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consultant softskill?

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11 replies

by sun100mon

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is there any documentation or any books on consultant softskills?

thanks

andrew

11 replies

by mark l

None I know of.

A few areas you might wish to focus on are;

Who is your Customer? What do they 'claim' to need?

Who is your Customrt? What are they asking for?

Who is your Cusomer? What do they 'really' need?

Answer the 3 Q's above, and carry on. Do you have a source of consultants to fit the need? Go for it!

Enjoy :)
mlv//Mark LeVeck mailto:mark460@trdesk.com (618.593.7439)

by hansw

Andrew,
I am currently reading 'The IT Consultant' by Rick Freedman. This book assumes you have the necessary techskills and therefore focuses on the softskills.
I am finding it worthwhile.

by askjaer

Hi there
If you really would like to improve your consultants soft skills in the areas of listening, selling and looking to match a customers needs try looking at the book and concept of: Lets Get reals and lets not play/Helping clients succed - written by Mahan Khalsa.
His method is fantastic and any work done around it really improves consultants softskills.
Regards
Michael

by rick freedman

Hi, I'm Rick Freedman, the author of "The IT Consultant" and a columnist on this site. Thanks to Hans for recommending my book in this Q&A. Other books that are worthwhile for consulting soft skill building are "Flawless Consulting" by Peter Block,"The Consultant's Calling" by Bellman, and "The Value-Creating Consultant" by Carucci. All consultants should also read "True Professionalism" by David Maister, not really focused on soft skills but an important pillar of integrity and professionalstandards for professional advisors. Feel free to drop me a personal note for more info.

by Member 26435788

The other answers focus on what I'd call 'client side' softskills.

I'd add "The Secrets of Consulting- Guide to Giving and Getting Advice Successfully" by Jerry Weinberg as a must read.

If you're an independent consultant you certainly need tolook at skills not generally thought of when looking just at the client side. Some of the answers are applicable to the non-independent as well.

You could look at any of Janet Ruhl;s books. www.realrates.com is her web site and she has information there.

While somewhat more generic, the classic book is Herman Holtz' "How to succeeed as an Independent Computer Consultant" is very valuable.

NBC

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