A consultant is an individual who adapts to perform multiple roles, using their knowledge and skills to influence or deliver beneficial change on behalf of a client. This is a broad definition.  It needs breaking down.

The first component of the sentence is about performing multiple roles. At different times and in different environments, the same consultant needs to perform different roles for the good of their client. Sometimes this is several roles at once. The most successful consultants can adapt their behaviour to what the situation demands at that precise time.

The second component concerns using knowledge and skills.  A consultant’s capability is the combination of skills, abilities, and knowledge that they can bring to their clients. Consultants often have a hard-to-find set of skills built from a history of multiple engagements. This is a very important part of the Consultants Value proposition

The third is about influencing or delivering change. This part of the definition is important because consultants  rarely have the direct power or decision making capability in an engagement instead have to use their influence or leverage certain characteristics to achieve their aims

The final element is on behalf of a client. In consulting, the fundamental interaction is between two parties. The consultant being the first party and the client being the second. A client refers to the recipient of the knowledge and skills provided by a consultant. Simply put, the client is the customer of the consultant, and consultants would not exist without clients.

Within this definition, a consultant is not restricted to having to perform specific or narrow actions, but instead has the right to define their role as they see fit.

Consultancy has an equally broad definition. We can define it as the activity of using knowledge and skills to advise and help, in order to deliver beneficial change to a client.

Both definitions are purposefully wide because they cover an extremely varied set of real-world activities.

In fact, consulting is a hugely broad profession, covering activities from providing an hour’s advice to multi-year and multi-million-dollar engagements, from providing an extra pair of hands to taking responsibility for organisational change, and from working as a single and independent expert to being part of a multi-national management consulting firm. Consultants can play many roles in many ways to achieve the outcome they seek. It is important that you understand this innate variety of consultancy roles. It sets the foundations for your effectiveness as a consultant for the following reasons:

• First, it allows you to recognise what type of consultant you are and, therefore, be able to more accurately describe this to clients. This then allows you to focus on your strengths, to leverage your skills and perform other actions that build on your current competencies. In doing so, you increase your credibility.
• Second, it promotes a mindset of adaptability, the drive to find other ways of doing things. It encourages you to approach problems in different ways than you might otherwise do. It sets you up to try new ways of working.
• Third, it helps you frame an important message to your clients – that consultants come in many valid shapes and sizes. If your clients understand all the ways in which you can help, it may open other opportunities for you, growing your profile and ultimately increasing your success as a consultant.