C4C Ch 9 Sustaining your consultancy

Sustaining Your Consulting

• Consultants are their own best instruments for change
• Consultants need to be authentic and set boundaries
• Key to sustaining is maintaining mental, emotional, social, physical, and spiritual well-being
• Consultants hold a duty to bring their best to the challenging work of assisting organizations
• The consultant is analogous to a mountain guide

Authentic Consulting

• Authenticity is crucial for trust
• Knowing oneself is key: self-awareness of biases and baggage
• Consultants need emotional intelligence
• Personal experiences and perspectives influence consulting processes
• Recognizing personal strengths and weaknesses
• Awareness of how personal attributes (e.g., nationality, age, gender) impact interactions with clients is essential
• A furious client can be a valuable learning experience
• Recognizing and managing potential conflicts of interest

Know Your Power

• Consultants hold power in any situation
• Power sources include perceived expertise, influence over resources, the ability to expose issues, reputation, connections, and the person who recommended the consultant
• Awareness of power dynamics is crucial; consultants should not use power to manipulate situations
• Excessive consultant power can undermine client ownership and sustainability

Wearing Two Hats

• Clients can present complex situations, even accusations of financial mismanagement
• Consultants need to be objective and balanced
• Maintaining honesty and attempting to be balanced, while fearing potential negative client reactions
• Wearing two hats (representing both the client and as an objective consultant) is not possible

Know Your Biases

• Biases can influence perceptions of situations and people
• Professional biases exist (based on specific fields like health, education, or agriculture)
• Organizational biases based on previous work experience (e.g., large vs. small organizations, sector types)
• Urban vs. rural biases affect perspectives
• Educational biases may stem from privileged educational backgrounds

Play to Your Strengths

• Acknowledging and leveraging personal strengths allows for better performance
• Saying no improves reputation and allows clients to receive optimal assistance from the most appropriate consultants
• Asking probing questions is necessary to assess the client and project needs
• Important to choose projects that offer potential for positive impact and opportunities for learning

Dealing with Own Gender Biases

• Personal biases and socializations shape attitudes and behaviors, affecting actions
• Recognizing and acknowledging personal biases is important
• Striving to recognize and overcome ingrained prejudices is crucial for objective consultation
• Self-awareness and self-assessment methods to address personal biases are encouraged
• Critically examining and learning from both strengths and weaknesses is necessary

Learning Continuously

• Consultants should use experiences to develop competencies
• Reflecting on experiences, especially those that aren't successful, aids growth
• Five key ways to develop habits for continuous learning (by Mee-Yan Cheung-Judge)
  • Enhancing competences and flexibility
  • Developing relationships with peers
  • Actively seeking feedback from clients and colleagues
  • Building knowledge in the field, even when not immediate
  • Taking responsible risks to expand professional reach
• Different approaches to learning, including journaling, blogging, or seeking feedback from peers, can improve learning
• Integrity is crucial; consultant actions should align with beliefs and values

Set Yourself High Standards

• Setting explicit standards for consultancy work helps determine practice alignment with personal beliefs
• Standards should prioritize client responsibility, people-centered approaches, and acknowledging perspectives
• Key standards include client responsibility, client perspective, people-centered approach, relationship & leadership focus, finding safe spaces, integration of spirituality, commitment attention to implementation
• Consultants should check and reflect regularly on progress

Taking Care of Yourself

• Maintaining physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being is integral to effective consulting
• Setting boundaries for time commitment, types of work, client selection, location, and fees provides needed structure
• Prioritizing self-management (e.g., rest, exercise, healthy diet, and mindfulness)
• Addressing family/personal commitments
• Understanding self-care is essential for the long-term sustainability of a consultant

Keep Fit for Consulting

• Maintaining physical, emotional, and mental well-being is essential for consultants
• The importance of self-care
• Proper sleep, diet, exercise, rest, and personal relationships are vital
• Maintaining spiritual connections can provide motivation and a sense of higher purpose

Cultivating Character

• Developing character is essential for trust and objectivity
• Addressing personal imperfections and limitations
• Cultivating spiritual virtues (e.g., humility, compassion, patience) is crucial for effective and ethical consulting
• Seeking support from colleagues, mentors, or loved ones to navigate personal growth is important
• Crucial to actively listen to, and understand, clients, and their organizational contexts

Key Lessons

• Maintaining authenticity, trust, and competency are central to effective consulting
• Continuous learning, self-management, and personal well-being are essential to sustain effective consulting.

Conclusion

• Effective consultation involves catalyzing change rather than simply providing reports
• Engaging clients with hope, understanding circumstances, and addressing emotional issues are central to successful change efforts
• Setting standards, prioritizing clients, understanding diversity, and fostering ownership are core principles for successful outcomes
• The importance of continuous self-development
• Bringing personal best qualities and a commitment to effective change