Consulting is the practice of helping organizations to improve their performance, primarily through the analysis of existing organizational problems and development of plans for improvement. Organizations may draw upon the services of consultants for a number of reasons, including gaining external and objective advice and access to the consultants’ specialized expertise.
There are many, including us, who are very skeptical about anyone who calls themselves a ‘consultant’. Most live up (or down) to the definition of consultant found on a popular website offering explanations for business concepts and terminology.
Experienced professional who provides expert knowledge (often packaged under a catchy name) for a fee. He or she works in an advisory capacity only and is usually not accountable for the outcome of a consulting exercise.”
All organizations are experiencing an increasing pressure to deliver services in an efficient and accurate way. This pressure isn’t going away. Only by optimizing the use of human assets, intentional decision-making, lean business infrastructure and economic resources in the best possible way, are we able to excel, perform and deliver outstanding solutions to our clients and customers. Strong decision-making toward that end requires solid knowledge and the right kind of action-oriented advice.
But, this is where most consultants stop and leave. This is the very time the client-organization is the most vulnerable. They have been told the things being done wrong and are open, most times, to learn how to make the changes needed and move forward. Many times the presence of the consultant creates hopes and enthusiasm in the employees who believe things are finally going to be different. If not helped, we have seen many companies at this stage worse off than if the consultant had never started.
You will notice, however, Intentional Consulting is only the second step in our five-stage company-relationship model. We do provide independent, effective, methodology-based consultancy which forms the basis for long-term, strategic decisions and then move into the training and coaching phase to develop and hone skills and abilities to transform strategies into concrete, intentional, measurable, long-term behaviors and habits.
