In a Computerworld article from 2000, the author writes the following:
"Yes"-ing a client to death
Clients generally already have plenty of nodding heads around and often look to consultants to provide a fresh perspective. It is also politically easier for a consultant to stir things up than internally employees who have to survive indefinitely in the corporate culture.
As much as this statement sounds logical - that an external consultant would have more freedom to disagree or oppose a majority opinion -- in my experience in the public sector, it is not true. Clients often start a project expressing a desire for a fresh perspective, but when they actually receive one from a consultant, their reaction is not pleasant.
I have seen many consultants punished, and sometimes severely, by clients and their own firms for daring to speak with a fresh perspective, even if doing so diplomatically and with data as evidence. Many times in my career I have been advised and warned, "Whatever the client says or requests, your answer is 'yes'." Frequently, when a consultant advises a client against a particular action or decision, that consultant is simply asked to leave the project.
In 2006, I periodically advised a project team at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The client project director, who was of relatively low-rank to be directing a systems upgrade effort, went through two project managers in the space of 4 months because they dared to give her advice on how to proceed. She ended up pulling a young consultant with zero PM experience from another project to be the PM simply because she liked him. And no doubt she liked him because he did not have the knowledge or skills to advise her on how to run the project, so he just said "yes" to everything.
This happens on almost every project I encounter. It seems as if clients are really looking for consultants to be "yes-men/women" and to support their personal agenda, instead of conducting a project in the best interest of the organization.
0 comments:
Post a Comment