Breaking Rules in Consulting

Breaking Rules

Enhancing your decision making...in just

5 minutes

A Futures Coaching initiative

www.futurescoaching.com

#1 Avoid perfectAs a naïve consultant, I always use to try

to give clients a 'perfect' solution...only to see little actioned

In fact, I should have been tailoring the solution to the client's culture and their

ability to impementAn optimised solution is

a customised solution

An explorer wants a wind up radio, not digital wizardry

#2 Promote youthAs a 22 year old in my first consultancy,I made a (truly awful) client presentation

after just 3 months:I learnt from the 'fall' and I got better

Typically, in French consultancies, people are still 'juniors' at 35 & talent is wasted

Go with youth & let them make mistakes; your confidence will be repaid

#3 Radicalise tenderingTenders are tempting:

clients at least have a budget However, they often come with an

incumbent & a commoditising mentalityUnless you want to destroy your

margins and integrity, they only way to win a tender is to be radically different

from the crowd

#4 Shift mental mapsClients take decisions when they see

the world differentlyFor me, a key consulting task

is to transform mental maps;to get to an 'aha' moment

Once an omlette is made, you can never return to raw eggs

#5 Keep it shortMost clients haven't the time, the

energy nor the organisational stability for long-term processes

Keep steps short, keep processes containable

Deliverables from one project can always feed in to the next

#6 Go outsideWe tell clients to network,

crowdsource, open source – then use internal consultants for our thinking

Break the rules by using outsiders to bring new perspectives

And clients love the agency/experts/clients mix

#7 Be humbleMy first lesson as a consultant:

clients often used me for reassurance, for political purposes or because of

resource gaps – but NOT due to a lack of know-how

Key insight for consultants, be humble; what you are providing is unlikely to be

über wisdomPS. Humility also means listening well!

#8 Bad clients stay bad I've been incredibly lucky with

sensational clientsOccasionally a bad client pops up: the

ones who distrust consultants and 'keep them in line' by beating them up

One logic says, hang in there since over time you can win their trust but

my rule says: once a bad client, always a bad client

#9 Reject reportingOld style consulting: take brief;

internal work programme (with take out

meals at 11pm and at weekends); reporting; go down the pub to celebrate

New style: discuss brief; collaborative process which involves client in

solution; interactive workshop(s) to leverage the findings into business

decision making

#10 Work on what matters It's easy to produce lots of output; it

feels right to work long hours; it's rewarding to be creative – but

ultimately what matters is what makes a difference to the client's

performanceAdd value by adding value

And do so in a way which is credible, reliable and trustworthy

Enhance your decision-making

join forces with

What is Futures Coaching up to during May 2012?

Helping reinvent the supermarket proposition

Preparing an international innovations project for a industrial global brand

Building a Key Note for NGO Fundraisers in Geneva

Pitching to build an international development strategy for a major European agency

Participating in a brand positioning workshop in Jakarta

Networking in Singapore

Researching banking technology trends

Pitching some new book ideas to Pearson

Website: www.futurescoaching.comBlog: http://futurescoaching.typepad.com

Email: chris@futurescoaching.com

LONDON • PARIS