Leadership Skills for Consultants: Expand or Contract
Today we are going to talk about leadership and how your skills, or lack thereof, affect your ability to grow your consulting business. Your approach to leadership sets the tone for the kind of results and satisfaction you will experience each day in your business. What is the connect between your leadership perspective and daily responsibilities? Read the article below and we can explore together.
What I believe. I believe the leader of a business either limits or expands the business. More specifically, I would describe your leadership the way that you describe your business. If you describe your business as frustrated, I would describe you as a frustrated leader. If you describe your business as tired, I would describe you as a tired leader. If you would describe your business as “good but not great”, then I would describe your leadership as “good but not great”. If you were to describe your business as excellent, then I would describe your leadership as excellent. As the leader of your business, your business goes as you go.
Why I believe it. I believe the maturity and consistency of a company are set by the maturity and the consistency of leadership. If you waffle from idea to idea so will your business. If you your priorities change from week to week or month to month, your business will reflect the same amount of indecisiveness. I believe leadership is not about being a better consultant. Leadership is about being a better leader. You must focus on leadership priorities, not consultant priorities.
To be fair, there is nothing wrong with your technical prowess, you are good at what you do. Still, beyond your technical consulting ability, you have got to set intention for your business and nobody else can do that but you. The longer you avoid this responsibility, the longer your business limps along without real leadership.
Relevance to you. My desire is to help you expand as a leader of your business. I want to help move you out of the role of principle consultant because there is another responsibility required for your business to thrive. That responsibility is more about leadership and less about technical ability.
As the leader of Coveted Consultant I want to make sure we provide the information and resources necessary for you to make decisions for the business. We are less interested in teaching you about the details of your consulting expertise. You already have already proven your ability there and, if you need more assistance, you already have those resources.
Our tone carries the assumption that you know you have a decision to make about your business and our job is to help you make the most intelligent decision possible. Why? So you can lead the business where you intend for it to go.
Your leadership style sets the tone for the direction of your business. Therefore, it is of utmost importance that you develop the proper leadership skills to drive your business in the right direction; a direction toward growth and prosperity for both your business and your clients.
Which leadership skill should you develop in order to grow your business?