Aug 2024

What "emergence" feels like in consulting

One of the most interesting and common critiques I've heard about consulting in any domain is that consultants have never been operators- and they get paid for only "suggestions".

While I don't have the quantitative distribution of consultants who fit the description, I completely understand why such a perception would exist.

What does "fire-fighting" mean for a consultant?

What is the consultant version of "code phat gaya"?

Why would one get paid for not really "doing" anything?

I've been on both ends of this question- from working within a fast-growing Mental Health startup grappling and experimenting with different concepts for brand building, systems setup, strategy, and product development, to now being a consultant myself.

One of the best explanations I found was in the Mahāsubhāṣitasaṅgraha-

अनारम्भस्तु कार्याणां प्रथमं बुद्धिलक्षणम्।

आरब्धस्यान्तगमनं द्वितीयं बुद्धिलक्षणम्॥

( Not starting tasks is the first characteristic of intelligence. Once started, bringing tasks to completion is the second characteristic of intelligence. )

Success, most of the time, lies in the right balance between action and inaction. Inaction does not mean inactivity, It means taking a step back and observing the state of things from an outside-in perspective.

KPIs do not help here, they're measurement tools constructed within a system. A system that seemingly already is failing. Additionally, we develop our base of biases which help us function efficiently within that system, but might not necessarily help diagnose a problem.

And that's precisely where, or why, consulting comes in.

It is a set of people with their own systems running a sanity check on yours. Ideally, that is how it is supposed to be. You need the "inaction" that brings perspective, contrast and in-depth understanding for the action phase to know how to act.

Here are a couple of fundamentals when it comes to strategy and research consulting-

1. The problem statement you receive is not often the real problem, it is one articulation of it. One needs to be a good diagnostician before they become a good consultant / Problem solver.

If the solution is "obvious" then you might be looking in the wrong direction. Your client has already tried that solution 10 times, they're smart folks, and that's why they've come to you. Avoid band-aids.

However, always be aware your client works with a set of constraints and your solutions must be within the scope allowed by the constraints.

Which is, as a diagnoser, analyser, and interventionist, always have empathy for the final actor.

2. The diagnostic metrics should not run with the same metrics as your client, KPIs are frameworks. Similar frameworks will provide similar perspectives and solutions.

The job is to widen the vision and lenses, not fall into another tunnel.

Let solutions emerge, don't start with one. That's exactly what you're trying to counter.