Consultants - Know Your Tools

One of the fun parts of being a consultant is getting to work with so many different colleagues through the years. I’ve been consulting since 1996, and though I work with some consultants who have been at this longer than me, most of them are fairly new to the profession. I’ve been rewarded through the years to mentor some consultants, and that got me thinking about this blog - Tools of the Consulting Trade.

Your first and most important tool: your brain. Intellect, insight, analysis, acumen and experience - all that and more. Clients pay you for the value you can bring, and that value centers around the stuff in your head. Here are some of the high points to consider in making the most of this tool:

• Training: This is foundational, but only 10% of what you will need to know. Still, you can’t really skip it. Go get some real training from SAP, and then find a mentor to guide you through the other 90%.
• Continuous education: Things change all the time; what you knew a year ago is rapidly being outdated and replaced. And unless you want to be outdated and replaced, you have to keep up with the times. Subscribe to industry newsletters - in the SAP HCM space some of the best come from SAP Insider (HR Expert) and the various SAP/ASUG publications. Attend webinars, review the new SAP notes every couple weeks, and learn about your clients. Attend at least one of the big conferences each year - SAPPHIRE NOW/ASUG, SAP Insider's HR conferences, and Mastering SAP HR/Payroll come to mind. As you learn more, you will also be able to spot the dubious quality of some of the webinars and sites being promoted - feed your brain with quality, not quantity.
• Attitude: Be open to new ways of doing things. Each client has its own way of doing business, some better than others - adopt what is valuable. Ask for feedback on your performance and use it to guide your development. Mentors are good for that, but clients are most always the best sources. Probably most important - keep a curious mind. If you have a passion for what you’re doing, your intellectual curiosity will keep driving you to learn more. It’s good to ask ‘why’, and to figure out ‘why’.
• Communication: Learn to communicate in terms your client uses, as long as it’s healthy and effective. Practice active listening by rephrasing what you’ve heard back to the sender to make sure it’s right. Ask clarifying questions to gain agreement on a common understanding. Write clearly, succinctly and professionally - take writing classes if you need to. Learn how to use Powerpoint effectively since most every client uses it. And since everyone depends on email for communicating, make sure you understand the client’s rules for email etiquette.

Your key to future business, whether you are independent or working in a firm, is networking. Building and feeding your network has to be a daily practice. There are a few ways to network - conferences and client projects are good for building strong connections. Social media is a good way to increase your exposure in the industry. Twitter, LinkedIn and the SAP Community Network are the primary social media platforms for the SAP HCM market. Don’t forget email and phone calls for keeping in touch with people in your network - an occasional email or call is welcomed by most contacts who know you.

Consultants are likely to travel most of the year. There will be an occasional home-town project, but always be prepared to make the most of your travel time since half of it will be wasted anyway. Make the most of the other half by having your mobile devices ready to go - smartphones and tablets for example. Get a good smartphone - don’t be cheap with that because it is a great tool. And consider getting a tablet computer since they are more flexible than laptops when waiting and traveling on those small spaces.

Have the right gear - laptop, software, smartphone and tablet devices. If you work for a firm, you pretty much have to use the laptop they give you. But if you work as an independent consultant, get the best laptop you can afford that fits your style (big screen, small screen, Windows/Mac, etc). It will last longer and you will be more productive.

Load your laptop and mobile devices with software that helps you be more productive. I find three applications valuable most every day: Evernote for note taking, Toodledo for task management, and TripIt for travel management. Those packages are available on my laptop, smartphone and tablet devices, which is a great productivity enhancer.

Get a good smartphone, and get the mobile hotspot functionality or service. You will find that there isn’t always a good WiFi or network connection around, or the one that is available has a firewall so dense that nothing useful can get through. In those cases, your mobile hotspot will enable you to get things done on your laptop.

I’ve found the past couple years that my tablet device, an iPad, has transformed my daily routine. Instead of packing five or six magazines in my bag, they are all now digital subscriptions on my tablet. I can read and process my email on it, read books (I use the Kindle application), and keep up to date on my social networks with it. It’s a great way to make the most of your time.

There is a lot more detail to all these tools, but this is a start. Remember - all the tools of the trade can do is make you better at what you already have a passion for. If the passion isn’t there, tools alone aren’t going to make you a good consultant.