Expert and Process Consultants
In your professional capacity you will need to develop a range of skills and specialist knowledge that allows you to share this expertise effectively and efficiently. Broadly speaking, your career will take you down one of two core capability paths: Expert Consultancy or Process Consultancy.
Expert Consultancy
Consultants are experts and must be perceived as such. As an expert in your field, you trade on your expertise achieved through gathering more and more experience performing similar activities across multiple engagements. This allows you to generate consultant-led solutions, taking the client along with you to an outcome that delivers value and a return on investment for your time.
Your expertise is a function of five elements:
- Your capability is what you have the skills to do, including your areas of expertise and domains of knowledge. Your capability is a factor of your own actions, now and in the past.
- Your credentials are your suitability to take on a particular task, as demonstrated by previous experience and achievements. Your credentials are a factor of your capability, plus the proof of that capability. Your credentials are your track record.
- Your capacity is the ability to produce what is needed at the time it is needed. This is usually a factor of your bandwidth and the availability of any other tools or support you need.
- Your qualifications are your formal records of training you have completed, examinations you have passed, and accreditations you have received. They are certifications by external bodies attesting that you have achieved a certain level of competence and expertise in a subject area.
- Your reputation is the external perception of your ability to provide a quality service based on all the previous factors but, in particular, your credentials.
Process Consultancy
Consultants have another core capability and potential career path. As a process consultant, rather than delivery of expertise, you use a range of process and facilitation techniques to extract data and knowledge from a client, leading them towards their own options and solution. These client-led solutions contrast with the consultant-led solutions of expert consultancy.
| The Three Key Skills of a Process Consultant | |
| Skill | Description |
| Problem Solving | In this role you define and manage a problem-solving process. Your aim is to give clients a structure to achieve their own solutions and objectives. This type of consultancy can lead to very high buy-in situations as well as greater effectiveness because of the greater input from individuals who know their business well. |
| Collaboration | Because process consulting involves a great deal of collaboration, you need to develop a range of skills to support this activity, such as facilitation, coaching, and conflict resolution. Your negotiation and communication skills will need to be strong, as will your emotional intelligence. |
| Organisational | The final category of skills you need are organisational. This means developing an understanding of group dynamics, leadership and management styles, and organisational behaviour as well as the techniques and tools to implement appropriate strategies. |
Process consulting can be the method used for an entire engagement, or it can be one technique used by expert consultants. The appropriateness of this depend on client culture, client expectations, and the amount of time available to deliver value.