Being a Better Consultant (Part 1)

Craig is based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and has worked with ProjectManagement.com for the last six years developing the various HEADWAY processes (Project, Change and Portfolio). He has hosted a series of webinars and is a business intelligence subject matter expert.

  Career Development   Communications Management   CRM   Stakeholder Management   Talent Management  

As 2010 came to an end, I began to reflect on the role that I am currently playing in my new company--and the role I have been playing for the last decade. I have been a supporter to others; most of the work I do is to design and build things that will assist others in their roles. I am--for lack of a better term--very much a consultant.

For the longest time, I played the role of external consultant and, recently in the last year, took on the role of internal consultant. I assist in helping solve other people’s problems. A company needs to better manage its projects. I help them build a project framework to identify, manage and implement their projects. An HR department needs a consistent hiring process. I coordinate the documentation of a hire-on process and a hire-on package. When the project and operations teams are at odds over perceived problems, I facilitate the conversations to create a shared understanding of the problem and the possible solutions. I help other people do their work more effectively and efficiently.

I love the role that I play. If you are reading this, you may also be a consultant. You may cringe at the term. So let’s not worry too much about the language. Call yourself a consultant, partner, facilitator, supporter, project manager or something else. You may do work for other companies or support others in your own company. You may…

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