Collaborating with Other Consultants

Many boutique consulting firms bring in high-profile Partners from larger, well-known firms, anticipating a swift boost in business. However, these hires often face unexpected challenges in transferring revenue from their previous roles. Partners coming from large consultancies are used to a very different environment. They often lack the skill set needed to thrive in a smaller firm, where success depends more on proactive business generation than on relying on the firm’s established infrastructure and inbound client requests. Adjusting to a firm with less brand recognition requires them to sell more actively, often to clients who may view a lesser-known brand as a greater risk. Moreover, restrictive non-compete clauses and client ownership structures can prevent them from bringing clients over immediately, even when strong relationships exist. A thorough, strategic hiring process can mitigate these risks. Beyond assessing the Partner’s credentials and track record, it’s crucial to understand how they’ll adapt to a smaller firm and realistically gauge how much of their previous client work they can actually transfer. A rigorous evaluation process helps uncover potential obstacles early, ensuring that both the firm and the new Partner are realistic about what can actually be delivered. What’s more, success in these hires often requires a long-term strategy. Rather than expecting instant results, support the new Partner in leveraging their industry expertise and reputation to reengage existing clients in fresh ways and open up new opportunities that align with the firm’s strengths. Without a careful hiring process and managed expectations, these moves often fall short of their potential. But with the right foundation, a new Partner can be a powerful asset, driving value beyond the immediate revenue transfer.

Conflict gets a bad rap in the workplace. Early in my career, I believed conflict had no place in a healthy workplace. As I progressed, I realized that it was quite the contrary. The lack of conflict isn't a sign of a healthy work culture, rather it is an indication that important debates, discussions and differing viewpoints are being disregarded or suppressed. This insight revealed another key aspect: high-performing teams do not shy away from conflict. They embrace it, leveraging diverse opinions to drive optimal outcomes for customers. What sets these teams apart is their ability to handle conflict constructively. So how can this be achieved? I reached out to my friend Andrea Stone, Leadership Coach and Founder of Stone Leadership, for some tips on effectively managing conflict in the workplace. Here's the valuable guidance she provided: 1. Pause: Take a moment to assess your feelings in the heat of the moment. Be curious about your emotions, resist immediate reactions, and take the time to understand the why behind your feelings. 2. Seek the Other Perspective: Engage genuinely, listen intently, show real interest, and ask pertinent questions. Remember to leave your preconceived judgments at the door. 3. Acknowledge Their Perspective: Express your understanding of their viewpoint. If their arguments have altered your perspective, don't hesitate to share this with them. 4. Express Your Viewpoint: If your opinion remains unswayed, seek permission to explain your perspective and experiences. Remember to speak from your viewpoint using "I" statements. 5. Discuss the Bigger Objective: Identify common grounds and goals. Understand that each person might have a different, bigger picture in mind. This process can be taxing, so prepare beforehand. In prolonged conflict situations, don't hesitate to suggest breaks to refresh and refuel mentally, physically, and emotionally. 6. Know Your Limits: If the issue is of significant importance to you, be aware of your boundaries. For those familiar with negotiation tactics, know your BATNA (Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement). 7. Finalize Agreements: Once an agreement has been reached, continue the engagement to agree on responsibilities and timeframes. This ensures clarity on the outcome and commitments made. PS: Approach such situations with curiosity and assume others are trying to do the right thing. 🔁 Useful? I would appreciate a repost. Image Credit: Hari Haralambiev ----- Follow me, tap the (🔔) Omar Halabieh for daily Leadership and Career posts.

One of my favorite things is having conversations with partner leaders and understanding how they're approaching their partnership strategies. I caught up the other week with Aleksi Mattlar at Pigment and I appreciated the "brutal honesty" approach that he takes with partners. He emphasized the importance of being upfront with partners about expectations, benefits, and required commitments, and explained that he clearly communicates the expectations from the outset and at every stage of the partnership process. If partners do not meet these expectations, he does not advance the partnership. He also described his approach to managing partners who are not providing adequate returns. He mentioned telling partners that they need to invest where they are also getting returns, indicating that he would communicate directly if the partnership was not beneficial. If there isn't immediate alignment, there isn't further investment in the partnership. And his partners are required to stay aligned to continue to get the benefits from Pigment. When it comes to the all-important executive alignment, Aleksi expressed his belief in under-promising and over-delivering He finds more alignment when he ensures that there is always “wiggle room” by not promising too much too quickly. This conservative and realistic approach to managing leadership expectations and partnership outcomes was a part of his brutally honest approach. Clear expectations, and open communication are critical to successful partner strategy. Aleksi is nailing it.

You're apologizing for things you shouldn't. 12 moments for boundaries (not guilt) 👇🏼 I used to say "sorry" for needing focused time "Sorry" for enforcing a deadline Even "sorry" for being right Now I say something else. And honor my boundaries without apologizing for them ✨ Here's how to set boundaries without guilt: 1. When you need focused work time ↳ Replace "Sorry I can't meet" with "I'm blocking focused time until 2pm for priority work" 2. When you're taking approved time off ↳ Replace "Sorry I'll be out" with "I'll be unavailable during my scheduled leave from [dates]" 3. When you're asking for critical information ↳ Replace "Sorry to bother you" with "To move this project forward, I need [specific info] by [date]" 4. When you decline additional work ↳ Replace "Sorry I can't help" with "My current priorities require my full attention right now" 5. When you're leaving on time ↳ Replace "Sorry I have to go" with "I'm heading out for the day - need anything before I leave?" 6. When you need to redirect a conversation ↳ Replace "Sorry to interrupt" with "Before we move on, I'd like to address [topic]" 7. When someone disrespects your time ↳ Replace "Sorry, but I have another meeting" with "We have 5 min left, let's prioritize" 8. When enforcing agreed-upon deadlines ↳ Replace "Sorry to ask" with "As agreed, I'll need your input by [deadline] to stay on schedule" 9. When your expertise contradicts others ↳ Replace "Sorry, but I disagree" with "Based on my experience, I see this differently because..." 10. When discussing your achievements ↳ Replace "Sorry to share this" with "I'm excited to share that our team accomplished..." 11. When addressing inappropriate behavior ↳ Replace "Sorry if this is awkward" with "That approach doesn't work for me. Here's what does..." 12. When prioritizing your wellbeing ↳ Replace "Sorry I need to step away" with "I'm taking a break to ensure I bring my best thinking" Strong professionals don't apologize for their boundaries. They communicate them with confidence ✨ Which situation will you stop apologizing for this week? Share below! -- ♻️ Repost to help your network transform apologies into influence 🔔 Follow Dr. Carolyn Frost for more strategies to succeed with confidence and clarity

A top-tier professional services firm we advised had decided 4 years earlier to ditch its sector-based strategy (mostly for political reasons – a long story). Since then, clients were increasingly dissatisfied with generic advice, partners felt disconnected from their “community” of like-minded peers, the firm lost its edge in generating eye-catching thought leadership, and the firm was losing market share. Ouch. The challenge underscored a key lesson: success in PSFs demands engaging with clients on the dimension they care about – how to win in their own industry. Inside the firm, this requires true cross-silo collaboration. We worked with leaders to re-envision their sector strategy and implement process changes, leadership changes, and skill development to successfully relaunch. Here are five essentials to build true cross-silo collaboration, to serve sector-specific needs: 1. Appoint sector heads who can actually lead. Industry expertise should be a given. Sector heads need to shape the strategy, motivate peers and hold them accountable, and engage with the market.  2. Create community. Sector leaders should organize regular, dual-purpose interactions to (1) expand/build knowledge of industry trends and client needs while (2) enhancing bonds and trust between community members. Get people involved – don’t drone on with “updates” but rather spark debates, ask Associates to do mini-presentations, have fun. 3. Embrace a matrix. Practice groups remain essential units for innovation and building technical expertise. Sector leads need to work directly with peer practice group leaders to create an integrated strategy and product offerings that address what the market needs. 4. Create shared goals. Align the sector and practice groups on shared objectives and metrics that reward collaboration. For example, instead of solely incentivizing individual sales, focus on overall client satisfaction and revenue growth. We explore these ideas in our HBR article “Performance Management Shouldn't Kill Collaboration.” 5. Celebrate collaborative success – and stop heroizing individuals. Recognize and reward examples of effective cross-silo collaboration (rewards don’t have to be money – we find that creative prizes can go a long way). Highlight team success stories to inspire others to break down silos and generate real innovation. 💡 Your turn: How has your organization tackled the challenge of aligning teams for sector success? Share your thoughts below. (And stay tuned for our next post on how to overcome barriers to sector collaboration – grounded in Chapter 7 of our best-selling book "Smarter Collaboration: A New Approach to Breaking Down Barriers and Transforming Work.") #SmarterCollaboration #Sectors

I see this happen often. CEOs and EDs seek out the counsel of multiple thought partners and consultants, all working on different things, not talking to each other. One is advising around strategy. One's advising around culture. One's advising around DEI. One's advising around change management. Another is coaching leaders. Another is aware of HR issues. And none of them talk....or even know about each other. You're potentially getting conflicting and mixed message advice, sending you and your organization all over the place. How's that helpful? It's true that your independent thought partners are not used to working as "teams" with each other; however, I've found that in the best interest of what you want to accomplish as an organization, the most effective path is to get your thought partners aligned. Here are some things I recommend, if you are going to hire multiple consultants/advisors/coaches: 1) Make sure you're clear about why you're seeking thought partners. What's the SUM of what you're looking for? What will hiring them help you accomplish? 2) Take stock of the specific expertise they bring to the table. You might not realize that your DEI consultant also advises on strategic planning, and also provides executive coaching. Your legal advisor may also have expertise in HR compliance issues. Your fund development consultant might also have extensive community engagement knowledge. What you were looking for in 5 different people might actually be best served by 1 or 2. 3) You, as the client, hold the continuous thread. Make sure that you are weaving the conversations together and connecting dots as much as possible. Rather than holding 5 separate conversations, how can you thread them together such that they're best serving your intended outcomes? I'd also say, don't hesitate to ask them to meet together with you. Sure, it's not quite standard practice to do so, but why not? We ask our internal teams to collaborate. You're the client -- ask your external thought partners to collaborate, to the extent they can, too (budget for some extra meeting time). 4) Last, though not in this order, make sure that you're clear on your values and approach to the work and that each of your thought partners are aligned. I can't tell you how frustrating (and confusing) it is to be a people-centered strategist giving advice around elevating employee voice, where the client is getting opposite advice from another consultant who says to keep information tight to the chest. Decide the philosophical approach you want for your organization and hire your consultants (just like you do your staff) accordingly. Bonus Tip: Please interview your consultants. I've been surprised how many clients rush to contract without truly interviewing a consultant they way you do your internal team members. They're going to be just as critical a thought partner to you. Make sure you're confident with who you're partnering with. In service of organizations, #peoplefirst

Everyone thinks we’re search consultants. We are. But that’s not really the job. One client had been through four agencies in nine years. They wanted help finding the fifth. We paused. Before launching another search, we asked why it kept going wrong. Was it just bad luck? Or was something deeper getting in the way? We started listening. Watching how decisions got made. How teams worked together. How feedback moved through the system, or didn’t. The real issue wasn’t the agencies. It was the structure. The workflow. The lack of communication. There was no collaboration between their external agencies and their in-house teams. The client tried to manage each agency with a different internal lead. Everyone was working, but not together. And they didn’t fully understand the range of capabilities an agency brings. Or how agencies create value across strategy, ideas, execution, and beyond. What they kept asking for was a campaign. Over and over. Often without giving the agency the inputs or access they needed to do the work well. That’s not partnership. That’s outsourcing. So we worked with them to define what good could look like. We helped them realign. Get clear on roles. On expectations. On how to show up as a better client. We helped the ecosystem work together, not just in parallel. And we asked them to look more closely at their agencies’ businesses too. Most marketers expect agencies to understand THEIR business. How they make money. What matters to the bottom line. But very few marketers understand how agencies work. How they’re built. What affects their economics. What great creative actually costs. Or how fragile the margins can be when scopes shift or timelines break. Clients create value too. But that part rarely gets talked about. If more marketers understood their role in the full picture, they’d get better work. Stronger thinking. Real partnership. That’s the job. Clearer expectations. Smarter decisions. Better collaboration across the ecosystem to power performance. Sometimes it ends in a search. Sometimes it doesn’t. That’s what we do. #marketing #advertising #leadership #strategy #newbusiness #partnerships #agencylife HARMONIUM

Sometimes consultants need consultants. If you’re running an independent business, or trying to pick up freelance work - how much are you looking to your fellow independents? Are you viewing them as trusted partners - or as competition? For the last 10 years of my consulting journey, I’ve looked at my fellow independents - even those working EXACTLY in my niche - as open doors of opportunity. They can and do create possibilities for me, and I do the same for them. ✅ Exchange network introductions  ✅ Brainstorm new business ventures ✅ Go in for larger projects together ✅ Build referral arrangements ✅ Share best practices and tips  ✅ Collaborate on webinars and articles ✅ Source industry data together  ✅ Boost each other up + encourage each other Going solo doesn’t have to mean going it alone.

How I Preserve My Sanity as a Program Manager at Amazon When I first started as a program manager at Amazon, I thought the key to success was being available 24/7 and saying “yes” to everything. It didn’t take long to realize that approach wasn’t sustainable. Setting boundaries became essential—not just for me, but for my cross-functional partners as well. Here’s what’s helped me: 1️⃣ Be Clear About Priorities It’s easy to get pulled in every direction. Now, when a new request comes in, I take a step back and evaluate it against current priorities. If it doesn’t align, I explain why or outline what trade-offs would be required. Being upfront ensures everyone is focused on what truly matters. 2️⃣ Protect Focus Time I used to let my calendar fill up with back-to-back meetings, leaving no room for deep work. Now, I block focus time and let my partners know that’s when I tackle the bigger, strategic tasks. It’s made a huge difference in my productivity. 3️⃣ Empower Cross-Functional Partners I used to feel like I needed to be involved in every decision. Over time, I’ve learned to trust my partners to take ownership in their areas. Empowering them not only speeds up progress but also strengthens our collaboration. 4️⃣ Communicate Clearly and Consistently Boundaries only work if everyone’s on the same page. I make sure to align on responsibilities, timelines, and deliverables early. Clear communication helps avoid misunderstandings and builds stronger relationships. Setting boundaries isn’t about doing less—it’s about making space to focus on what matters most. It’s been a game-changer for my work and my collaborations. How do you set boundaries in your role? #Leadership #ProgramManagement #Amazon #WorkLifeBalance