March 2005
Question
Could you please recommend a good resource book on performance consulting?
Answer
Three come to mind. Have you read Judith Hale’s The Performance Consultant’s Fieldbook? It is published by Pfeiffer, a training and consulting publisher owned by Wiley. Find this and other consulting books on their website at http://www.pfeiffer.com/.
Two others are Performance Consulting: Moving Beyond Training by Dana and Jim Robinson and published by Berrett-Koehler (http://www.bkconnection.com/Default.asp?), and a classic that most consultants should read, Improving Performance: How to Manage the White Space on the Organization Chart by Garry Rummler and A.P. Brache published by Jossey-Bass (http://www.josseybass.com/WileyCDA).
Question
Looking for a consultant that reviews current OJT programs and adds value, structure and efficiencies.
Answer
When anyone is looking for a consultant, the best way to find one is through your network. Email and call colleagues that you know. A first-hand word-of-mouth recommendation beats any four-color slick brochure or ad.
A second way to find a consultant is to check out the Independent Consultant Association’s (ICA) website’s (http://www.imcusa.org/) directory. The ICA Directory is intended for anyone searching for consultants, trainers, speakers, writers, coaches by area of specialization. You enter the specialty, e.g. marketing, management, manufacturing, aerospace engineering, and it will identify individuals and organizations listed by area code.
By the way, if you are a consultant, you should consider listing yourself in the directory. It is free.
Question
What advice can you offer in locating and selecting subcontractors to help with large projects?
Answer
I am guessing that you are a small consulting firm or perhaps even a solo practitioner. If that is not true, please provide more details about your situation. I hate to sound like a broken record, but network, network, network. Here are a few places to look. Your colleagues may know of someone, or have time available to support you. Individuals who work for your clients may have vacation time available or want to work weekends on design or data analysis. Local colleges may have students looking for an internship or professors who want some real life experience. In each of these cases, if you ask someone and they cannot help you, ask if they know anyone else who can. This way you are also expanding your network. You may wish to prevent the problem by partnering with another consultant during the proposal stage if you believe the project is too overwhelming for you. Everyone benefits. You land the project. You and your partner learn from each other. And the client reaps the benefit of having two consultants.
Question
I’m apprehensive about expanding my consulting practice but demand is high and I can’t do it all. Is there such a thing as slow expansion in the world of consulting?
Answer
You are wise to think about how you can expand slowly. If you are an individual practitioner, you change the complexity of your business as soon as you hire your first employee. You no longer have choices about where, when, and how much you will work. You now have responsibility to another human being. Before you take that big step, consider growing without employees. How can you continue to meet the higher demand? First, consider using your local temporary services to help with the support work: invoicing, copying, paying bills, researching, filing. Second, you could use subcontractors. The question just prior to this one addresses where to locate subcontractors. Third, consider collaborating with another consultant on some of the work. Fourth, consider raising your rates and decreasing the amount of work you accept. You may be able to work less and earn more.
