What is an Effective Business Consultant?

A Consulting Ad-Hoc Project

June 6, 2014






















MGMT 440A, Spring 2014
Alexander Brechner
Nina Chen


Table of Contents

Executive Summary 1
Introduction 2
Knowledge 3
Generalized Knowledge 3
Specialized Knowledge 4
Skills 4
Communication 4
Analytical Skills 5
Creativity 6
Abilities 6
Process Evaluation and Redesign 6
Holistic and Detailed Perspective 7
Personality 7
Emotional Stability 8
Intellect 9
Integrity 10
Openness and Agreeableness 10
External Factors 12
Personal/Family 12
Environmental Fit/Company Culture 13
Conclusion 13
Annotated Bibliography 15


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Executive Summary

There are business consultants, and then there are effective business consultants. What is the
difference between the two? What does effective even mean? This ad-hoc project explores this
concept within the consulting industry. First, an effective business consultant is defined as
someone who 1) produces the highest quality of work, 2) in the shortest amount of time, 3) while
minimizing unnecessary friction between the consultant and the client. The components of an
effective business consultant includes specific knowledge, skills, abilities, personality, and
external factors that ultimately determines the business consultant as effective.
An effective business consultant possesses both generalized knowledge and specialized
knowledge, of macro-level and industry-specific business trends respectively. He or she must
also communicate effectively with and listen to others, but also become proactive when the
receiving party lacks strong communication skills. When problem-solving, an effective business
consultant analyzes problems using data-driven approaches and thinking, but can also break
away from traditional methodologies to seek new, innovative solutions. The personality traits
include emotional stability, intellect, integrity, and openness and agreeableness, which all speak
to the character and credibility of the consultant and his or her work. Finally, the external factors
of work-life balance and person-environment fit help shape an effective business consultant,
instilling job satisfaction and motivation to carry out his or her work. All these attributes have
been determined as factors that influence business consultants, ultimately turning them into
effective business consultants.

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Introduction

Consulting, according to the Oxford Dictionaries, is defined as the business of giving
expert advice to other professionals, typically in financial and business matters. In other words,
a client hires a consultant to provide expert knowledge in a particular area. Business consulting is
more specific, which refers to professionals who analyze businesses, offer solutions to problems,
and/or develop plans to meet business goals within business contexts. To explain in concrete
terms, a client may hire a consulting firm to provide several recommendations to a business
problem; Boeing may hire Accenture to provide possible solutions in dealing with their aging
labor force.
At its most fundamental, business consulting is a service. A client pays money for an
individual consultant or consulting firm to satisfy the clients needs. This exchange between the
client and consultant(s) is not always equal, however. A project that Microsoft asks McKinsey to
handle may not be as successful as a project that Microsoft asks Lenati to handle. Success of
client-consultant exchanges are contingent on various factors that this paper addresses. In
particular, this report explores the different factors that results in an effective business consultant,
which is assumed will ultimately lead to the success of a consulting project. While success can
be examined using factors that influence a successful project, analyzing the individual will draw
a more interesting conclusion, namely what comprises an effective business consultant; this
information may be useful in determining whether an individual is an appropriate fit as a
business consultant. Therefore, a micro-level approach was considered over a macro-level one.
Before considering these individual level factors, operationalizing the term effective
business consultant is essential. The report will consider such a person as one who 1) produces
the highest quality of work possible in 2) the shortest amount of time possible, while 3)
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minimizing unnecessary friction between client and himself or herself as a consultant. A business
consultant who produces high quality work, but does so without meeting deadlines and fights
with the client frequently is not deemed effective. By the same token, a business consultant who
develops a strong relationship with the client, but produces poor work is not effective as well. It
is crucial that an effective business consultant meets these three criteria, rather than excel at one
or two.
By the end of this report, the purpose is to provide a compilation of research and
individual anecdotes, and draw conclusions about what an effective business consultant is from
them. There is a significant lack of scholarly articles that attempt to do so, which demonstrates
the potential opportunity to fulfill this gap. Consequently, these kinds of reports will help both
consulting and client companies better optimize and capitalize on consulting project
opportunities. This report has determined that the following criteria help determine an effective
business consultant: knowledge, skills, abilities, personality, and external factors.

Knowledge
Generalized Knowledge
Every business must pay attention to macro-level changes in the environment in order to
better position itself for success. Trends, such as globalization and technology, significantly
influences businesses and their operations, and those who recognize and respond to these
changes will much more likely succeed. On an individual-level, the need to be cognizant of the
overall business environment still holds. Consultants must understand that the recommendations
they provide to clients must not only solve the problems of the companies, but also align with
these macro-level changes. Essentially when consultants gather and analyze data to develop
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recommendations, those with more general knowledge of the business environment tend to
provide better recommendations than those with less knowledge.
Specialized Knowledge
An effective consultant not only possesses a strong knowledge base of general business
trends, but also excels at his or her area of expertise. While some argue that the mile deep and
an inch wide consultant may suffer from tunnel vision, offering solutions from only a particular
perspective, a consultant with experience in an area knows what works and what does not in
various business contexts (Banai). The critique also assumes that general and specialized
knowledge are mutually exclusive, when in fact they are not. Rather, a consultant who possesses
both general and specialized knowledge will fair better than a specialist or generalist.

Skills
Communication
According to the Merriam-Webster direction, communication is the act or process of
using words, sounds, signs, or behaviors to express or exchange information or to express [ones]
ideas, thoughts, feelings, etc., to someone else; Included in the concept of communication are
listening skills and nonverbal communication. The quintessential skill to any job, communication
is the single most valuable trait a consultant needs.
Consulting is fundamentally a service, in which the client pays money in exchange for an
act of work. Typically, an act of work is a final product composed of a business analysis,
recommendations, and possibly implementations pre-defined between the client and consultant.
A consulting project starts off with the client and consultant determining the scope of the project,
the expectations between the consultant and client, and the expected final product to be
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delivered. From the general information to the details, the communication that occurs must be
clear and specific. Even throughout the project, a consultant will need to follow up, update,
request information from, etc. a client, so it is essential to maintain effective communication to
ultimately provide the best possible service (Chickillo).
However, effective communication is not easily achievable. Consultants often possess
strong communication skills, an essential component candidates must show in the hiring process,
but communication becomes difficult when the client lacks the skill. Two examples of difficult
communication from the client include slow responses and lack of action. Therefore,
responsibility lies in the consultant to ensure a certain quality of communication. If a consultant
wants to inspire the client to take immediate action, a phone call would be more appropriate than
an email (Tjan). Despite methods and tips consultants can use to maintain a certain quality of
communication with the client, ultimately communication is a two-way street. Proactive attempts
by the consultant, however, will more likely succeed than one who continues to allow for poor
communication.
Analytical Skills
A component of a consultants job is to aggregate, interpret, and apply the data to create
recommendations; this process encompasses not only complex, multi-variable equations, but also
the simple, routine calculations. Therefore, the ability to synthesize both quantitative and
qualitative data will simply produce better results at a faster rate, or in other words, more
effectively (Chickillo). In addition, a consultant who has strong analytical skills tend to have
increased credibility (Banai). Providing a client with data that supports the findings validates the
claims the consultant makes. Overall, stronger analytical skills drive quality, speed, and
credibility of the consultants work.
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Creativity
An abstract and elusive concept to define, creativity is considered in this context as the
ability to step outside the confines of methodologies and formulae to bring in novel ideas from
varying perspectives (Banai). This analytical-creative dichotomy proves a powerful combination
for consultants, for while analysis drives the consulting project, creativity provides innovative
solutions that fall outside the traditional realm. While creative solutions may inherently hold
more risk due to the uncertainty of success, successful implementation satisfies the criteria that
an effective consultant produces high quality work. The creative, novel nature of the solution
will not only solve the clients business problem, but provide a completely new method of fixing
issues in the future. The surprise and satisfaction from clients would only enhance the
relationship between consultant and client.

Abilities
Process Evaluation and Redesign
The overall process of tackling a consulting project remains largely the same across all
consulting companies. According to The McKinsey Mind, McKinsey consultants use a
hypothesis-driven method to solve the issue at hand. The data collected should support the
hypothesis, but if not, McKinsey consultants simply revise the hypothesis and restructure the
project with ease (Rasiel). The ability to maintain flexible and adapt when necessary prove
essential when the project takes an unexpected turn, and the consultants realize their analysis
cannot hold. It is easy to fall under escalation of commitment, an organizational behavior term
referring to continuing to knowingly expend time and resources into a guaranteed failing
proposition, because of the hours of effort poured into the project. However, effective
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consultants recognize what is at stake and recognize the hopelessness in hiding poorly developed
results.
Holistic and Detailed Perspective
Having a holistic and detailed perspective simultaneously can be equated to being able to
see the world both as a forest, and in an instant, drop down into the forest floor to see the
respective trees (Banai). Therefore, an effective business consultant can envision the overall
course of the project, but also grasp the tiniest details, such as the missing comma in a sentence.
The cognitive flexibility to change from a tactical to strategic perspective (and vice versa) with
ease demonstrates the consultants ability to succeed in all respects of the project, as opposed to
relying on different individuals to work on solely the general or detail aspects of the project
(Eisenhardt). Continuity and standardization within the project, from the little things to the large
ideas, is essential in producing a high-quality report and presentation. Even though a synergistic
team, with some individuals focusing on tactical and others on strategic work, can produce a
seemingly streamlined report, the amount of coordination loss still occurs compared to that of a
single consultant who can accomplish it both.

Personality
An effective business consultant will have the intelligence to efficiently execute quality
work for a challenging project, while maintaining a friendly demeanor to deliver the high level of
customer service necessary to succeed in any service industry. This combination of externally
demonstrated traits, charisma and brainpower, is essential to perform as a business consultant.
However, without internal emotional stability and integrity, a business consultant will not be able
to effectively serve his or her clients because the fast-paced business consulting industry will
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eventually reveal these weaknesses. As such, the personality of a business consultant has been
broken down to emotional stability, intellect, integrity, and openness and agreeableness in order
to specifically assess the components of a successful business consultant.
Emotional Stability
Emotional stability is defined by Psychology Dictionary as the consistency and
predictability of emotional reactions (Emotional Stability). Staying emotionally stable as a
business consultant is important when work grows difficult and times are stressful. Additionally,
by holding emotions in check, consultants can hold their clients confidence when times are hard.
Emotional stability can be broken down into self-awareness, self-confidence, and self-control.
By maintaining self-awareness, a business consultant can leverage contextual knowledge
within a situation and understand his place within it. Business consultants frequently enter a
situation with little previous understanding of the environment, so being aware of the
environment and how they fit within it is a key skill for any consultant. Additionally, business
consultants can often appear as heroes hired to come save the day, but by having the self-
awareness to acknowledge both strengths and weaknesses, a consultant becomes a real person
in the eyes of the client (Banai).
Having self-confidence is equally important in the personality of a business consultant.
Self-confidence plays a factor in two different ways. First, a business consultant must have the
self-confidence to trust his abilities when he enters a new situation filled with ambiguity. Despite
a lack of background knowledge in the subject matter, the consultant must stay positive and
believe that he will add value to the client in the project area. In fact, having this confidence in
itself may lead to success, as self-confidence has positive correlations with achievement in
numerous areas, including academics and athletics (Banai). Second, a consultant must have the
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confidence to admit error when wrong. On an unfamiliar project, a consultant may not develop
the perfect solution, and having the confidence to take advice from others can lead to successful
results.
Finally, self-control is vital in any service industry, particularly business consulting. It is
easy to get lost in a project and continue to extend deadlines. Having the self-control to impose
due dates on deliverables is vital to finishing a project effectively. In addition, not every client is
a consultants best friend, so a business consultant must keep personal beliefs and feelings in
check throughout the course of the project despite pushback, objection, or other vexatious
behavior by the client (Banai). At the end of the day, the business consultant is there to serve
the client, and must be able to use self-restraint when pushed on a touchy issue to keep the
clients trust. Self-awareness, self-confidence, and self-control are all central internal
components to the personality of an effective business consultant.
Intellect
There is no denying that intelligence is one of the keys to an effective business
consultant. A consultant without the capacity to find solutions to the challenges posed by a
client, is one not worth hiring. However, a consultant must have a wide breadth of knowledge to
provide assistance across multiple projects. This breadth of knowledge is difficult to develop
without truly enjoying the process of learning. For this reason, effective business consultants are
curious.
Curious people are found to be inquisitive, seek novel situations, and embrace problems
as puzzles that can be solved (Benefits). Do these traits sound familiar to effective traits for
business consultants? An effective consultant truly enjoys being thrown into an unfamiliar
situation and rapidly gaining a general knowledge of the topic, then being challenged with a
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problem. Rather than being frustrated by not having the answers to a new question, a strong
business consultant is excited by the opportunity to learn something new. One more key trait of
curious individuals: more [tolerance] of ambiguity and uncertainty (Benefits). Handling
ambiguity is an invaluable trait of a good consultant because often the problems a client is facing
are far from black and white. Business consultants succeed by having the curiosity to eagerly
dive into ambiguity and having the self-confidence to trust the findings they produce.
By staying curious and loving to learn, business consultants manage the ambiguity of
new situations. They also seek out those new situations, are not afraid to ask questions, and look
forward to overcoming the problems ahead of them. This curious spirit leads to a wide breadth of
knowledge that will serve a business consultant well over the course of his career.
Integrity
In the career of business consulting, an individual is likely to encounter all sorts of clients
with some having higher moral standards than others. As an outsider entering a new role with a
client, it can be challenging to speak up against current actions in the workplace. In fact, when a
consultant speaks up, it can often lead to his dismissal from a project. For example, consultants
in South Africa, such as consulting engineering firm SSI, often face corrupt business practices.
SSI CEO Naren Bhojaram states that reports examining potential corrupt practices are often
disregarded and the tender is awarded amid bribery, (Odendaal) which prevents his firm from
receiving contracts. However, strong business consultants know that this integrity will pay off in
the long run, while those without high moral standards become exposed over time and are not
asked to return to projects. To follow up on the prior example, SSI is now in a position to
decline work they believe might involve corruption (Odendaal).
Openness and Agreeableness
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Finally, an effective business consultant must simply be open to new ideas and easy to
get along with. Clients may ask a business consultant to handle any number of challenges
regardless of the consultants familiarity with the project. While the consultant must have the
personality traits previously mentioned, he must also be able to communicate well with those
involved with the project in order to succeed. In a service industry, being people oriented,
humble, and having a sense of humor are key factors in maintaining the relationships that lead to
happy clients.
Being sociable is key for an effective business consultant. Having a general interest in
getting to know co-workers goes a long way when entering a new project. Quickly establishing
trust and friendship in a new community allows for better teamwork on the project, which leads
to more successful results because co-workers will be inherently more passionate about working
with someone who cares about them. Additionally, by staying social, a strong business
consultant brings a large network with him to any project. These personal connections can be
harnessed in the service of large-scale change to improve a complex project (Stephenson).
Staying humble plays a similar role in benefiting a business consultant. By having not
only confidence, but also humility, a business consultant will treat those working on a project
with him as equals, and will probably receive more helpful advice from these peers due to this
approach. Not only is humility helpful in a group setting, but it can be equally important when
working individually. Research shows that those who believe that they command more
knowledge than they actually do consequently reduce their efforts to search for more knowledge
(Banai). As previously mentioned, a thirst for more knowledge is essential for a business
consultant.
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Lastly, a sense of humor is key in a service industry. Humor helps the consultant to keep
grounded and maintain a personal equilibrium often in the face of trying circumstances that arise
in the course of a project (Banai). In other words, when times are tough, a good sense of humor
can help not only the individual business consultant, but also an entire project team remain
positive and overcome the obstacles that will occur over a long project. Not to mention, a strong
sense of humor helps establish and maintain relationships with clients and co-workers.

External Factors
The world of business consulting as widely known for its demands on the work-life
balance of business consultants. While consulting offers stimulating challenges, opportunities to
meet influential individuals, and financial stability, it also asks much in return. The impact on
personal life should not be disregarded in any paper addressing the components of a successful
business consultant. Additionally, the environment or company culture of each professional
services firm plays a role in the comfort level of business consultants. Successful business
consultants are those who manage the external factors of the job and find work-life balance in the
right firm whose culture matches their personality.
Personal/Family
The toughest challenge many consultants face is not found on the job, but at home. The
nature of their job compels [business consultants] to work for longer hours, a clear indication that
there is less time to prioritize the simple pleasures in life. Often the demands of the office
overtake the demands of family. For example, consultants often end up missing their friends
birthday bash or their weekend getaways with their kids or cousins (Management). A strong
business consultant should not shy away from this issue, but face it head on. Consulting
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companies know that their employees are people too, and will allow for personal time when
necessary. By scheduling in advance, a consultant can do his best to balance the struggle of
splitting time between work and home. Additionally, a consultant should understand the
constraints of the job before getting into the industry, and should make sure his loved ones are
aware of these challenges and are understanding of the limitations on personal time. An effective
business consultant will have a supportive personal life that will enable him to perform at a high
level on the job.
Environmental Fit/Company Culture
Finding the right company culture is essential for any career. Especially in the industry of
business consulting where hours are long, a business consultant must enjoy working for his
company. As Jeff Roberts, a business consultant for a professional services firm put it, Culture
is everything. Find the right match for you with the people, the direction of the firm, and the
level of attention you receive as an individual, and you will be happy (Roberts). Finding a
company culture that is supportive, both by hiring fun employees and by having the internal
benefits to care for them, makes each day on the job a much better experience. Strong business
consultants have found the company culture that is right for them, and enables them to show
their strengths on the job. While the right company culture varies for each employee, a strong
consultant is supported, rather than restricted by his companys culture

Conclusion
This reports first step was to define a business consultant as a professional who provides
a service. This service may be analyzing businesses, offering solutions to problems, and/or
developing plans to meet business goals. The goal of this paper is to identify the criteria that
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makes up an effective business consultant. In terms of results, an effective business consultant 1)
produces the highest quality of work 2) in the shortest amount of time 3) while developing a
strong relationship with the client as a consultant. However, it is easy to list these results, but
much more difficult to identify the components that make up a successful consultant. This paper
strove to demonstrate that five key factors compose a strong business consultant: knowledge,
skills, abilities, personality, and external factors.
An effective business consultant has a wide breadth of general knowledge and depth in a
specialized area. He or she has skill in communication, the ability to analyze a project, and
develop creative solutions. This consultant has the ability to take on a detailed perspective while
keeping the big picture in mind, and can continuously evaluate the project to ensure that it is on
track. This individual must have a personality suited to business consulting, including emotional
stability, intellect, integrity, and openness and agreeableness to new people and situations.
Finally, an effective business consultant has balance in his personal life and fits perfectly into his
companys culture. When these five criteria come together in one individual, an effective
consultant will emerge.


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