People and Personalities
This section will cover some of the high-level personalities you will find throughout your career. These are not meant as a stereotype and every person is different in some form or fashion, but the overall personality types should prepare you for what to expect at your clients’ site.
Personalities
The Go-Getter
The Go-Getter is the A-type personality who is an always-working, never-sleeping overachiever. This person is usually hardwired to push themselves and others around them to succeed. It can be in your favor to align yourself with people like this in the organization and cherry-pick some of their traits that will allow you to succeed. They will be great allies to have around and can have road blocks cleared in your work, hammer out items that are perceived to be difficult and keep the project and work moving forward. They have a hard time letting tasks stall out. Be careful, however, as A-types can be perceived to have a lack of empathy. They may push you and others around them a little too hard and cause some friction. Their goal of ultimate success may also lead them to push everyone out of their way and play a bit more of a political or cut-throat game in the work environment.
The Grouchy IT Guy
The grouchy IT guys exist in almost every organization. He usually lives in the IT organization, wears ironic pop culture t-shirts and seems to always be upset about something. Other departments are not safe either as there are equivalent counterparts everywhere in the organization. There is not much you can do when dealing with the grouchy IT guy. He is surly, loves to complain about everything wrong in the organization and usually enjoys crushing diet cokes all day. It will play in your favor to stay as much on their good side as possible, especially if they will play some role on your project, whether it is technical advisory or conducting code deployments. Do not let it get you down when you feel like you are not liked or appreciated by this person. Don’t worry, he does not like or appreciate anyone. If his attitude does actually become a hindrance on your work or creates a hostile environment which you are uncomfortable with, raise the concern with your project leadership and see if they are willing to talk to the client sponsor to help resolve the issue.
Remember, everyone goes through some sort of personal life problem from time to time, so don’t let it get under your skin and be patient where you can.
The Person that should Avoid Buses
Every company and client is going to have one or a few folks who others will tell you “we don’t know what we will do if he/she gets hit by a bus”. This person has a vast and profound knowledge of the business and is known as the subject matter expert. There is no type of documentation you can read to get the amount of comprehension this person has in their head. They are absolutely vital to the projects’ successes and usually will be happy to share their wisdom with you, if they feel like it will help them grow the organization they have invested so much in. Many times, they are just looking to help you offload some of the dependency on themselves which can be stressful for them.
You may also find the opposite attitude where the subject matter expert is standoffish, and feel threatened by the consultant as the work you are doing may appear to reduce the dependency their employer has on them and fear it may make them expendable. It is best to work in a partnership with folks like these and earn their trust over time. There usually is never enough project work to ever really replace people like these in the organization. Just make sure they avoid the 305 local bus if it doesn’t stop in time.
Chatty Kathy
Chatty Kathy takes water cooler talk to the extreme and then will continue to talk until the sun goes down. The topics will range from work related to weekend plans or to the life happenings of her cats. I am clearly stereotyping Kathy here, but this personality is found in men and women alike and the topics of discussion can vary from day to day or person to person. They usually have a hard time knowing when to end conversations and taking nonverbal cues for when the other person may be trying to exit the conversation. You may not even get in a single word or care to want to get a word in, but this person can often carry on a conversation with themselves for a very long time. Out of politeness, many of us will smile, nod and listen rather than end the conversation. This is all client time that is being wasted that could be used on more important things. As mentioned before, having some form of comradery with others is essential to your success, but spending hours a week having your ear talked off is not a good use of billable time. If you have a hard time ending these conversations, it is perfectly ok to kindly mention you have something you need to get back to at your desk. If you are cornered at your desk, a simple white lie of needing to prepare for an upcoming meeting or a restroom break, or a trip to the kitchen for some water can usually force the break in conversation that you may need to escape. Beware, if you end up with a stage five clinger, as they may even follow you to the restroom or kitchen. At this point, you will need to dance the fine line of being stern on ending the conversation but be sure to let them down easily.
Grinders
The term ‘grinders’ is used synonymously with the client from hell. They usually work their consultants really hard and for long hours. They are never appreciative and may even speak harshly and negatively to the team, no matter how good of a job they do. Nothing is ever good enough. Do not let grinders get you down or discouraged. In your career, you will have many engagements with a client on some level of the grinder spectrum and they cannot be avoided. Do your best and accept that you may be in an unwinnable situation and you should not be held accountable by your firm or your project manager. If you feel like the folks on your management team are unaware of the situation, do not hold your tongue. Send an email of your concerns early on and see if they can assist in easing the pain. If not, you will have documented evidence of acknowledging the situation and will not be held accountable if things do go south. Remember, not all projects last forever and for years on end. Hopefully, once you roll off the client from hell, the next project will be a lot better!
Unsure New Guy
Unsure new guy or gal never feels confident or sure of what they are doing. They will email you before making any decision, or walk over and ask you if it is acceptable to send you an email about being unsure about making a decision. You will be conflicted in wanting to be a helpful coach, mentor or subject matter expert, but the constant interruptions will take a toll on your focus and productivity. In the beginning it is best to show some patience. Give the support he or she needs and answer the questions they may have. Remember, at some point you were probably the one asking the questions and without others proving you answers and guidance, you would not be where you are. Try to set up touch points or meeting and bundle all their questions into those blocks of time to avoid the constant pings. If overtime, they do not get their feet under them and become self-supported or confident enough to take initiative, it may require some more hands on mentorship from leadership to get things going. There will be a point where you become more of a baby sitter then a mentor and at that point it would be best to have some harder conversations with the resource that maybe consulting may not be the right fit for them.
Are you interested in starting a career in consulting? Be sure to read the full book Jack of all Trades Master of Some; An Introduction to Consulting available on Amazon.