Flawless Consulting, 4th Edition

CHAPTER 7Some Nuances of Contracting

WHEN WE WORK WITH CLIENTS, there are three ways that we get work:

1. We're asked in. The client reaches out to us and asks us to work with them.
2. We want in. We take the initiative and want to help the client or implement a program.
3. We're sent in. Our boss, or leadership in general, sends us in to fix something or implement a program, process, initiative.

Whether we are asked in by our clients, sent in by someone else, or want in because we have a program to implement or some expertise to offer, the challenge is to build trust up front with an authentic personal acknowledgment and sharing a common understanding of the problem/situation. The order and particulars in the first few steps will vary, but the goal of contracting remains the same: to gain mutual agreement of what work we are going to do and how we will work together, or to agree on what work we are not going to do.

The flawless consulting contracting model described in Chapter 6 is set up for the “asked in” scenario. The sequence and roles in each step support situations when the client invites us to help them with a situation/problem. With some minor modifications, the model is also useful when we want in or when we are sent in. It takes a just few tweaks to the order and tasks of the steps. In fact, it is only the top half of the model that needs to be modified. Here are some thoughts on how to go about it.

Sent In

This scenario occurs when someone has sent us to the client's ...