In today’s new reality, post the GFC, deliberatepractice set out to discover what HR professionals truly valued and what they found wanting when seeking HR consulting support. In a recent in depth survey of HR professionals conducted by deliberatepractice several compelling themes emerged about consultants vying for their business and the tools favoured to meet today’s people challenges.
We surveyed a wide range of professional from HR Managers to General Managers across industries including manufacturing, logistics, Not for Profits, FMCG and technology companies and asked questions about 360 degree feedback, teams, coaching, psychometrics, assessment and development centres and general consulting. Respondents were keen to share their views. All comments were valuable, but perhaps the most revealing were those made about general consulting. In this blog we would like to share with you some of the comments respondents made about what they felt characterised the best and worst consultants.
The best consultants:
- Speak in a normal language – no technical jargon.
- Clearly sell the benefits of what they are doing.
- Draw on insights organisations may not have had about themselves.
- Provide easily executable, well designed back end solutions to make the offering “stick”.
- Are well networked, flexible, responsive and commercially savvy.
- Have up to date knowledge and treat you like you are also knowledgeable and are not arrogant!
The worst consultants:
- Never provide a “plan B”.
- Do not keep you informed.
- Have to be chased for information or follow up.
- Are least useful when the original brief gets stretched.
- Don’t take the time to understand the context.
- Make assumptions about what YOU need.
- Try and sell you a “model”.
The simple truth is all consultants have the opportunity to work positively and creatively with their clients. This means stepping up to the plate, taking an “ask not tell” approach and truly listen to their clients’ needs to deliver tangible value. However simple doesn’t mean easy and mastery takes practice and not just any practice but deliberatepractice and plenty of it!
simple doesn’t mean easy and mastery takes practice
deliberatepractice would like to acknowledge their gratitude to all survey respondents that gave their time and provided their valuable insights to this research.
This research and other learnings inspired us to develop a checklist of questions that clients should ask when screening or evaluating consultants. If you are interested in receiving a free copy or you would like to know more about our findings please contact deliberatepractice on 1300 deliberate (1300 335 423) or email info@deliberatepractice.com.au.