My clients are traditional types, working in a traditional industry, and I provide consulting services consistent with their style. However, I feel like I should be working with the latest technologies and procedures. Is that necessary if my clients don't need it?

There are two perspectives to your concern. First, good consultants communicate with and provide services to their clients in the way that is most effective. You work in the environment and in ways that works best for them. Second, your life-long learning, professional development plan should leave you aware of and proficient in (close to) the latest technologies. Your ability to both attract new clients and better serve current clients can depend on taking advantage of every diagnostic, communication and analysis technology available.

Tip: Our clients expect us to advise them of new, if not best, practices that could benefit their organizations. Talk to your consulting colleagues, especially those not in traditional industries, to learn of new approaches to doing research, compiling data, assessing operations, mapping processes, communicating, etc. This is not to suggest that you need to be vigorously engaged in multiple social media applications. You don't have to use every new technology, just be aware of them.

© 2011 Institute of Management Consultants USA

Some people want the consulting-client relationship to be all business and others are not so strict. When is it appropriate to get to know a client personally instead of just professionally?

Professionalism does not dictate that you necessarily be "all business, all the time." Also, consider that "personal" and "business" do not constitute the end points of a relationship continuum. These are two of many aspects of a relationship that range from deep to shallow. The extent to which you engage your client personally depends on interpersonal chemistry and any concerns about actual or perceived conflicts of interest. The extent to which you engage your client on business aspects depends on the nature of the engagement.

One thing that every consultant should understand is that everyone likes to be acknowledged and respected. It is painful to watch some consultants ignore junior staff during project meetings, or to talk about people in the third person in their presence. Some may do this because they don't want to get too personal with client staff, presuming that their relationship with the client is only with the executive. Others may behave this way because they really don't have respect for those outside the line of sight between consulting engagement manager and client sponsor. I hear this mostly from clients talking about larger consulting firms, where it is more likely that roles of marketing, selling, service and quality assurance are separated. But it is not firm size, per se, that creates this problem for clients, but the lack of seeing the whole client and staff through the whole relationship.

Tip: Regardless of consulting firm size or separation of roles, it is incumbent on the consultant to be sure that they really "see" the client across both business and personal areas. At a minimum, if you don't really get to know the personal issues of the staff and all stakeholders across whose paths your engagement takes you, are you really fulfilling your ethical and professional obligation to give full understanding, independence and objectivity to your diagnosis, findings and recommendations?

© 2011 Institute of Management Consultants USA