A great consultant has to act as a chameleon when working with clients. It is critical that a consultant who is an outsider to a company observe and embrace the corporate culture of his or her client. What is the pace of that client? It is very important to mirror the pace while continuing to move your agenda forward. Smile, use humor connect with key critical players of that organization. A consultant must have an extensive toolbox so they can use different methodologies to solve a problem. There once was a new CIO at a 5 billion dollar company (who was very smart), he lost his job in 2 years because he did not connect to his staff. He was on his own island. It takes a team to solve technical issues. It didn’t matter how smart he was he had lost the loyalty of his staff. Many times consultants lose their way because of their ego and their lack of people skills. When you have solid people skills it will make your job and your life much smoother. Remember the CIO or consultant who has made bridges will instill loyalty among the client and their staff. If they have done a lot of positive bridge making, the staff will really put out for you.
A consultant’s tenure at a client can be very short unless they start making friends and alliances. Day one, should be a scouting trip to access people, the organization and where they can make a difference. There has been many a white paper from IBM Global Services and Accenture that never made it into production because that consulting firm never built the proper bridges and listened to the client.