Being a Better Consultant (Part 2)

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  

I am a consultant and I like my job. I help my clients identify their problems and assist them in finding lasting solutions that work. That is the role of a good consultant. Like me, you too may be in the same or a similar role. Over the years, I have picked up some key tips that I believe help me to be better in my role. In Part 1 of this series, I looked at the importance of respecting your clients, listening to what they tell you and asking questions to help you clarify what you client needs. In the second part of this series, I will look at the importance of setting and managing expectations, showing results of your efforts and spending time out of your office.

Set and Manage Expectations
As on any project, setting and managing expectations in a consulting relationship is vital to ensure the success of the engagement. And just like on any project, when you fail to set expectations early, the project goes off the rails very quickly. From many of you, the response will probably be, “Tell me something I don’t already know.” However, it is amazing how many consultants fail to do just that. I have seen far too many consultants in action (myself included ) that have at times failed to define expectations and follow through with their management.

In some cases it was a combination of a feeling that the client did not expect the expectations to be …

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