Comments for Consultive Magazine http://www.consultivemagazine.com Just another WordPress site Tue, 13 Dec 2011 14:47:38 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Comment on Are you T enough to be a consultant? by Dominika http://www.consultivemagazine.com/2010/10/01/are-you-t-enough-to-be-a-consultant/#comment-854 Dominika Tue, 13 Dec 2011 14:47:38 +0000 http://www.consultivemagazine.com/?p=78#comment-854 Fully agreed on the I vs T shape. I have been working as a (junior) consultant for 4 years now and acquired quite a breadth of experience, but not much depths. Hence, I am being seen as a jack of all trades - which makes it difficult for seniors to place me on a specific role when they resource their projects. At the moment I have not much of an idea how to get myself out of this position... Tried project management as a specific skill but that is not enough... Would be grateful for any tips! Fully agreed on the I vs T shape. I have been working as a (junior) consultant for 4 years now and acquired quite a breadth of experience, but not much depths. Hence, I am being seen as a jack of all trades – which makes it difficult for seniors to place me on a specific role when they resource their projects. At the moment I have not much of an idea how to get myself out of this position… Tried project management as a specific skill but that is not enough… Would be grateful for any tips!

]]> Comment on The Jamie Oliver approach to change management and how you can use it as a consultant by chris alexander http://www.consultivemagazine.com/2010/09/10/the-jamie-oliver-approach-to-change-management-and-how-you-can-use-it-as-a-consultant/#comment-395 chris alexander Mon, 21 Feb 2011 03:28:02 +0000 http://www.consultivemagazine.com/?p=68#comment-395 To-the-point article, I must say. The industry of management consulting is a strange animal all together. I've seen in some publication that professors from the Univercities of Denver and Dublin did a research to examine how the fact of hiring management consultants affects the success of the business. Collected by them information made me smile. They had conversations wih approximetely 120 listed firms that publicly announced hiring a management consulting firm, and statistically analyzed whether this announcement increased or decreased the firm's share price. The answer was … guess what. Share price increased with an average of 1.5% or so by the hiring of such firm. And that's before consultants even did their work. So go figure, we might be in the wrong business apparently :-) To-the-point article, I must say. The industry of management consulting is a strange animal all together. I’ve seen in some publication that professors from the Univercities of Denver and Dublin did a research to examine how the fact of hiring management consultants affects the success of the business. Collected by them information made me smile. They had conversations wih approximetely 120 listed firms that publicly announced hiring a management consulting firm, and statistically analyzed whether this announcement increased or decreased the firm’s share price. The answer was … guess what. Share price increased with an average of 1.5% or so by the hiring of such firm. And that’s before consultants even did their work. So go figure, we might be in the wrong business apparently :-)

]]> Comment on Where to find your perfect consulting job by Tweets that mention Consultive Magazine -- Topsy.com http://www.consultivemagazine.com/2011/02/18/where-to-find-your-perfect-consulting-job/#comment-386 Tweets that mention Consultive Magazine -- Topsy.com Fri, 18 Feb 2011 10:06:16 +0000 http://www.consultivemagazine.com/?p=121#comment-386 [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Siddhartha, Consultive Magazine. Consultive Magazine said: New article: Where to find your perfect consulting job - http://bit.ly/g4XYvd [...] [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Siddhartha, Consultive Magazine. Consultive Magazine said: New article: Where to find your perfect consulting job – http://bit.ly/g4XYvd [...]

]]> Comment on How to network like a pro by Paddy Mann http://www.consultivemagazine.com/2010/12/10/how-to-network-like-a-pro/#comment-204 Paddy Mann Tue, 21 Dec 2010 15:54:25 +0000 http://www.consultivemagazine.com/?p=106#comment-204 Morten T Hansen discusses it in the excellent 'Collaboration: How leaders avoid the traps, create unity, and reap big results' http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=DphQWKjOwgYC&pg=PA202&lpg=PA202&dq=morten+t+hansen+diversity+over+size&source=bl&ots=7pqSu2zMCm&sig=Xxg2D43mUMlcH92mZhqkNLz06cc&hl=en&ei=CswQTZ_JK5K0hAfStZm3Dg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false He, in turn, refers to a paper by Ronald S. Burt entitled 'Structural holes and good ideas': http://www.jstor.org/pss/3568221 I'd highly recommend a copy of the former - it's not the best written book, and some of the statistical evidence raises eyebrows, however he very successfully pulls out where the opportunities to improving collaboration are (including networking), and the obstacles to this (categorised into 4 types of barriers, two of which are technical, the other two relate to whether people are driven to share knowledge or not) Morten T Hansen discusses it in the excellent
‘Collaboration: How leaders avoid the traps, create unity, and reap
big results’
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=DphQWKjOwgYC&pg=PA202&lpg=PA202&dq=morten+t+hansen+diversity+over+size&source=bl&ots=7pqSu2zMCm&sig=Xxg2D43mUMlcH92mZhqkNLz06cc&hl=en&ei=CswQTZ_JK5K0hAfStZm3Dg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false
He, in turn, refers to a paper by Ronald S. Burt entitled
‘Structural holes and good ideas’: http://www.jstor.org/pss/3568221
I’d highly recommend a copy of the former – it’s not the best
written book, and some of the statistical evidence raises eyebrows,
however he very successfully pulls out where the opportunities to
improving collaboration are (including networking), and the
obstacles to this (categorised into 4 types of barriers, two of
which are technical, the other two relate to whether people are
driven to share knowledge or not)

]]> Comment on Learning from The Apprentice by Tweets that mention Learning from The Apprentice « Consultive Magazine -- Topsy.com http://www.consultivemagazine.com/2010/12/20/learning-from-the-apprentice/#comment-200 Tweets that mention Learning from The Apprentice « Consultive Magazine -- Topsy.com Mon, 20 Dec 2010 10:31:33 +0000 http://www.consultivemagazine.com/?p=111#comment-200 [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by James McQuarrie. James McQuarrie said: RT @consultiveMag: Learning from The Apprentice - http://bit.ly/gRYtGy #consulting [...] [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by James McQuarrie. James McQuarrie said: RT @consultiveMag: Learning from The Apprentice – http://bit.ly/gRYtGy #consulting [...]

]]> Comment on How to network like a pro by James http://www.consultivemagazine.com/2010/12/10/how-to-network-like-a-pro/#comment-195 James Mon, 13 Dec 2010 12:59:56 +0000 http://www.consultivemagazine.com/?p=106#comment-195 Hi Paddy, Thanks for commenting. If you have the source of that research to share that would be great! Hi Paddy,

Thanks for commenting. If you have the source of that research to share that would be great!

]]> Comment on How to network like a pro by Paddy Mann http://www.consultivemagazine.com/2010/12/10/how-to-network-like-a-pro/#comment-189 Paddy Mann Fri, 10 Dec 2010 10:41:56 +0000 http://www.consultivemagazine.com/?p=106#comment-189 It's worth noting that a big network isn't necessarily beneficial, but a diverse one certainly is (proven by research as well as real life experience - I'll dig out a source if desired). If you work in a large firm then try making friends in different areas of the business, it'll help your career I promise! Similarly, outside of your firm having 10 contacts across 5 organisations will have better results that 10 in a single organisation. On the bright side, a network which doesn't appear to be diverse will often naturally become more diverse as people change jobs and move up the career ladder It’s worth noting that a big network isn’t necessarily beneficial, but a diverse one certainly is (proven by research as well as real life experience – I’ll dig out a source if desired). If you work in a large firm then try making friends in different areas of the business, it’ll help your career I promise!

Similarly, outside of your firm having 10 contacts across 5 organisations will have better results that 10 in a single organisation.

On the bright side, a network which doesn’t appear to be diverse will often naturally become more diverse as people change jobs and move up the career ladder

]]> Comment on What is your interviewer really thinking about? by Tweets that mention What is your interviewer really thinking about? « Consultive Magazine -- Topsy.com http://www.consultivemagazine.com/2010/12/06/what-is-your-interviewer-really-thinking-about-2/#comment-186 Tweets that mention What is your interviewer really thinking about? « Consultive Magazine -- Topsy.com Mon, 06 Dec 2010 16:07:05 +0000 http://www.consultivemagazine.com/?p=105#comment-186 [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Snehil Priya, Consultive Magazine. Consultive Magazine said: What is your interviewer really thinking about? http://bit.ly/gDXtiM #consulting #recruitment [...] [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Snehil Priya, Consultive Magazine. Consultive Magazine said: What is your interviewer really thinking about? http://bit.ly/gDXtiM #consulting #recruitment [...]

]]> Comment on Why upward management is a skill you should learn now by Tweets that mention Why upward management is a skill you should learn now « Consultive Magazine -- Topsy.com http://www.consultivemagazine.com/2010/11/26/why-upward-management-is-a-skill-you-should-learn-now/#comment-175 Tweets that mention Why upward management is a skill you should learn now « Consultive Magazine -- Topsy.com Fri, 26 Nov 2010 09:51:52 +0000 http://www.consultivemagazine.com/?p=100#comment-175 [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by James McQuarrie, Consultive Magazine. Consultive Magazine said: Morning all. This week's article: Why upward management is a skill you should learn now http://bit.ly/geiBC5 #consulting [...] [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by James McQuarrie, Consultive Magazine. Consultive Magazine said: Morning all. This week's article: Why upward management is a skill you should learn now http://bit.ly/geiBC5 #consulting [...]

]]> Comment on Beware the inadvertent commitment by Ony Chima http://www.consultivemagazine.com/2010/11/19/beware-the-inadvertent-commitment/#comment-172 Ony Chima Tue, 23 Nov 2010 08:21:33 +0000 http://www.consultivemagazine.com/?p=96#comment-172 David, You raise a good point here, and this is something many a consultant will probably come up against, particularly if they are on top of their work and clearly delivering a lot of value for the client. As you state always saying yes may keep your client very happy, but without adequate planning or necessary critique one may become overburdened. As a consultant, it is difficult to ‘push back’ on clients, but that’s a skill that will need to be acquired. When communicated properly the client may actually value the fact that a balanced view can be provided on important questions. To be clear, pushing back doesn’t mean saying ‘no’ to your client but rather providing a well thought out, pragmatic answer to the requests your client has made. For example, if the request means a big scope change, or a great increase to your workload – which will impact your current deliverable, you will need to ensure your client is aware of this and can make a call on the area to focus on. David,
You raise a good point here, and this is something many a consultant will probably come up against, particularly if they are on top of their work and clearly delivering a lot of value for the client. As you state always saying yes may keep your client very happy, but without adequate planning or necessary critique one may become overburdened.

As a consultant, it is difficult to ‘push back’ on clients, but that’s a skill that will need to be acquired. When communicated properly the client may actually value the fact that a balanced view can be provided on important questions.

To be clear, pushing back doesn’t mean saying ‘no’ to your client but rather providing a well thought out, pragmatic answer to the requests your client has made. For example, if the request means a big scope change, or a great increase to your workload – which will impact your current deliverable, you will need to ensure your client is aware of this and can make a call on the area to focus on.

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