I was asked today what I thought the 3 most important skills are for a successful consultant… in your view what are they?

What sort of consultant? IT? Medical? Legal? BPO? Risk Management? Brand Management? Etc, etc, etc.

Specifically IS to Business

In my experience, and not neccesarily in this order:
Bullsh*t
Taking credit for other people’s ideas
Making the blindingly obvious seem incredibly complicated
4th would be taking the money and running, 5 minutes before you get found out

5th would be asking other people for opinions then passing them off as your own.
6th would be not paying attention to what others have said on the subject 🙂

Specifically IS to Business

Would 7th be taking something that is clear and simple and dressing it up in business speak?
Or does everyone else know what IS to business is, and I’m the stupid one?

Listen
Be decisive
Don’t be intimidated by their senior staff

I’d say honesty with your clients – always works for me personally.

not just you DS

being able to envision and deliver turnkey consultancy projects against a shifting business paradigm with minimal lead and showcasing class-leading metaphormosis in feedback & communication authorship scenarios ?

No need for skills 2+, surely

Everyone who has ever tried to sound clever by using the word “paradigm” should read this book!

didn’t you like metaphormosis either ? I think I made it up 😯

point out the really obvious basic stuff that the client can say they know they really should have done years ago but never got round to

Expertise
Communication
Commitment

My fee is in the post

“Consultancy skills” isn’t that an oxymoron?

1. Saying the right thing
2. Saying it at the right time
3. Saying it to the right person

The field is irrelevant.

not just you DS

I’ll set them up, and you, Junky, can take the bait.

Definition of a consultant:

1 Borrow your watch and tell you the time
2 Man with a briefcase 50 miles from home

TBH It depends on whether you just want the cash, or you actually want your clients to benefit?

CaptainFlashheart – Member
Everyone who has ever tried to sound clever by using the word “paradigm” should read this book!

Even if you use it in the Kuhnian sense?

Um well the one of the most important things in my job is ‘managing expectations’. Also under promising then over delivering. Kinda works.

1. Doing the work to the highest quality for your client
2. Being efficient and excellent at time management
3. Build a positive relationship with your client

Well if you work for a large consultancy starting with the letter A the big skill is conviencing your client that no then dont just need you but will required another 5 just like you at £1000 a day.

Effective questioning
Re-packaging their answers to present back to them
Most important of all, make sure to bill all of you time

Hold your horses. Typical consultant answer coming up: It depends.

1) Consultant at what level? Managing consultants need to be able to win work before they do anything
2) What are you doing with this ‘IS to business’? Selling it? Developing it? Implementing it? Strategising it?

Consultants need to:
1) Understand the client context
2) Have the credibility, experience and ability to improve how the client works
3) Deliver on what has been agreed.

Someone also once said that if the consultant can see light at the end of the tunnel, they need to build more tunnel – repeat business is king!