Tweet

What Makes A Good Management Consultant?

Guest post by: Michael Hume

Article Overview: Many times during the course of my career as a coach to the world's best consultants, I've been asked what it takes to make a good advisor. The short answer - a synthesis of many key attributes - is that great advisors are all about the development of their clients. All consultants are smart, and have good systems backing them up. The great ones don't focus on their own smarts. Their focus is on the smarts of their clients....

What Makes A Good Management Consultant?

All Are Smart... The Great Ones Make Their Clients Smart I've had the privilege of coaching some of the world's best and brightest business talents over the last several years, many of them earning their leadership stripes in the rough-and-tumble consulting game. Competition is stiff to get a gig as a management consultant with a top-flight firm, and the firm I've worked with has been at the very top of the industry. By the time they became my clients, these consultants had already bested a wide and deep field of competitors for the positions they held... they'd proved they had the smarts to get into the game. And that's no small feat.

But it was my job to help them develop from competent, smart consultants to outstanding consultants. And what I learned in that pursuit, I now realize, applies across a wide array of advice-giving professions, from wealth and investment advice to big-ticket sales to the practice of medicine and law.

Many times during the course of my career as a coach to the world's best consultants, I've been asked what it takes to make a good advisor. The short answer - a synthesis of many key attributes - is that great advisors are all about the development of their clients. All consultants are smart, and have good systems backing them up. The great ones don't focus on their own smarts. Their focus is on the smarts of their clients.

You can tell the rookies from the pros when they speak. Rookies talk a lot about what they know; pros find out first what the client already knows. Rookies lean on (or hide behind) their firms, saying things like "our firm feels" or "we found out" or "our research shows"... pros are often caught saying things like "I see it differently," or "I think" or "I'm not convinced." (If you ever hear a rookie say the word "I," it's usually in the context of such phrases as "yes, I know" or "I've got it.") Rookies bring answers; pros ask a lot of questions. Rookies come across as convinced; pros, as curious.

For more information on the surprising difference between rookies and pros in the advice game, search "performance anxiety" on my web site and you'll find a piece I published last summer on this very topic. And, of course, I'm still available for coaching!

And that might provide insight into what drives the mindset of a great consultant. Sure, like everyone else in the game, the great advisor can be nervous. She feels the same performance anxiety you feel... she doesn't want the client to "find her out" any more than you do. But she plucks up the courage to come across with enough confidence to build assurance within the client. She knows her client is smart, and will see through any bluff right away. And she knows that her firm wouldn't have put her in front of that client unless she really did have what it takes (however hard to see) to render true service in the engagement and in the relationship.

Great advisors in any field project confidence, put the client (and his development) first, and work hard to nurture the long-term relationship with the client and his firm. They don't rest on what they earned the day they joined the game. They know their smarts alone won't be enough to differentiate them from the wide selection of advisors available to their clients. They know everybody's smart, but no one's going to care enough to take as much personal responsibility for their client's success... and that awareness is the key "secret weapon" that helps them play the game to win.

Related Articles
  The Trouble With RFPs (Part 2)
  IS A CAREER IN MANAGEMENT CONSULTING RIGHT FOR YOU
  Are You An Accidental Consultant?
  3 Best Ways To Hire An SEO Consultant
  Self-Quiz – Should my business hire a consultant?
  International Marketing - Engaging Consulting Firms
  WHAT MAKES A MANAGEMENT CONSULTANT GREAT? Part II of III
  The Need for Problem Solvers
  Team Marketing: The Right Approach
  Coaching, Counseling and Development
  Why You Should Work With a Franchise Consultant
  Consulting Code Blue
  Travel Consultant – A Necessity or A Waste Of Money?
  Reasons to Use a Franchise Consultant
  Human Resources Consulting
  WHAT MAKES A MANAGEMENT CONSULTANT GREAT? Part I of III
  Can a productivity consultant add enough value to justify the fee
  Been There, Done That. Don’t Do it Again
  How to Choose a Small Business Marketing Consultant
  Updating Your Employee Handbook? Four Reasons to Hire an HR Consultant

Article Tags: health wealth and happiness, inspirational leadership, performance anxiety, personal responsibility



Related Forum Posts
Re: what position to request? - Hi Michael, Great suggestion from David, or you could try something around a design consultancy, How about Website Design Consultant, Design and Development Manager, Website Support and Development Manager or maybe Internet Business Development Consultant. Ultimately whatever you are comfortable with and good luck for the future, Mal.
No B.S. Time Management - A great book I read on Time Management is No B.S. Time Management for Entrepreneurs by Dan Kennedy.
Re: Today's Hottest Franchise? - I try to keep up on some of the hot franchises, I have noticed an increase in interest in the service industries. Lower cost, lower overhead etc... I think this is because most folks have less to invest or less they are willing to risk. John Henning Franchise Consultant
Any experience with McManus UK Ltd.? - Did anybody already deal with any of the McManus UK Ltd offshore entities? I do have a program, but not enough cash. I have been advised that they can fund investors with access to Private Placement Programs but they don’t want to joint venture with me. They want a fee for the service. This is why I want to find out if anybody has had first hand experience with this group? Patrick Ohara, Financial Consultant
Re: Stopping Drive-by Spam - I've also noticed that in this and other forums. I wonder why they do it that way. Makes it easier to catch them. I suppose it's probably just laziness. I've even seen the same person spam the same thread multiple times one after another with the exact same post. I guess that just how stupid some of these spammers are!!!


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Tips for the Novice Traveler

Make Small Commitments. Get Big Changes.

Living on The Edge of Chaos...

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.