ERP CRM Consultant — Eternal Negotiator

So, if you are just thinking about choosing the profession of a consultant, then think again then another hundred times and give yourself the answer to a couple of questions:

- Am I ready for the fact that the client is always right?
- Am I ready to understand and forgive all these robots, who poured coffee in themselves for half a day, call me for the second half of the day and transfer the forest?
- Can I convince the North Korean leader that democracy is the only true way to develop modern society?

I think that's enough. And yet, if your answer is “YES”, then read on.

You are waited by specificity of domestic consulting with all consequences following from here. Something like the first day behind the wheel on a truck in the center of Moscow. The only problem is that this day will be your “Groundhog Day”. No matter how you increase your level of interaction with the client, no matter how you develop your machine learning skills, data collection and systematization will still be signaled to you from all sides, as if hinting that “You are outside the MKAD, and here people are decent”. Only endurance and intuition will save you. This is something that is really worth learning.
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While wandering in the Internet, you can often find bravura articles from some regular forum or presidium (written for the sake of improving KPI) about how well done we are. And gold partners (about Microsoft not to be confused with network marketing) and the best methodologists and implementers. Or, if you are not working on the side of the integrator, then in the weekly newsletter you can see the wonders of improving the quality and efficiency of the staff. You are also constantly hinted that the company is doing great (especially for its individual members), which allows your sore brain to draw a fantastic company capitalization curve, in the hope that your tangled family budget path will sooner or later become a six-lane highway.

But you are not a container for coffee. And if you have at least a couple of years of experience, you suddenly see how the gilding from the doors and cabinets begins to descend. Eyes become wider. Sleep is worse. Now you know how to raise this one and that project. And if fate has thrown you into the oil and gas or construction sector of the economy, your moral torment will multiply several times. And this irresponsible scale going hand in hand clan and saw will come into your consciousness from nowhere and disappear into nowhere.

I do not dwell on the pros and cons. I note that much depends to put it mildly on luck. Leader, project, situation, client. There is always the possibility that something will not go according to plan. And not always in the worst sense of the word. Of course, one should not forget that much depends on you too. In short, a consultant is always a broad outlook, always new (even if a new form hides a chewed old), not always, but a high income. Global minus you are always wrong. This must be accepted. Make it not so difficult, if the last plus about you.

And now, for the sake of what the above written many letters. Tips:

Communication. Strive to establish contacts with managers at various levels. First, it is usually people who are more competent in matters of work of the site than ordinary employees. Secondly, in the event of a conflict with a linear employee, they can take your position or at least maintain neutrality.

Consumer. The end user of your work result is usually the “man in the field”. It is common for him to set tasks, what is called head on, but he is waiting for you from the detailed result of solving this task. Here it is worth remembering about Buddhism. Feel free to admit to yourself that you do not know anything. Try to squeeze the maximum knowledge from each specialist. This will allow you to come to “knowledge” once. This will be your level of competence.

Competence. Understand the client's business. You can spend the budget, time and nerves, wasting time after time trying to put together a mosaic of the work of a department, department, company. Start drawing. Make a diagram and split it up until all the projects and business processes stand on their shelves in your bright head.

Politics. Do not forget about the role of political processes within the client company. To highlight the priority areas of work, it will be very useful to know who “decides” in the company and who has a relative. Based on this information, you will be able to understand who it is to be friends with, who should be avoided, who can be ignored, etc. Remember, this is important! The further you go, the less time you have left to meet the needs of each employee. Learn to separate them.

Live communication. Yes, consultants try to avoid it, and prefer dry texts in the form of thousands of e-mail messages, Skype, team manager, etc. Of course this is correct. However, at least at the start of the project, you should meet and talk with the maximum number of employees, thus making it clear to them that you are not a stranger. You are only on the side of this employee and are ready to fight against everything and everyone. At the initial stage, “your boyfriend” is your way.

The cleverest. Do not let ordinary employees think that you are smarter than them. Nobody likes that. Especially if you have been sitting in the same chair for ten years and all this time you are doing the same document. You must come to parity of demonstrated knowledge. All that is required of you, periodically throw up, by chance, an idea. As a result, the client will offer it to you. Profit The client felt intelligent and involved in the great. You got a loyal user. Now all the miscalculations in the implementation - this is his miscalculations.

Anticipation of the situation. Imagine the mountains on which a lot of snow has accumulated. You are a meteorologist and your task is to call his meeting. If you see that a certain system failure or miscalculation in the implementation is about to lead to a collapse, then solve this problem without delay. Do not wait for the end of the quarter and your portion of the dressing. In case the problem requires the involvement of large human resources and you cannot cope on your own, contact your supervisor. If the avalanche has gone all the same, the main thing is that your manager should learn about it from you, and not from angry colleagues.

Interaction with middle managers. The head is the protector of their employees. Do not try in a conversation with him, to oppose himself to his subordinates. Nothing good will come of it. Try to explain your position with respect and on equal terms. If you go with a proposal - be prepared to give a reasoned answer. The leader is a little businessman. These people more than anyone else believe that the company's money is their money. For this only the facts, ways to solve the tasks and the approximate timing of their implementation.

Time management. Every day, trainings are held all over the world, books are written, the essence of which boils down to the fact that you will become a super specialist and your quality of life will improve. Unfortunately, universal advice does not exist. Experience is one of the factors, under the influence of which gradually you will learn to manage your time not only at work, but also in rare moments of rest. One of the tips - try not to work at the weekend. Working at the weekend is inefficient. All you get is a low result of work and fatigue before the start of a new work week. Try to skip the next “work holiday” and you will be surprised that nothing has changed at work, and you finally slept and took up your hobby.

Team. As it does not sound trite, a good team is the key to successful implementation of both current and future tasks. Not always the team formed in the early stages of the project, comes in the same composition to its logical conclusion or completion of the stage. The implementation experience shows that a person with a lower level of competence may well remain in the final team, however, more persistent and non-conflicting. If you are doing integration, another good advice is a good programmer. Make sure that the same interested coder works with you in a pair. One that you can call in the middle of the night and say “Help me out! We burn! ”. Very often projects are killed by their own defense mechanisms. In case you have difficulties at the right moment in finding a free developer, or you need a long tracking of the statement of the problem statement, you will lose a lot of time and, above all, user loyalty. A good programmer is your friend.

In conclusion, I want to add that this is not a manual for solving a specific task. This article is about a man and about the mysteries of his thinking. And do not forget that automation equipment makes us further and further apart.