This is a "Consultant" User Guide, please check - Huxiu.com#
Omnivore#
Highlights#
It is in this context that local consultants have become the main force in the consulting industry. ⤴️ ^96e72c5c
This is a trend, I see more and more young practitioners, but their abilities vary.
Growing up as a "veteran" in practical experience, very good at "serving professionals": When interacting with professionals, they go all out and demonstrate a high level of professionalism; but if the client is not professional, they are not willing to exert all their efforts, just deal with it, anyway, their past rich experience is enough to handle it. As the tide rises, the opponents become stronger, the combat effectiveness and innovation ability of consultants also become stronger. Whether consultants can present their best state often depends on the level of their clients. ⤴️ ^f5eb596b
I see myself in this, I shouldn't be like this, I should be sincere and professional with every client partner.
The implementation of consulting projects requires time and process.
Some clients invite consultants and hope that they can come up with a solution immediately; some even think that consultants are just working step by step to make more money. This kind of mentality makes it difficult for projects to succeed. ⤴️ ^87fabd40
It is important to screen clients.
This is a "Consultant" User Guide, please check#
This article introduces how to use consultants correctly, including the classification and characteristics of consultants, as well as the implementation process of consulting projects.
• The classification and characteristics of consultants, clients need to understand different types of consultants in order to use their value correctly.
• The implementation of consulting projects requires time and process, clients need to understand and cooperate with the consultant's learning and communication process.
• The role of consultants in projects is very important, they need to think about problems together with clients and form complete solutions.
After working in IT for many years, I have encountered hundreds of "consultants" or "experts". From the initial "look up to" to cooperation, and then using consultants as tools, I have increasingly realized that many consultants have not played their due value in projects, mainly because clients do not use consultants properly. So how can we make good use of consultants?
First, clients need to understand the consultants participating in the project.
Although they are all called consultants, there are significant differences.
In general projects, the largest number of "consultants" are actually "interns" or "novices".
Although many excellent graduates have entered the internet industry and other emerging fields in recent years, consulting companies can still recruit outstanding young people. They have good qualities, are very dedicated, and neither know how to be lazy nor are they good at being lazy. They are typical objects of exploitation and oppression. Moreover, these people are often the top performers in traditional Chinese education, not only good at learning and high in intelligence, but also obedient to teachers, leaders, and elders, and they tend to attribute the problems they face to their own shortcomings in order to "adapt to society".
In front of clients, friends, and family, these young consultants often package themselves as "strong individuals", impressing clients with their qualities and dedication, and gaining their trust and support. However, the essential problems of consulting projects are not something these young people can solve. In many cases, they are just the image spokespersons for the "dedication" and "hard work" of consulting companies. If the success of a project is placed on these people, the probability of failure will be much higher.
What about the experienced consultants with gray hair, speaking a mix of Chinese and English, and hanging the best international practices on their lips?
When the consulting industry entered the domestic market, we had little experience in strategic planning, operations management, human resources, finance, and other fields. The architecture models and methodologies refined and summarized overseas opened our eyes and established many benchmarks. In the past, it was necessary to pay a high price to invite a consultant from a consulting company to give a lecture, and those who dared to engage top international consulting companies not only needed abundant funds, but also an open mindset and a desire for new things. At that time, the consultants with gray hair were highly sought after, representing advanced Western productivity and mature management thinking, and were treated as honored guests wherever they went.
By integrating the spirit of hard work and the development experience of the world, and with the rapid development of the Internet breaking down the barriers to traditional knowledge dissemination, the growth rate of domestic companies far exceeds the accumulation of consulting company experience. Soon, overseas consulting companies did not have much new output, and those old consultants who relied on "using the West for China" to do projects could not keep up with the pace. They relied solely on foreign theoretical frameworks and process rules, and it was difficult to gain recognition from clients.
==It is in this context that local consultants have become the main force in the consulting industry.==
Some of these consultants have gradually grown up as newcomers, while others have joined the consulting industry halfway. They have the ability to control consulting methodologies and internal and external resources, as well as work methods, experience, and knowledge accumulated through practice. Many of their project experiences are accumulated in China, with the quality of going from practice to theory and back to practice. Therefore, they can often propose more suitable solutions and suggestions. They have a deep understanding of China's policy environment, cultural background, and other issues, and can anticipate the consequences of implementing solutions, making them practical and effective.
==Growing up as "veterans" in practical experience, they are very good at "serving professionals":====When interacting with professionals, they go all out and demonstrate a high level of professionalism; but if the client is not professional, they are not willing to exert all their efforts, just deal with it, anyway, their past rich experience is enough to handle it. As the tide rises, the opponents become stronger, the combat effectiveness and innovation ability of consultants also become stronger. Whether consultants can present their best state often depends on the level of their clients.==
Older consulting companies charge international first-class fees, but now their knowledge base and resource pool do not bring as much value and new ideas as before, so their effectiveness may not be superior. As a result, there are more and more local consulting companies and independent consultants. Most of them are outstanding talents from consulting companies who have started their own businesses. They bring value and experience to clients, and their fees can be reduced by half. They have become an important part of the domestic consulting industry.
Second, ==the implementation of consulting projects requires time and process==
==Some clients invite consultants and expect them to come up with a solution immediately; some even think that consultants are just working step by step to make more money. This mentality makes it difficult for projects to succeed.==
In general, consulting projects consist of three stages.
The first stage is the process of consultants learning from clients.
Consultants are knowledgeable and experienced in their field, but they often do not know the specific situation of a particular industry, profession, or company as well as the clients themselves. On the one hand, they need to learn and supplement professional knowledge, and on the other hand, they need to conduct research, communication, and discussion to accumulate materials for proposing solutions, especially to understand similar previous experiences.
I have seen this scenario: when a consulting company presents its results, the proposed solution is very similar to a failed product design from two years ago, and they cannot answer the root cause of the previous failure or the reasons for success this time. Such a presentation not only wastes time but also undermines the client's confidence and trust, making all efforts in vain.
Some clients idolize consultants and believe that they know everything, so they do not recognize the learning process of consultants and even question their level. In this case, on the one hand, "newcomers" need to do junior tasks to impress clients with their dedication and help them with specific and complex work, so that clients can see that the same content becomes more professional and systematic after being organized by consultants; "veterans" combine their own experience to discuss with clients how to do things, help clients think or solve specific technical problems, and engage in professional exchanges with clients.
This combination model is easy to gain recognition and cooperation from professionals. While helping clients organize their thoughts, consultants also complete their learning process.
The second stage is the process of clients learning from consultants.
Clients often have more professional knowledge than consultants, but consultants excel in methodologies and knowledge bases, and can solve clients' problems from a general perspective.
For clients with sufficient professional knowledge and experience, working in a fixed environment and mindset for a long time may prevent them from expressing themselves, even if they have the problems and solutions in their minds.
Consultants introduce and communicate methodologies to clients, forming a "shared thinking mode" of jointly thinking about problems and designing solutions. By discussing problems with similar thinking modes, the efficiency is much higher. At the same time, it allows clients to break out of a relatively closed space and focus on thinking about problems systematically, and many answers to problems become apparent.
The third stage is the process of mutual learning between clients and consultants.
If the first two stages go smoothly and consultants have a deep understanding of the client's situation, and clients are familiar with the working methods and thinking methods of consultants, the third stage is a moment of sparking discussions and mutual inspiration.
Successful consulting reports and projects are often the result of combining a complete framework with outstanding highlights. The framework is mainly completed by consultants, supported by a mature knowledge base and methodologies, and many tasks become labor-intensive; the highlights in consulting projects often emerge during discussions between both parties.
At this time, the role of consultants is very important. On the one hand, they need to discuss with clients or change perspectives to stimulate innovation, brainstorm future possibilities with clients; on the other hand, they need to organize creative ideas in a logical manner and form a complete framework. These two types of work, one active and one passive, one dynamic and one static, often require teamwork to integrate different resources in order to achieve the goal.
Otherwise, they will either fail to keep up with the client's pace, fail to record good ideas in a timely manner, or have an incomplete and disorganized framework, which cannot be considered as achieving the best results.
From historical experience, the time allocation of these three stages varies, and often there is no clear demarcation. However, in general, the more consultants understand the industry and the longer they interact with clients, the shorter the time for the first stage; and if the client has a high level, the time for the second and third stages will be compressed. If both parties are experienced long-term collaborators and can complete a project in a short cycle with high quality, it is very normal.
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