The consulting process involves two partners – the consultant and the client. In theory it should be easy to put the consultant’s expertise to work on the client’s project, since it is fair to assume that both parties will do their best to achieve the same purpose.

The reality is infinitely more complex. The consultant remains external to the organization, someone who is supposed to achieve a valid result in the client organization without being part of its administrative and human system. Even an internal consultant – an organization’s employee – is external from the viewpoint of organizational units where he or she is supposed to intervene. Quite independently of its technical relevance and quality, the consultant’s advice may or may not be understood and accepted by the client. The consultant can upset people and hurt their feelings in many different ways. Rejection can take many forms. The history of consulting contains thousands of excellent reports that have been buried in managers’ desks and never implemented, although they were formally accepted. Many consultants terminate their assignments with feelings of bitterness and frustration. They are absolutely sure that they have provided excellent advice, yet the clients do not follow it. This underlines the critical importance of creating and maintaining an effective consultant–client relationship.

Building this relationship is not easy. To achieve success, both consultants and clients need to be aware of the human, cultural and other factors that will affect their relationship, and of the errors to be avoided when working together. They must be prepared to make a special effort to build and maintain a relationship of understanding, collaboration and trust that makes the effective intervention of an independent professional possible. There is no alternative.

3.1Defining expectations and roles

To begin with, the client and the consultant may look differently at both the expected outcome and the ways of carrying out the assignment. The client

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may have only a vague idea of how consultants work and may be slightly suspicious – possibly he or she has heard about consultants who try to complicate every issue, require more information than they really need, ask for more time in order to justify longer assignments, and charge exorbitant fees. The client may be approaching the consultant with mixed feelings (see box 3.1). But even if there is no a priori suspicion, and no fear on the client’s side, there is a risk of misunderstanding as regards objectives, end results, roles, relationships and other aspects of a consulting assignment.

Box 3.1 What it feels like to be a buyer

(1)I’m feeling insecure. I’m not sure I know how to detect which of the finalists is excellent, and which are just good. I’ve exhausted my abilities to make technical distinctions.

(2)I’m feeling threatened. This is my area of responsibility, and even though intellectually I know I need outside expertise, emotionally it’s not comfortable to put my affairs in the hands of others.

(3)I’m taking a personal risk. By putting my affairs in the hands of someone else, I risk losing control.

(4)I’m impatient. I didn’t call in someone at the first sign of symptoms (or opportunity). I’ve been thinking about this for a while.

(5)I’m worried. By the very fact of suggesting improvements or changes, these people are going to be implying that I haven’t been doing things right up till now. Are these people going to be on my side?

(6)I’m exposed. Whoever I hire, l’m going to reveal some proprietary secrets, not all of which are flattering.

(7)I’m feeling ignorant, and don’t like the feeling. I don’t know if I’ve got a simple problem or a complex one. I’m not sure I can trust them to be honest about that: it’s in their interest to convince me it’s complex.

(8)I’m sceptical. I’ve been burned before by these kinds of people. You get a lot of promises. How do I know whose promise I should buy?

(9)I’m concerned that they either can’t or won’t take the time to understand what makes my situation special. They’ll try to sell me what they’ve got rather than what I need.

(10)I’m suspicious. Will they be those typical professionals who are hard to get hold of, who are patronizing, who leave you out of the loop, who befuddle you with jargon, who don’t explain what they’re doing or why? In short, will these people deal with me in the way I want to be dealt with?

Source: Adapted from David Maister: Managing the professional service firm (New York, The Free Press, 1993). p. 113.

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Joint problem definition

First, the reason for which the consultant was brought in needs to be well defined. A manager who wants to call for a consultant’s help should not merely recognize a need for such help, but define the problem as he or she sees it, as precisely as possible. In many organizations, top management would not even consider using consultants unless presented with a clear description of the problem and the purpose of the consultancy.

Before accepting the assignment, the consultant must be sure that he or she can subscribe to the client’s definition of the problem. Except in the most simple and clear cases, the consultant wants to be able to reach his or her own conclusion as to what the problem is and how difficult its solution might be.

There are many reasons why the consultant’s definition of the problem might differ from the client’s. Frequently managers are too deeply immersed in a particular situation to be able to assess it objectively, or they may have created the problem themselves. They may perceive the symptoms but not the real issue. They may also prefer the consultant to “discover” certain significant aspects of the problem.

Comparison of the client’s and the consultant’s definition of the problem lays down the basis of sound working relations and mutual trust for the duration of the assignment. It should be discussed. Both the consultant and the client should be prepared to make changes to their initial definition of the problem and to agree on a joint definition. But this first joint definition should not be considered as final. Once the assignment has started, detailed diagnostic work may uncover new problems and new opportunities, requiring a redefinition of the situation.

Results to be achieved

Secondly, the consultant and the client should clarify what the assignment should achieve and how this achievement will be measured. This may require an exchange of views on how each party regards consulting, how far the consultant should continue working on an agreed task (possibly exceeding the scope of that task), and what his or her responsibility to the client is. As mentioned in section 1.4, there is often a misunderstanding about the consultant’s role in implementation. The consultant may be keen to participate in it, but the client may be used to receiving reports with action proposals, and to deciding on implementation only after the consultant has left. If possible, the consultant will often try to be involved in implementation. If cost is what worries the client, the consultant’s presence during implementation can be a light one (see also Chapter 10).

The consultant’s and the client’s roles

Thirdly, it is important to determine how the assignment will be conducted by the two parties:

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