Flawless Consulting, 4th Edition

CHAPTER 17Preparing for Feedback

EVERY LINE MANAGER WANTS to know what to do about a problem or possibility and so wants recommendations. Resist being too carried away by the struggle to develop perfect recommendations. Recommendations are the beginning of a conversation, not the end. If you have presented a clear and simple picture of why the problem or possibility exists, the client will have as many ideas for recommendations as you do. The reason clients need our recommendations is because of the limiting picture of the situation that they are now working with.

A Clear Picture May Be Enough

The consultant's primary task is to present a fresh picture of what has been discovered. This is 70% of the contribution you have to make. Trust it.

What you do with your discovery is to focus attention on areas that your expertise tells you are the likely causes of the problem or sources of a possibility. What to focus on is under your control regardless of the assignment. Trusting yourself to focus on what you feel is important may be the most valuable thing you have to offer the client. Treat the choice of what to examine as a highly important one and yours to influence.

Condensing the Data

You always collect more data than you could ever use. A high anxiety point in any consulting project or ongoing relationship is what to share. When discovery is done—when you have finished asking your questions and have all the information you are going to get—you now have to make sense of it. ...