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Saturday, January 15, 2011

How to Become a Consultant : A crash course (In a lighter vein!)


Becoming a consultant is actually easier than you think it to be. I have watched many consultants over a period of time and watched them very closely. Now, I think I have all the tools of the trade clearly fleshed out. I will share those secrets with you.



 1. Shut up and listen (or at least pretend to - but please keep mum through out..)



We are all trained to offer an opinion as soon as we see something. If we see an ad, we tell whether it is good or bad in our opinion. If we listen to a strategy presentation, we would jump before even 3 lines are completed in the presentationas to whether the strategy is good or bad. But, the key to winning as a consultant is to keep your mouth shut and listen. Let everyone speak up. You just take notes. You don't even have to know the subject really. But, by the end of meeting everyone in the room and everyone who matters in the company, you would probably end up knowing a lot more than all of them individually know. There are two questions here : one : why would they all speak to you  and two : how can one be so sure that you will end up knowing a lot more than all of them individually?


This is where the reality of organisation as a species comes in. Any organisation is typically ineffective. Just look at countries. All the individuals know a lot. Collectively, they know a hell of a lot. But, the problem is that they don't know that they know a lot. That is the problem. Most organizations are not very different from this. Each individual may know a lot. But, most organizations lack systems and processes to synthesise those learnings. So, in effect, the organizational learning is not very much. This is where you, as a consultant come and play a role. If you start putting together all the knowledge that you can gleam from the indiviaul meetings with people, you end up learning a lot and suddenly, you know a lot more than the organization does! And, why woudl they spend time with you? The reasons are simple. One, any consultant, coming from outside, evokes respect and fear. If that person comes with a top management mandate, all the more so. And, in most organizations, people love to gossip. It is actually sad to see. But, the fact is, most people feel that they are not listent to by others. That means, whoever comes in specifically to listen gets all the juicy details.


So, let me repeat the lesson number one : shut up and listen.


2. Ask all the simple and stupid questions that you have always wanted to ask!




This step is in fact easier than remaining silent but not many people practise it. This is how it works. Let us say the marketing manager of the company that you have been hired to consult is telling you in glorious terms about his new product to hit the market. Practise the 1st step - listen patiently. Don't interrupt. Note down all the points. Even when the manager is expecting you to stop him and add your point, resist the temptation and just smile encouragingly. After you are doubly sure that the manager has run his course, ask questions. I have even a question list which can help you:

Q1. So...???


This is so very powerful. Simply stating this word, "so" seems to catch most people unaware. They initially look at you as if you are a moron. But, then they start getting self doubts. If, after all this explanation, you , the consultant, who is supposed to be bright and brilliant and all that has not understood the importance of this new product or the impact of this strategy, how will the poor consumer, who is supposedly not as bright as you, is expected to understand this? Then they start adding lots of defences about their idea. Then they start talking openly about their fears about this idea. This is when you really start understanding the idea.


Q2. So what? 


This is a modified version of the Q1 but even more powerful than the first one. The results are typically even better here.


Q3. Will you buy this product / service / new idea with your money? 


This brings the best of the creatrive juices in the person. Shut up and listen. Ask the Q1 and then Q2. With a smile.


Q4. Will you put your own personal money in this idea? 


This makes the jaw drop. Most of the people wouldn't and they know it even before you ask them. Asking them just makes them uncomfortable. They would not tell you the answer straight because they cannot. If the idea is so very powerful, they would resign and probably start all by themselves with some seed money. The very fact that they are not doing so speaks volumes about the ideas.


Now, the above are slanted towards new ideas and marketing but the questions work across the functions and also with the top management.


3. Summarise and rephrase the learnings back to them. 




This means that you basically list down all the points and summarise - to each individual - what you have listened so far. It works better if you rephrase the whole thing instead of using the individual's own words. This makes them feel much better. They go away thinking that you have heard them out and now they have taught you all you have to know to do your job.


4. Connect the dots and put together the group learnings together. 





Usually, the solutions to the problems that the group is facing lies within the group. It is just that usually nobody bothers to bring it out. By talking to all the key people and summarising and rephrasing, you would have brought out all the solutions the group has.


5. Bring out your best powerpoint skills!





This is important. Very important. The slides should look great. Use a good, simple template. Use the basic presentation techniques : don't put too many words into a slide; don't put too much of emphazise on the facts and figures - they are boring and nobody bothers about them anyway. Use interesting sayings and jokes in between to pep up the ppt. End the presentation with a take away and action point chart which will give roles and responsibilities to each of the departments and people in the organization. They all feel good about seeing such a slide. Such a slide also means that they can do something about all the things that they talked to you and that also means that all the time spent talking to you is not going to go waste.

There are several fantastic things about this whole exercise : 

1) The beauty is that you don't have to do any of those implementation steps yourself. The organization will do it. And, what more, they will thank you for setting up such a wonderful set of action points
2) You don't have to be an expert in anything. In fact, the less you know about the industry, the better because then you have the freedom to ask all the 'silly' questions that normally nobody asks!
3) All you have to do is to keep mum; keep your silence; let the others fill the void with their ideas and words.

But, remember, it is not easy to be a good consultant because it is difficult to be a listener. Even more than that, it is very very difficult not to offer any opinion upfront. As long as you are ready to work on that skill and hone it, you are on your way to become a top notch consultant!




Well - I know and interact with really top notch consultants - and so please take the blog post in a lighter vein only!!!

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