1-Man Consultants Don’t Ask Why to Appear Smart. We Ask to Figure Things Out.
Understanding the mechanics behind the machine is more important than what we see
There is a preconceived notion that consultants like to ask why.
Why so?
Popular mainstream belief propagates the idea that it makes us look smart. And we must, because our engagement fees come from clients who want to work with intelligent people.
Okay. Fair enough. But, honestly, not quite.
I don’t think we need to appear smart. There is a lot on our plate running an engagement, securing multiple consulting deals, and running our 1-Man consulting practice.
I mean, choose where you are today in your consulting career. You can be a…
- Tenured in-house consultant with 20 years of experience
- A professional services consultant working 9–9 (not a typo)
- Or a 1-Man consultant on the side, trying to earn additional income, building your own thing
We got things to do. Quite a boatload too. There IS no time to appear smart.
We ask why because we genuinely want to figure out how things work.
Understanding How Things Work Today Is the Critical First Step to Next Stage Improvements
You cannot change what you don’t understand.
That one simple idea changed the way I conduct myself at work. It wasn’t a moment of epiphany, so to speak. My mentor in a professional services firm mentioned that to me years ago, and it hit me hard.
He did not know the impact of his casual statement on me. But it is etched deep in my mind.
You see, many consultants struggle with client engagements
. They often wonder, in the form of a post-mortem, what went wrong with their ideas or implementation.
I say this.
If you are productive and efficient at what you do, avoid moving in the wrong direction. Because you will be speeding along, as quickly as possible, to destinations you don’t want to be.
Yay or nay?
The thing is… all consultants have great ideas. Of course. We keep ourselves abreast of industry developments, work with multiple clients with diverse needs, and have deep exposure to various organizational cultures (good or bad).
We know a lot.
But, along the way, we seem to lose the plot. How so?
We failed to give that respect to our clients and how work is performed in their organizations. We want to jump the gun from the get-go.
- You might want to eradicate unnecessary bureaucratic practices
- You might want to do away with excessive meetings
- You might want to change their business processes
Your consultant’s gut tells you this is the right thing to do. I concur. But remember.
Our clients took many years to,
- Institute approval processes
- Set up a working structure
- Mold their teams
They achieved their current level of working equilibrium after many years of balancing, rebalancing, and fulfilling the needs within and outside of their organization.
We should, and must, respect how they get there.
In fact, working on next-stage improvements is only possible after understanding how they got to where they are today. Our suggestions and initiatives will be perceived in a positive light.
And on that note.
I am not surprised when clients throw (some, not all) consultants out of their offices and slam their doors right at their noses.
We can be too smart for our own good.
We must learn to remain grounded from time to time.
Focus on Expressing Genuine Interest First Before Poking the Box with the Why Finger
What I’ve enjoyed most, though, is meeting people who have a real interest in food and sharing ideas with them. Good food is a global thing and I find that there is always something new and amazing to learn — I love it!
There is depth in Jamie Oliver’s quote.
I recommend all consultants understand what he is saying.
You see. Clients like it when someone comes up and is genuinely interested in what they do. You think the same too.
We like it when…
- People ask us how we are coping today
- Colleagues approach us for advice
- Bosses seek our counsel
It makes us feel appreciated. Trust me. Our clients think this way too.
Now, anchor yourself in this orientation. Express genuine interest in what clients do and how they get things done.
Wondered why your C-Level boardroom presentation fell on deaf ears?
Seek counsel from your counterpart.
Ever wondered why no one attended your meetings on Wednesday at 8 in the morning?
Ask around.
Chances are, you will get an answer.
Let me share a personal experience.
I used to work with a client for a 6-month long consulting engagement. I knew Ben had worked with this client before, so I approached him to ferret their working culture.
He told me this.
“You want to be careful. These people will never appear on your scheduled Wednesday meetings after stepping on their toes.”
I know something sounds odd there. I never quite figured out how or why so.
2 months into the engagement, Ben’s warnings flashed in my head. It was true. The client representatives never attended my Wednesday morning meetings.
But I did not, in my opinion, step on their toes. I was troubled because the progress of the consulting engagement showed signs of delay.
So, I decided to ask someone I work with. Someone I trust.
“Jennifer, why did you skip all my Wednesday morning meetings?”
She stared at me like I was an alien from Mars.
“Are you serious? We have hour-long safety moment meetings every Wednesday morning. During that time, we attend no meetings.”
Whoops.
And this is the real reason I feel utterly embarrassed.
I was engaged by my client to streamline their business processes. They wanted to reduce time spent on meetings, bump-up productivity, and efficiency by 2% annually, and maintain a lean startup structure for the next 3 years.
And there I was, trying to get them to a meeting at a timeslot where they would never be available.
But I learned.
Parting Keynotes
Experienced 1-Man consultants are not interested to appear smart.
We ask why because we are trying to figure things out. Yes, we are annoying. But that is because the mechanics of a functioning organization cannot be observed with our naked eye.
We must ask to understand.
The best way to ask questions without getting brushed aside… is by expressing genuine interest in our client’s work. There will always be reasons why they work in a particular fashion.
Our job as consultants is to understand before helping them get better.
And, of course, it is way better to approach clients than consultants who work without understanding.
I prefer to be humble in front of my clients than to appear smart before my peers.
As a content contributor, I write my observations from daily life and my business exposure. Because our life experience is the bedrock of our unique perspectives.
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