As the owner of a small firm, what consulting leadership style will help you build a successful business?
In this article, you’ll learn effective forms of leadership to help you start, grow, and scale a consulting firm in 2023.
You’ll learn…
- The importance of leadership skills for consultants;
- The characteristics of a consulting firm leader;
- A consulting leadership model you can implement to achieve greater results;
- Examples of consultative leadership in action;
The Importance Of Consulting Leadership Skills
Why is it important for consultants to develop their leadership skills?
Being a better leader is critical for increasing employee engagement. And higher employee engagement means…
- Successfully achieving your KPIs, goals, and key metrics,
- higher profitability,
- higher productivity,
- higher quality products & deliverables,
- higher retention rates,
- less absenteeism.
If your business were a ship, you as the leader are the captain.
You’re the one responsible for setting the destination and leading the team to that destination.
Whether you’re leading a team of 2 or 20, you’re still the leader.
Leadership is leadership, no matter what industry you’re in. And leadership begins and ends with the leader: you.
As the leader of a consulting firm, your team is looking up to you. It’s your responsibility to take ownership of the business and make sure you are showing up as the best version of yourself as often as possible.
You can have a great team, but if you’re negative, it will affect everyone else on your team. People aren’t going to want to be around you, and they’ll leave.
Or, if you’re full of doubt and don’t believe you can accomplish what you set out to achieve, you’ll have a tough time attracting A-players.
Before you start hiring employees or any team members, the most important aspect of leadership is how YOU show up: your actions, thinking, and beliefs.
So, whether you’re an independent consultant or you already have your first few employees, begin practicing your leadership skills now.
How?
You can start by leading your clients.
Like your team members, your clients also look to you to take them to their desired future state.
They’re investing in you because they trust that you can lead them from where they are now to where they want to be.
Don’t just complete the consulting work. Lead the engagement. That means taking ownership of the project and delivering the result that your client expects.
Now that you understand the importance of leadership in your consulting firm, I’ll break down several characteristics of successful leaders.
Characteristics Of A Consulting Firm Leader
What are the characteristics of an effective leader for a consulting firm?
Having led Consulting Success® for over 13 years — and having interviewed hundreds of consulting firm leaders — here are a few best practices.
1. Empower & Support Your Team
When you’re leading a consulting firm, it’s more about empowering and supporting your team rather than trying to do everything yourself.
The central question for you becomes: “how can I make sure the team is empowered and supported to create?”
Some leaders will shift away from doing client work completely. Others will decide they want to keep being involved in the client work and delivery..
I still work directly with select private clients. But I’ve hired an amazing team of experts that support our clients inside of the Clarity Coaching Program — many of whom can do a better job than I can.
When you’re leading your firm properly, your clients will continue to get amazing results without you being the one who serves them directly.
And because you’re building an effective team, it means you’re able to make a great impact and help more clients.
2. Make Sure The Right People Are In The Right Roles
Do you have the right people? And are they in the right role?
If you have an A-player in the wrong role, they might feel like a B or C-player just because they aren’t in the right spot.
Or, you might just have the wrong person. We found that companies choose the wrong candidate — one who doesn’t have the right skills for the job — 82% of the time.