Getting Clear on Clients' Expectations of Consultants

When it comes to performance, the town of Grantham in Lincolnshire, UK, is certainly one of the most winning towns with its two phenomenal wins in the history of mankind.

First, in 1925, it produced the then future and now former British Prime Minister, the late Margaret Thatcher, undisputed world-class expert at handbag-wielding and one of the world’s feistiest politicians.

The second, and even fierier, claim to fame for Grantham is the Infinity chilli that took the world by storm in 2010.

The World's Hottest Chilli Grown In Grantham Nick Woods of Fire Foods, a former RAF pilot, grew it in his greenhouse, and the new Infinity chilli weighed in at 1,067,286 million Scoville Herat Units, commanding the record holder Bhut Jolokia of India to the second place.

But after some serious experimentation, the Infinity was pushed down on the chilli nobility list by several other types. Eventually, Ed Currie of PuckerButt Pepper Company’s masterpiece from Fort Mill, South Carolina, United States, the Carolina Reaper took the crown of heat at over 2,200,000 Scoville Heat Units.

So, as you can see, the chilli industry is all about the pursuit of performance in the form of higher Scoville unit values. It seems that whether or not people can eat it is not even relevant any more. And that makes it a very familiar territory for the consulting industry that is riddled with impressive-sounding classroom-developed strategies that can’t be tactically implemented.

Just think of Michael Hammer’s Business Reengineering process that turned out to be a huge flop. Many clients believe that consulting is all about clients’ dictating what they want and then consultants are implementing as per client’s instructions.

So, it’s vital that we communicate to clients what we can do and how we work. And this is what we discuss this month's brain-fryingly electrifying episode of Commando Consulting, entitled, Getting Clear on Clients' Expectations of Consultants.

Enjoy!

Developing Your Consulting Power

Have you ever considered the origin of the phrase “rule of thumb”?

Legend has it that it comes from an ancient law that limited the thickness of a stick with which men were allowed to beat their wives.

In the world of consulting, although without the use of sticks, consultants often try to get their ways by exerting force upon their clients, and in doing so, they very often ruin their relationships.

But if, instead of force, they used power, consultants could be much more helpful to their clients without coming across like elephants in the china shop.

But the problem is that many people look at the word “power” as a negative word.

One reason for that is that we’ve been taught that the word power is related to the state, as in “state power”, and only the state has the right to use power.

After having read Power vs. Force by David R. Hawkins, I’ve learnt that while force is something we use on others, mainly in the form of violence to oppress them, power is something we use, first and foremost, on ourselves to express ourselves. And in this sense, power refers to a set of character traits.

In summary... Force is all about male energy, and rules and regulations inflicted on people by authority figures. Power is all about female energy, ability to attract, magnetise and inspire people.

And while both force and power can be associated with controlling people and misusing one's position, power also means the ability to enable, empower and influence people to take action in their own best interest. And this is what we discuss in this month's brain-fryingly exciting episode of Commando Consulting, entitled, Developing Your Consulting Power.

Enjoy!