Follow up to Fallout

"It's not our fault," my consultant-manager says. That other consulting company has been taking advantage of off-site work time. They're unavailable, they're not getting the work done, and that makes us look good. But client trust remains low, and consultants, in the end, all are painted by the same brush. I'll track and report my work closely this week while I work in my home office.

Long-term consulting poses challenges that are identical to those of permanent staffing. Goals become diffuse and then change, objectives broaden, complexity multiplies, and successes seem incremental. That's just the work. People resist change. If you have an ounce of feeling, when you see the kind of discomfort you're causing and the fight/flight response, you temper the speed of forward movement. Most of us want to lead and recognize it's lonely. But no one wants to turn around to find no one following. That's human, and counterproductive.

To succeed as client partners, to earn our fees, we need to draw clients into commitment, by influence, selling, creative conflict, and by example.