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Follow the expert advice in this book--the fifth in The Ultimate Consultant series--and you will learn what it takes to work effectively with clients to launch and conduct projects and bring them to a successful conclusion. Alan Weiss, internationally recognized consultant and author of the best-selling Million Dollar Consulting, shows you how to form partnerships with clients who will enthusiastically assist and support the implementation of all your consulting projects.
Introduction.
Acknowledgments.
CHAPTER 1: Conditions for a Successful Intervention.
Stacking the Deck in Consulting Is Not Cheating.
Educating the Buyer.
Meeting Key Players.
Avoiding Environmental and Political Land Mines.
Wading Right In: Ten Steps to Launch.
Final Thought.
CHAPTER 2: Gathering Intelligence: Strategy.
Ensuring That Data Does Not Equal Intelligence
Challenging Basic Premises.
Ensuring Alternative Sources of Information.
Avoiding Intimidation-Yours and Theirs.
Walking the Confidentiality Tightrope.
Final Thought.
CHAPTER 3: Gathering Intelligence: Tactics.
Ensuring That Information Does Not Equal Intelligence
How to Focus a Focus Group.
The Balance Sheet on Focus Groups.
How to Conduct an Interview.
How to Create and Implement Surveys.
Staffing a "Hot Line".
How to Observe (and See What Others Don't).
Final Thought.
CHAPTER 4: Coaching Key People.
Coaches Offer Candid Advice, Not Cockeyed Certifications.
Observational Coaching.
Establishing the Rules of Engagement.
Providing Effective Feedback.
When More Than One Coach Is Required.
The Illness Called "Depression".
Final Thought.
CHAPTER 5: Culture Change and Change Management.
You Are Not the Change Agent, No Matter What They're Paying You.
The Elements of "Culture".
Creating Exemplars and Avatars.
Reinforcing Change.
The Real Change Agents at Work.
Overcoming Resistance.
Final Thought.
CHAPTER 6: An Interlude: Managing Misfortune.
If You Can't Stand the Chaos, Get Out of the Maelstrom.
Scope Creep Denied.
Two Lines of Defense.
Unforeseen Dramatic Events.
Sabotage.
Ugh! Failure!!
Final Thought.
CHAPTER 7: Learning Lessons.
Creating Dynamic Instruction.
Learning Objectives as Outcomes.
The Adult Learning Sequence.
Embracing the Boss.True Metrics (and There Ain't Four Levels).
Final Thought.
CHAPTER 8: Developing Client Strategy.
If One Has No Port in Mind, No Wind Is a Good Wind.
The Fallacy of Planning.
The Notion of Motive Force.
The Huge Advantage of Optional Futures.
Strategic Profiling.
The Transition to Implementation.
Final Thought.
CHAPTER 9: Creating Change.
Is Change Management an Oxymoron?
Creating and Applying Implementation Models.
Establishing Accountabilities.
Change as Reaction.
Sticking to the Buyer Like Glue.
Overcoming the Tough Resistance Factors.
Exploiting Opportunity, or How to Create Reverse Scope Creep.
Some Thoughts on Team Building.
Final Thought.
CHAPTER 10: Improving Leadership.
The Power Is in the Engine Room, but the Wheel Is on the Bridge.
Emphasizing Range, Not Style.
Crisis Management: The Extraordinary.
Tough Love vs. "Not on My Watch".
Post-Heroic Leadership as a Consulting Objective.
Final Thought.
APPENDIXA: Sample Process Visuals.
APPENDIXB: Annotated Bibliography.
Index.
Alan Weiss-author, international consultant, highly sought keynote speaker-is the founder and president of Summit Consulting Group. His clients have included Hewlett-Packard, State Street Corp., Fleet Bank, Coldwell Banker, Merrill Lynch, American Press Institute, Chase, Mercedes-Benz, GE, and American Institute of Architects. He is the author of twenty books, including The Ultimate Consultant (Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer, 2001) and Getting Started in Consulting (John Wiley & Sons, 2000). Weiss resides with his wife Maria in East Greenwich, Rhode Island.
