Delivering outcomes for the client is certainly one aspect of effective consultants but there are several driving factors that elevate consultants and make them essential partners. Forbes recommend six fundamental principles as the underlying factors that compose a successful consultant. This prompted the Glisk team to reflect on the attributes they believed were integral to driving success and whether parallels could be drawn with the principles cited by Forbes. In our latest Glisk ‘Lunch & Learn’ series, we explored the principles that help us meaningfully engage with clients and successfully deliver project outcomes. We supplemented our discussions with the results of an internal survey that asked consultants to select the attributes they thought helped them deliver. The survey also asked participants to rank their selections in terms of what was most important in defining a great consultant. The results were evaluated using an attribute score which captured the attributes selected and how they were ranked. The aim was to understand these results while drawing comparisons to the principles explored by Forbes.
It is not surprising that the principles of communication, trustworthiness, and problem solving were fundamental qualities of the most effective consultants.
Communication skills ranked as the primary principle by a considerable margin and given that this includes adapting how you interact to align with your audience, presenting an open and friendly demeanour, and being conscious of non-verbal cues, this is a core competence of effective interpersonal interaction. It can be argued this ties in with what Forbes describes as being the go-to person for something. The ability to demonstrate exceptional communication skills makes you a more engaging person and will encourage people to work closely with you. It is therefore not surprising that communication was ranked so highly in the survey results.
Trustworthiness was another highly ranked primary principle and considered as essential to being an effective consultant. Trustworthiness would seem to be a given for a consultant, but the aspects of trustworthiness – reliability, dependability, carrying through on promises – can be undermined on projects where competing demands, shifting priorities, and changes to scope can alter the landscape and lead to participants feeling ignored. Indeed, while parallels can be drawn between trustworthiness and Forbes’ idea of being a go-to person, it also aligns with another Forbes principle of being a safe pair of hands. Great consultants earn trust and do this by keeping track of promises made and ensure that the people impacted when they can no longer be met are kept abreast of why things have changed.
Problem solving might seem to be the heart of consultancy – and it is – but how you go about doing this is crucial because consultants are rarely asked to solve a problem alone. Including the team’s point of view, gaining consensus on the root cause, crafting an acceptable solution, and resolving conflicts that might arise during the process are important soft skills and the most effective consultants develop and practice them. The notion of problem solving can be aligned with what Forbes alluded to as having resourcefulness when facing new challenges. Forbes argue this is vital in providing a resolution to any problem and it is hence not a great revelation that this would be ranked so highly in our internal survey results.
While these three principles were chosen irrespective of discipline, secondary principles differed between disciplines. For instance, secondary selections made by business analysts included team spirit and resourcefulness. Interestingly, there was also an experience dimension to this, with business analysts early in their career nominating team spirit more often than business analysts with more years on the job. There was another tenure-related dimension with senior consultants valuing listening skills as a separate principle to communication skills. Technically, listening is encompassed in communication skills, but paying close attention to the person speaking to you is a measure of respect and while it seems straightforward to do so, active listening in a world of constant interruptions and distractions can be hard to achieve. Project managers pinpointed more diverse principles as key to successful results, including organisational experience, likability, learning ability, positivity, and technical experience, reflecting that commanding a breadth of qualities is imperative to their work.
Participants were also able to offer additional attributes and some that arose were professionalism, resiliency, empathy, and decisiveness.
It is clear from the survey that Glisk consultants agree on three core principles: communication, trustworthiness, and problem solving. Beyond that, tenure and discipline influence secondary principles, which are informed by project and client circumstances, such as the type of engagement, range of responsibilities, and tasks at hand. A great consultant understands which of these are required and when they should be applied to deliver successful outcomes.
As Glisk continues its commitment to growing a culture of delivering exceptional results for its clients, our most recent installment of the ‘Lunch & Learn’ series provides a prime opportunity to identify the underlying principles that drive success. It allows us to pinpoint the principles that underpin great consultancy work, share these among our consultants and focus on further developing these principles. We could also draw comparisons between our survey results and the recommended principles set out in the Forbes’ article mentioned throughout the blog. Most importantly, it means we can harness the results of our reflections to understand these principles and share them with our audience to help foster a culture of high performance across the consultancy space.
If you want to know more from our team session, please get in touch.
