The Challenges of Management Consulting

There are times when professional expectations about a project can be offset from the beginning. It is essential to pursue the project’s objective and goals, while withholding the client’s expectations and needs first.

Working as a consultant for the past eight years has given me perspective into the role, personally and professionally. You are allowed to have your objectives, but you have to know that providing services to third parties has the upside –or downside–, of having to put the client’s interests first, even before your own, to provide a good service. This is a critical item that one must always bear in mind when entering or working in consulting. This is the reason why, despite my excitement for the project that I am about to undertake, it did not come as a surprise that the client did not show much availability or visible enthusiasm toward the project during our first interactions.

The beginning of every project sets out the relationship with the client and brings to sight what and how the client management process will look. The fact that a client has set clear expectations already of what they want you to achieve is not necessarily a bad thing, but the attitude with which you take this information might be. It is essential that you realize that, while, of course, you are putting time into a project –especially in pro bono projects– and that you are looking forward to learning and bringing your insights and expertise to the table, you have always to consider what the client wants first, and how you are going to meet those expectations and needs while at the same time, grow as a professional and acquire skills. In this sense, you have to be very tactful when approaching the client and show them that you have their best interest at heart and that the consulting team will keep constant proactivity in finding ways to add value for them. And this has to happen in every interaction, even when they do not seem to mind about proactivity.

Another essential piece of consulting is team management. It is vital to get to know whom you are working with, professionally and personally, in order to create a good working environment and to understand and align every team members’ expectations. This is extremely important before approaching the client, but overall, at every stage of the project. Something that could be challenging is the lack of hierarchy within the team –which is not common outside of grad school– and it is essential to remind yourself that everyone’s say in the project has the same weight. This, of course, is not necessarily negative; to the contrary, I have found this type of team exercise very insightful and instructive. One learns how to communicate better, and to listen more profoundly to what others have to say.

New learnings or old, both client and team management have been a key part of this process. I am very grateful for the experience, and particularly for working alongside my team, which I have found to be easygoing, a skill that I very much appreciate in the challenging environment in which consultants work.