Three L&D hacks you can begin today

Discover how to boost your consulting skills without extra training

This article was written by Gareth Russell, a business coach and Honeycomb Trainer.

---

Confession: I don’t have a consulting background.

In fact, most of my career has been spent in learning and development. My focus has been training consulting teams and leading some large-scale consulting projects.

This has given me an insight into what makes for a great consultant…and what can get in the way.

The one key thing I’ve noticed that sets the best consultants apart?

They adopt a beginner’s mind. They’re not only keen to learn, they actively make time for it.

Here, I share three of the strategies I’ve seen work for others which can support you in your learning and development. None of them complicated, all of them free. And you can start them today.

There’s no doubt that consulting can be a tough gig. For many consultants, prioritising their learning and development can seem like a pipe-dream when:

1. Client demands and time pressures often force a focus on immediate results and short-term outcomes, leaving little room for anything else. Likewise, short-term projects requiring quick turnarounds can take precedence over long-term skill development.

2. Demanding travel schedules and long hours can make attending training sessions a challenge, and leave limited time and energy for learning.

3. Consultants are generally seen as experts, which can create a perception of self-sufficiency, or a feeling that they already possess the necessary skills and knowledge to succeed.

4. There is often a high level of expectation placed on consultants to continuously perform and deliver high-quality results, meaning personal development is seen as less critical than meeting client expectations or firm goals.

Perhaps you’ve experienced some of these challenges too. Maybe it’s been a while since you last attended some training…

Training? Where’s the time for that?!

If this sound like you, then good news. There are plenty of ways you can develop yourself as a consultant.

Even better news. They don’t have to involve attending a training course¹.

Here are three learning and development strategies to help you better navigate the complexities of consulting and become a better consultant:

1. Adopt a growth mindset

A growth mindset is the foundation of effective learning and development.

Having a growth mindset means believing that ability isn’t innate and can be developed through deliberate effort and persistence.

Yes, some of us develop abilities easier than others. Despite being 6’ 2”, I’m no LeBron James. But, I can get better at basketball, if I apply myself to learning it. That’s a slam-dunk growth mindset right there.

A fixed mindset is the opposite. ‘I’m no good at basketball and never will be’ (not true, even though my instincts tell me otherwise). Or (more subtle), ‘I’m a natural at basketball, I have a gift’ (so why would I even try to get better?).

It’s common to have a fixed mindset about certain things, despite having adopted a growth mindset. Some examples of things you might say, or hear from others:

‘I’m not a natural public speaker’

‘I’m just not good with Excel’

‘She’s so talented at project management’

The voice of a growth mindset vs. a fixed mindset

Neither of these mindsets is right, wrong, better, or worse by the way. But if we have a fixed mindset about something, we’re unlikely to try and get better at it.

A growth mindset encourages continuous learning, experimentation, and iteration. All essential in the complex world of consulting. So, do yourself a favour and adopt a growth mindset by:

• Adding ‘yet’ at the end of statements that suggest a fixed mindset – ‘I’m not a natural public speaker, yet.’

• Modelling what works. Someone, somewhere has the skills you wish you had. So, model what they’ve done. Seek feedback from others along the way, using the ‘WWW and EBI’ model:

  • ‘What Went Well?’

  • It would have been ‘Even Better If…’

• Checking out ‘Mindset’ by Stanford professor Carol Dweck
  

2. Track and use learning data

Can you imagine making a recommendation to a client without supporting data?

Thought not.

Knowing how to gather, interpret, and apply data effectively provides insights that simplify complex problems and reveal new opportunities. And you can reap those same benefits by gathering data about your own learning and development.

Consider yourself as the client on an important capabilities project (your skills!). Track and accelerate your development by:

• Starting a habit tracker. If there’s a secret sauce to developing yourself consistently and with discipline, it’s a habit tracker. Track everything worth tracking, good and bad. You'd do this with KPIs in a client’s business, so apply the same rigour to yourself. For a guide on habit tracking, click here.

The Habit Journal from https://jamesclear.com/habit-tracker

• Taking 5 minutes at the end of each day to engage in some structured reflection. Here are some prompts to help you, from the book ‘18 Minutes’ by Peter Bregman. (Pro tip: I use Outlook to block out time for this each day to make it part of my routine):

  • What did I plan to do today? What did I actually get done?

  • How did the day go? What success did I experience? What challenges did I endure?

  • What did I learn today? About myself? About others? What do I plan to do differently or the same tomorrow?

  • With whom did I interact? Anyone I need to update, thank, ask a question of, share feedback with?

• Checking out ‘Atomic Habits’ by best-selling author James Clear
  

3. Seek out advice and perspectives

Complex problems often require diverse perspectives and collaboration.

‘Two heads are better than one’, that’s what they say.

Unless those two heads happen to think in much the same way. In which case, you have the same perspective, twice (and the risk of confirmation bias or group think too).

Different perspectives and viewpoints strengthen individual, team and firm performance. They help us with problem solving, creativity, strategy development, identifying new opportunities, and pretty much everything else in between.

To start leveraging the power of the group to supercharge your learning, here’s what I recommend:

• Taking 6 minutes to watch best-selling author Matthew Syed’s talk on ‘Pursuing Cognitive Diversity’, here:

• Trying out ‘I Like, I Wish, I Wonder’ – a powerful approach for teams (big and small) to collect feedback quickly, online or in person. Read how to do it, here.

• Trying out decision making razors to help you make better decisions, faster. Check out this list of 24 of the most powerful decision making razors from entrepreneur, Sahil Bloom. (Pro tip: to seek out advice and perspectives, I recommend the Rooms Razor, Listen Mode, the Smart Friends Razor and the Opinion Razor).

  

By integrating these three strategies into your consulting practice, you'll be better equipped to work through the complexities of your work and deliver massive value to your clients.

Stay curious, stay committed, and you’ll find yourself well-prepared to tackle any challenge that comes your way.

To your success!

---

About the author:

Gareth is a business coach with a difference: he actually runs a business. Gareth helps trainers, coaches and consultants achieve six-figures without pushy sales tactics. If you could use some help defining your offer, pricing strategy or marketing approach, you can find Gareth here.

He’s also an associate trainer and executive coach for Honeycomb. We think he’s pretty good. Our clients think so too.

Outside of work he’s a father of one, lifelong Formula 1 fan and sometime coffee geek.

---

Thank you for reading The Skilled Consultant. If you haven’t yet subscribed, please do so to receive all our articles direct to your inbox.
There are several other ways you can interact with Honeycomb Consulting Skills Training….

1. Connect with Deri Hughes (Founder & MD) on LinkedIn

2. Connect with Colin Mann (MD) on LinkedIn

3. Book a 30 minute intro call with Deri Hughes

4. Stay informed about our free workshops and webinars - follow Honeycomb on LinkedIn or visit our website.

1. Though I can highly recommend Honeycomb’s fantastic catalogue of courses, designed specifically for consultants. Find out more here.