The Consultant’s Playbook Chapter 3 – Advise. In this Chapter there is a three-step consulting process which takes up after the initial Contracting step.

You derive “true need” through analysis activities, then design potential solutions, and validate these with the client. This is known as the consulting lifecycle – the activities and steps that consultants perform every time they engage with a client. This process is described within the book completely and comprehensively but also note – It is flexible – not every step is performed every time.

The three elements of Advise, are Analyse, Design and Validate.

In the Analyse step you begin with the need, requirement, or problem you received from the client, and which was explored in the Sales step of the Acquire stage. This requirement can be well defined, clear, and complete. It may also be poorly defined, unclear, or incomplete. Once you have the requirement, you will need to make further queries to define what it is that the client wishes to achieve and, therefore, what the “true need” is. Three activities are described and will help you do this:

• You connect with other parties who can provide additional information and help you clarify by performing further interviews, reviewing documents, and collecting data.
• You challenge the client on the stated need, the status quo and any collusive requests they may have.
• You categorise your findings for feeding into subsequent steps, present your findings and contract for further engagement.

Next is the Design step. When you have captured sufficient information and built up enough knowledge of the situation, a likely range of solutions will present themselves. Options should be determined to ensure that the client and not you, the consultant, decides what is best for their circumstances. This means you begin the process of creating solutions to match the need. The Design step is organised in to the following five parts:

• Creating a long list (a larger number of options that you later pare back into a shortlist)
• Matching options to your services to create solutions (the specific and tailored matching of a service with a need)
• Crafting a joint solution (involving the client to really help drive towards the aim)
• Creating the shortlist (so as to not overwhelm the client)
• Checking that the options are valid (adding further detail if necessary and checking each option to be presented is valid)

The final step is Validate. At this third step you go through the process of outlining the options to the client, the pros and cons of each, and then make a recommendation. In some cases, a recommendation becomes a proposal and then a contract. This is an iterative process of documenting solutions, presenting, and amending, which continues until the recommendation is accepted or you agree to go no further with the client. The Validate step comprises the following activities:

• Preparing to present (considering how to present, who you are presenting to, the format and if there are more than one of you, who will present)
• Creating your presentation (creating the structure, creating the draft presentation and rehearsing the presentation)
• Delivering the presentation (keep in mind your stance and voice, know when to stop and how to read the room)
• Reworking (using any feedback or your own judgement)
• Contracting (you may be asked to deliver future work, so the contracting step from Chapter two could be useful to revisit)