graduate courses on business consulting. I also give my heartfelt thanks to Patricia McCabe for her useful improvements to this text, correcting the earliest draft with great care and a gentle hand. For their editorial advice, I would also like to acknowledge and thank Bryon Schneider and his colleagues at Jossey-Bass, who knew exactly how to effectively handle this sensitive author. Many thanks.

Finally, there is my friend, colleague, and international consultant, Sarah Qian Wang, without whom this work would not be here. Her ideas, attention to detail, creativity, and ability to manage this fickle author have been a blessing. Thank you, Qian Wang.

In the meantime, as everyone else says at this point, all errors, mistakes, omissions and commission, misrepresentations, and silly comments are entirely mine. The honor of your forgiveness is requested.

Edward G. VerlanderSetauket Bay, New York, May 2012

PART ONESETTING THE STAGE

CHAPTER ONE

THE NATURE OF CONSULTING

Consulting has become an important source of employment and professional satisfaction for tens of thousands of people in the United States and around the world. Despite the industry downturn in 2009, according to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management and the Association of Management Consulting Firms, major consulting firms continue to expand their global reach as well as their areas of consulting practice. It would appear that this $350 billion global industry will remain an attractive career for many years to come (Top-consultant, 2011; U.S. Department of Labor, 2006). Consulting is a large and vital industry. A hundred years’ growth in the consulting industry indicates that clients have valued the services provided by consultants. Indeed, consultants have been a powerful force in shaping and influencing the very market they have pursued. Yet with its size and scope, the consulting industry could benefit from some close examination if it is to enjoy a second hundred years in the face of technologies that are changing the way information and advice are delivered.

This chapter lays out the nature of the industry as well as some of its major issues and challenges:

Scope of the industry

Types of consulting

Concept of the trusted advisor

Consultant qualifications

Professionalism in the industry

Thus the chapter sets up and summarizes the main themes of this book: the values, knowledge, skills, and professional behavior needed by new consultants to the industry.