Kindle Edition Download to your Nook (eBook) Amazon Barnes & Noble.com Consulting 101 Consulting 101 Consulting blog Category:  Business/Investing Publisher: Lew Sauder ISBN-10:  0983026645 Type: Non-Fiction Pages: 224 Copyright: 3/15/2014 ISBN-13: 9780983026648 Price: $0.99 (eBook) Learn the fundamentals for a successful career in Consulting. Follow these 101 tips to become an expert consultant.  Consulting 101 is an instructional and easy to read book providing 101 tips for success in consulting. Using case studies in many of the tips, Lew Sauder provides the reader with real world situations that he has experienced and observed over his more than 25 year career. Consulting 101 provides advice on: -How to develop strong relationships with clients  -How to develop a sales focus early in your consulting career -How to become a better communicator -How to develop your personal brand to advance your career faster -And much more Excerpt Tip #12: Beware of Silent Saboteurs Case Study Holly sat in the conference room with two of her fellow consultants. It was ten minutes past the meeting’s scheduled start time and Sam was a no-show once again. “This is the third time he’s blown us off,” she said in exasperation. “I wonder what the deal is.” She adjourned the nonexistent meeting and walked over to Sam’s office. He was at his desk talking to one of his developers. “Hey, I’m sorry,” he said. “We had an emergency production issue come up. Can we reschedule?” “I’ll see if I can reschedule sometime,” Holly said without commitment. That afternoon Alex, the partner from her firm, stopped by at the client and she sat down with him to discuss Sam. Alex’s interest piqued when he heard about Sam’s behavior. “In the meetings he does show up for, has he shown any form of disruptiveness?” he asked. “Now that you mention it, he asks a lot of questions. He kind of shoots ideas down but in a subtle kind of way,” she responded. “That’s interesting,” said Alex. “He may be quietly sabotaging the project. Has he handed in any deliverables late?” “I’ve only asked him to provide two deliverables. They were both late and one had to be completely redone. Do you think he’s doing this on purpose to damage the project?” “We can’t make that accusation,” said Alex. “He’s very busy so everything we have on him could be explained by the fact that he’s spread so thin. But, whether he’s doing it on purpose or because he’s so over-allocated, the fact remains that it’s an issue because it’s bringing the project down.” “But this project is supposed to increase the productivity for his area. Why would he be intentionally disruptive?” wondered Holly. There are many situations where a client employee will wreak havoc on a project. Sometimes, that person is so busy they are unable to attend meetings and provide information on a timely basis. Other times, they may be clandestinely working to derail the project. This can happen for several reasons: Fear of job loss. Consultants generally help client organizations become more efficient. This often translates to staff layoffs. If a software system can be installed that allows the client to do the same work with fewer employees, why wouldn’t they eliminate jobs once the software is implemented? The employees may create disruptions in the project to reduce the chance of layoffs. Resistance to change. Even if the client employees don’t fear losing their jobs, they may fear that the completion of the project will cause an unwelcome disruption in their daily routines. Perhaps they fear being moved to a different location working with different people. Fear of the unknown can drive people to resist, causing major disruptions in a project. General disdain for consultants. Client employees often dislike consultants. Perhaps they see them as outsiders who don’t know the business as well as a full-time employee does. Perhaps a consultant from a previous job caused the employee to lose his job. Maybe it’s just fun for them to disprove the experts. For whatever the reason, they may adapt a passive-aggressive approach in which they act friendly and cooperative on the surface, but work behind the scenes to bring the project--and as a result, the consultants--down. The arsonist and the fireman syndrome. Some employees simply like to be the hero. When a big project is being executed that has executive attention, some workers will cause small disruptions, which culminate in major delays. They respond by swooping in to save the project, resulting in kudos by the executives. No one realizes that they actually set the fires that they heroically fought.

Avoid sooner than later those obstacles that you will step in as a consultant
This book presents scenarios and lessons that are expensive to learn as a consultant or professional services provider, therefore, I would like to recommend for those professionals and colleagues who, throughout his career, are committed to provide the highest possible value to its customers. If you're a newly graduated, you can take the meaningful case studies exposed here to avoid sooner than later some of the obstacles that consultants and professionals face.