PICA Member Spotlights
Q&A with independent consultants who successfully “made the leap” and created the consulting career of their dreams
Q: Why did you become an independent consultant?
A: I had been working in the corporate world with organizations that allowed me to have a lot of internal partners and be part of the team, so I knew that was important to me. At the same time, I was often limited in what I was able to do because my role was very defined and specialized. I was looking at making the move from my current job into what I thought was going to be another internal role, but I fell into an opportunity to do some independent work. It was through a consulting company about 2 ½ years ago that led me to see the benefits of independent consulting. It reinforced for me that this was the kind of work that I wanted to do.
While I may miss working directly with internal partners, I’ve learned that I tend to approach my client work the same way. It's why I named my company Dealph Consulting “Partners” – because I look for those opportunities to do the type of work that I am passionate about, and ideally with clients with whom I want to, and I find that connectedness really inspiring.
I've also learned that I probably am my own best boss. I say that with some acknowledgement to those people who supervised me over the years and with grace for putting up with me in a lot of ways, but also helping me grow.
Q: What is your specialty? What services does Dealph Consulting Partners provide?
A: My tagline is "Helping People and Organizations Be Their Best.” I do that through leadership and organizational development, change management, and then most recently, through executive coaching. While I've been encouraged to specialize in one area, I see my specialty as organizational effectiveness and that may take various forms. In almost all cases, it's facilitation in some way or another; whether facilitating change or transformation within a company, or facilitating team effectiveness for a group or department.
This has allowed me to work with large companies (like Disney and Warner Brothers), mid-size companies, and small startups, and to be agile in providing a number of different services depending on what the client needs, which I enjoy. I like that diversity, so really my specialty is organizational effectiveness; for the individual leader and/or her/his organization.
Q: You mentioned that you fell into independent consulting because you were approached by a consulting firm for some work. What did you do to make that happen or how did that come about?
A: I had a former colleague who had transitioned out of higher education into organization development consulting who was working for a consultant group. She reached out and said, "Hey, I know you're looking. We have an opportunity here that I think you would be great for." It was a quick opportunity, but it gave me the chance to try working with a consulting company to see what it was like.
At the same time, I've maintained relationships with some of my students from my early professional years of working in higher education. That's turned into a pretty amazing network, because my former students have gone on to work in so many different fields and areas. A couple years ago I was at a football game at Northwestern University, and I was talking with a former student from there who knew me as a leadership advisor to him during his undergrad days. He thought I might be able to help with a couple of the start-up leaders he was working with. Those leaders were young and some of them were pretty “raw.” I think they reminded him of who he was back when he was a college student, and he knew I was effective in working with and helping young leaders develop. And that opened the door to a couple opportunities there to do some real independent work with a couple of organizations in his portfolio.
Between those two opportunities I realized it was the kind of work that I wanted to do and that I probably had a pretty good network to tap into. Not just from folks I had worked with in my current capacity as colleagues or previous clients, but also people that I worked with or advised when they were students.
Q: What suggestions can you give to other consultants about "keeping your network warm," or maintaining relationships?
A: It has to be authentic. There are people that I regularly look through my LinkedIn list to see who I just want to check in on, just to catch up with. No other agenda, not necessarily looking for work, but just catching up with them. I've done that all throughout my career. So it doesn't feel like it's been 30 years and suddenly I'm reaching out to somebody, although I think sometimes that's okay, too. But I do think that if your agenda is you want work, you just be upfront about that. If your agenda is, "Well, it would be great to work with you again someday, but I'm just reaching out to stay connected," start the conversation from there.
Every year I set my “intentions” for the year - this year they are my "20 for 2020," last year it was “19 for 2019.” One of them for 2020 is that I wanted to be more intentional about trying to work with people I have enjoyed working with in the past; either as a client or in partnering to do work with for others. As an independent consultant I have the ability to reach out to the people I want to work with, and they may not want to work with me or need my services, but I have the opportunity to connect with them. I let them know that “one of the benefits of being independent is that I get to reach out to the people that I want to work with again, and I wanted you to know that you're one of those people." I don't expect them to jump and say, "Great, I've got five things I want you to do." If nothing else, maybe it's just leaving them with that thought, and if that's all that comes of it, so be it. I feel good about that, and it's truthful. I'm not reaching out to anybody that I don't really want to work with. The pandemic has shifted my approach a bit. It's allowed me to still reach out and say, "Hey, this was my intention, but for now, I just want to check in on you and make sure you're doing okay." In some cases, it’s still led to some opportunities to work together but in different ways than I expected.
Q: Do you set time aside to maintain your relationships or foster relationships or do you just do it organically?
A: A little bit of both. Another 20 for 2020 intention is to network with colleagues and clients on a regular basis. I've put time on my calendar and I try to keep that, but sometimes it’s hard to do when you have a client that needs that time. I have a few former students that I regularly talk to, and in some cases, it's just to stay connected. In some cases, they're looking to me for advice or I'm looking to them for advice and it's become this mutual, reciprocal kind of relationship. It's nice when a student says to you years later, "You were there for me during a really important time of my life, so of course, I'm going to help you if I can." You don't get paid a lot in higher education, so if that's the dividend that you get 30 years later, that really reinforces the professional investments I made back then.
Q: So, what's next for you and your consulting business?
A: Well, a couple of things. I’m trying to be aware of what potential clients might need; especially as we all navigate through not only this pandemic but changing social times. I'm hoping that because of the versatility I offer, I’ll be able to help both current clients or some new clients.
At the same time, I'm wrapping up a coaching certification. Although I’ve done coaching for the past few years, I'm looking forward to being able to put this new experience and tools to good use.
One of the programs I’m planning is a "Future Forum." It will bring together a small group of leaders from various enterprises and explore the connectivity of it all; how they've been impacted by the pandemic and social changes, what they think might be on the “other side” for them, how that has ripple effects for other stakeholders, etc. I want to bring in perspectives from education, supply chain, tech, retail, finance, entertainment and other sectors to get different perspectives and explore the impact of one on another. My goal is not to have them leave the program with a whole new strategy, but instead to have broader insights—outsight, if you will--about things to consider and then be able to respond in a much more agile way. And to also consider not only how the actions we take might impact their customers, but also how what's going on around them will impact their own employees and partners. I think now is the time to put a program like that out there.
Q: If someone is interested in finding out more about the Future Forum or about your consulting services in general, what's the best way get in touch with you?
A: Just reach out through my email and we can follow up from there. I do love to network, so if nothing else, we could connect and if they want to pursue working together, I'd love to talk to them about that. They can also check out my LinkedIn Company Page or website, http://dealphconsulting.com/.
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