Enjoy the S.I.P.s

A similar event occurs in consultant - client relationships. Experienced consultants know such inflection points exist, they anticipate them and deal with them successfully.

First, the background. Many participants in our workshops have said one of their biggest fears is that the client will “ask them to leave.” And in the other extreme, one of the sources of great pride among I.T. consultants is “we replaced such and such consulting firm.”

I believe all this about clients changing their consulting partner in the middle of a project is a ruse. My first reaction was to help explain why that happens, how to avoid being replaced, etc. The more I tried, the more difficult it was to rationalize the problem and the solution.

Because it’s an artificial problem. It is not common. What is more common by far is that the client’s enthusiasm for your presence diminishes, causing them to change their behavior towards you. That is what calls for good perception and strategy. This “strategic inflection point” (S.I.P) happens in so many projects. In my 20 years of consulting, I have not seen one project where that does not happen.

Clients go through a range of moods through the lifetime of a project: When they’ve signed the contract, they’re happy that the decision making part is over and look forward to the project. During and immediately after kickoff, they’re even happier and more excited because (a) they can see that their actions have “put something in motion”, (b) the consultants are at their best behavior and most importantly (c) they are subconsciously looking for validation that they made the right decision.

As the project progresses, certain things happen, the exact schedule of which is necessarily inexact, but which can be identified in an approximate fashion. Good and bad things happen, the clients “happiness index” goes up and down in relatively small terms. (see “A” in fig.1)

Fig.1

When the bad starts winning over the good or when the client starts having “second thoughts” about the progress being made, they inevitably ask themselves the question: “Have we made the right decision by hiring these people?” Their built-in need to validate their decision keeps then from making any drastic changes.

Here’s where it gets interesting: Invariably, they reach a point where the gap between their expectations and (their perception of) reality becomes so great that the question in their minds turns into: “Shall we get rid of them or keep them?”

Since they have invested so much in the portion of the project up to that point (financially, politically and psychologically), the most common answer is “We’ll keep them but we will make sure they perform.”

That’s the end of the honeymoon. It is THE strategic inflection point. It’s the point where the “happiness index” falls dramatically in a very short time. It’s as if you have a brand new set of people acting as clients. It’s as if Dr. Jekyll turned into Mr. Hyde. Day turned into night. The blue screen of death. Well, add your own analogies.

And that’s when inexperienced consultants are thrown for a loop. They panic. The client starts asking more questions and more explanations. Consultants become defensive. Clients schedule more frequent status meetings. They no longer accept minor slips. Consultants resent the extra pressure from the clients. They feel they are micro-managed. They start cursing themselves for being in that project.

Relax.

Here’s my advice to people who find themselves in such a situation:

• Join the club. It’s not you and it’s not just your project. It's universal.
  
• The S.I.P. is sudden, sometimes overnight.
  
• It is unannounced. They won't tell you. You have to know it’s happened.
  
• It happens at two possible points in time: One is about a quarter to a third of the way into the project. This is the “point of no return” where they have sufficient experience in working with you but cannot throw away their investment by “changing horses.”
  Another candidate is the day after your first invoice is submitted and approved. And probably before the check is signed.

Experienced consultants break a smile at the sign of the S.I.P. It’s an expected phenomenon and they know how to push the happiness index back up.

It takes more work and patience. Eventually, the index goes up a notch or two, comes down one, goes up again, etc. in marginal terms until it reaches a neutral stage. (see “B” in fig.1) It goes up when consultants "get the message" and start acting more in line with the client's expectations. It goes down when a new invoice is delivered or when a new person joins the consulting team. It goes up when the client sees that their actions have produced results and accepts the fact that they will have to meet the consultants midway.  But overall, it ends up at or above neutral.

Believe in yourself. Understand the “unexpected.” After all, it is not really unexpected. And panickers don’t last long.

Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2001 Brazos Consulting . You may reprint or distribute this document as long as it has not been modified and proper credit is given to Brazos Consulting and The Consulting Academy. Web links are permitted only in a "new window".

Also:

Are you an engineer?

Why are clients the way they are?

Managing Expectations

They never said they needed that

"Is that your final answer? Consulting and the Millionaire show"

Surprıses are for Valentıne's Day