| Topic Name: |
Cultural mismatches between consultancies and clients |
| Message Name: |
Intersting hypotheses |
| Date Posted: |
01/08/2001 |
| In Reply To: |
As a consultant, I often find that understanding the culture of the client organization before going on site for the first time is a key way of winning trust with the client. Furthermore, by behaving in a way that is acceptable within the client culture ensures a smoother engagement.
For example, if working in an investment bank, focus is on getting the job done, being action-oriented and focusing on results rather than process. Conversely within government organizations, where process is more important, there is a need to use process more comprehensively and speed is often less of an issue than developing concensus.
Where this is not the case (i.e. the two are at odds with each other) the results can be disasterous.
Thus, being able to flex the style of consultancy according to organizational culture is a key skill.
Does anyone have an example where there has been such a mismatch and would they be able to describe why and what went wrong? Equally important, does anyone have an example of where working within client culture was successful.
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| Message: |
But I beg to differ. There is another school of thought and another way of doing consulting. getting to know your client's culture is not always a necessity nor a guarantee to a successful engagement. I work for a boutique firm, we do strategy work in 6-8 week engagements. That leaves very little time to get to know your client's culture. we are in and out, we do our job and our clients love us. and the work is great. I often find spending large amounts of time at the client site trying to understand everythign about them often blinds you from being able to be objective, fresh, and orginal. my two cents...
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