5 effective habits of a successful consultant

1. Time Management: Often overstated and under practiced. Many a times, consultants are so busy designing and evaluating structures & processes for a client that they forget to design a structure around their own work schedule. Working for a longer duration than your peers does not you more effective.Most successful consultants will tell you that time management can be summed into three simple tasks “organizing , prioritizing and succeeding”

2. Leadership: John Quincy Adams, 6th American US president (1825-29), once said “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader”.. I could not agree more. Most consultants get lured into thinking short term on engagements. Most successful consultants, however, work with the management to define a long term strategy to resolve an old problem. True leaders believe in their solution, for successful consultants, solving the problem is more important than merely meeting the defined scope of work.

3. Teaming: If you take a survey of 100 random consultants from different organizations and ask them if they think they are a good team player, I would not be surprised if all of the 100 respondents think that they are good team players, however, if you ask these 100 respondents whether their team members are good team players, the response, would definitely not be as simplified as above. Successful consultants value each team player; these consultants think “Team” when thinking “Me” seems more lucrative.

4. Reputation Management: Successful consultants thrive on reputation. A good reputation opens many doors to a successful career. Nothing undermines the credibility of a successful consultant as quickly as saying one thing while doing another. As a rule of thumb, if you are honest to your peers, your seniors and your client, then you don’t have to worry about your reputation.

5. Network: This one is no secret, Networking has its advantages. Networking helps you get the right engagements, get essential pointers and business leads. Effective networking skills become even more essential as one climbs the corporate ladder. As a consultant shifts from an execution role to a managerial role, a lot of emphasis is paid on getting the business. More people you know better are your chances of generating business leads.

Source: http://consultingnetwork.co.in/five-effective-habits-of-a-successful-consultant/1134/