Personality Traits of Success for Consultants - Assignment Example

Personality Traits of Success for Consultants Doing consultancy work in an organization is both an interesting and a challenging job. One gets to meet and deal with people of different personalities and backgrounds. Adjustments have to be made to be acceptable to all parties concerned. One of the most important lessons which one has discovered through the course of the consultancy work is that it is essential that one learns about his client before accepting the consultancy project. Awareness on all the issues that confront the organization and its stakeholders is a must[Crand].

Furthermore, one realized through the various consultancy projects handled that the ability to communicate effectively is a major step towards the achievement of goals. Being trustworthy and honest are two other qualities that an OD practitioner should possess. After several consultancy projects, one has learned to be more flexible in terms of making adjustments in the consultancy process. An experience with a client who was quite apprehensive at adapting the changes which were proposed by the consultancy team made one value the importance of being flexible.

When a proposal was made to conduct weekly departmental meetings was not agreeable to the client, the consultancy team had to adjust its proposal to make the meetings bi-monthly but with a larger scope than the weekly meetings. When this was done, the client agreed and was happy with the benefits brought about by the bi-monthly departmental meetings. This is just one instance which shows that a consultant must be ready to adjust to the preferences of its clients. A consultant need not impose on his clients.

Explaining to the client the reason for the proposal and the possible benefits it will bring to the organization is a step towards a better consultant-client relationship. Consultancy may be a very demanding job but it has its rewards especially when one sees that the organization that he helped has benefited from his action plans and advices. In the future, one plans to pursue further studies with regards to consultancy work. One realizes that to be an effective consultant, one must be updated with the latest trends, findings and research in organizational development.

One also intends to take short courses in behavioral psychology because through the course of one’s work, one recognized the fact that understanding different personalities will go a long way in consultancy work.ReferencesCrand: , (Pickering, n.d.),