I had lunch with a former colleague today. She’s a former consultant and we tracked onto the topic of what good consultants (vs. bad consultants) leave behind when the project is done.

When I look back at our best work, the most successful projects have a very important aspect in common. The deliverable build was oriented around a pre-planned process and included the construction of an infrastructure/architecture (some simple, some complex) that could be handed off to the client at the end of the project.

In many cases, it would be much easier to swoop in, generate the marketing, build the presentations, write the speeches and line up the next project. But, the more interesting approach includes the development of repeatable process and infrastructure components to which future client marketing projects can be tacked. A set of robust tools that can get you where you want to go over and over again (like our good bridge above).

We’ve certainly had clients that aren’t as focused on that aspect at first, but it’s our duty as professionals to put the option front and center. This is especially the case when our C-level clients have the fiduciary duty to public shareholders.

We’re focused on integrating business strategy and marketing operations in the practical work we deliver. Process and infrastructure are invaluable to making that succeed for our clients in the long-term.  

This entry was posted on Friday, July 24th, 2009 at 1:54 pm and is filed under Change Management Communications, Methodology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.