Consultants whose service is to help other companies grow, improve or transform, could give the impression to their clients that they know all that is needed to be known. But of course, the reality could not be further from that impression.
A tremendous perk of being a consultant is the wide variety of engagements one can be involved with. There is a variety of business sectors, organization make-up, corporate maturity levels and a great variety of problems to solve. This can only lead to absorbing new experiences, new challenges and new solutions; all of which can be compounded and merged into the value provided to the next customer.
But oftentimes, the experience needed to solve a challenge are as unique to the consultant as they are to the client and this is where advisors drawing upon their source of advice comes into play.
We see it all the time in the market place; some leaders are simply not open to taking outside advice, some are willing to listen but don’t act on advice and some are both willing to listen and willing to act. The same can be said for consultants. If you want to engage a valuable consultant, ask them who they turn to for advice.
At Stratford, we have built a strong team of over 50 experienced practitioners. A key characteristic that we look for when accepting new recruits is their willingness to receive advice from others. We have over 1,000 years of senior level experience at Stratford and our goal is to make sure that when one of our consultants is serving a client, in one way or another the client receives access to the entire experience.
When the advisors are taking advice, it is a material value add for the client – in fact it’s probably how they became advisors in the first place!