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110 of 114 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Effective, Ethical Consulting That Is Good for Everyone!, May 4, 2000
I liked this book very much, because it focuses on the style of consulting I like to do -- increasing the capacity of the client to find and implement her/his own solutions. What especially impressed me was the great care placed on how to establish the relationship with the client, as well as defining the assignment. Consultants love to define assignments, but often don't give much thought to the relationship. The emphasis should be just the opposite. The book is nicely balanced between the needs of those who supply internal consulting (whether formally, or as staff resources) and external consultants and experts. I have played both roles, and each one teaches you something you need to know in order to be a better consultant. This is the only book on consulting that I have read that captures both perspectives and roles well. A great strength of the book is that there are extensive examples of the same issue so that you can get a good perspective, even if you don't yet have much experience as a consultant. So it is a terrific book for those who are new to consulting. For those of us who have a few decades of consulting experience, there is still a lot to learn. I was especially helped by the extensive list of ways to diagnose what may be going wrong when the client asks questions or is inactive. I was helped even more by many ingenious responses to those situations that had never occurred to me. This is a principled book, one that considers the needs of the client and the consultant in a fair and even-handed way. It also gives you the perspective you need to apply those principles. I heartily agree with the emphasis on getting as much relevant client involvement as possible, to improve commitment, understanding, relationships, and the ability to implement later on. The next time I run into a potential snag in a consulting relationship, I intend to check my thinking with this wonderful guide. I suggest you do the same. You'll need to have a copy around, so plan to buy one on Amazon.com. For those fans of The McKinsey Way, you should read this book, too. It will facilitate your career in much more valuable and signficant ways.
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54 of 56 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hands down the best book on consulting I ever bought!!!, August 19, 1999
This review is from: Flawless Consulting: A Guide to Getting Your Expertise Used (Hardcover)
Peter Block covers the intangibles of consulting: the politics, communications and the obstacles that derail the consultant/client relationship. This book is a MUST read, not only for consultants, but for anyone that works in or around companies that have politics, or bureaucracy, or people. That should cover just about all of us. This book helped me because it covered so much more then the business techniques of consulting, hey I'm a business consultant after all. Flawless Consulting helps you master communication and contracting gaffs, to understand why after much good advice the customer still does the wrong thing, and most importantly how your success can be assured despite those kind of issues.
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52 of 56 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Tremendous guide for formal and informal consultants!, June 28, 2002
This is an amazing book! Peter Block's Flawless Consulting, is a textbook appropriate not only for consultants but for anyone that wants to share their expertise with others. Block explains, "You are consulting any time you are trying to change or improve a situation but have no direct control over the implementation." About his audacious title, he asserts that it is possible for us to operate without error. To consult flawlessly "requires intense concentration on two process. (1)Being as authentic as you can be at all times with the client; (2)Attending directly, in words and actions, to the business of each stage of the consulting process." Having set the bar extremely high, Block doesn't leave the reader trying to figure out what "being authentic" and "attending to the business of each stage" means. Flawless Consulting is an extremely practical book. Flawless Consulting is replete with checklists, case scenarios, suggested wording (sometimes entire scripts), business recommendations, and practical insights. The book is saturated with Block's wonderful sense of humor and humanity. Unlike some second editions that are content to simply add a new preface and some cosmetic changes to the dust jacket, Block has updated information throughout the book and added entirely new chapters on: Whole-System Discovery, Implementation, Strategies for Engagement, Ethics and the Shadow Side of Consulting, The Heart of the Matter. Though not a consultant in the formal sense, I found his insights delightfully applicable to my day-to-day work. So much so that I nearly underlined every line in the book and made notes in the margins! Despite all the great information I gleaned, I think people more formally involved in consulting will get even more from Flawless Consulting. I highly recommend this book for anyone who interested in Getting Your Expertise Used. In addition to the two prefaces, the chapters are: Chapter 1 A Consultant by Any Other Name Chapter 2 Techniques Are Not Enough
Chapter 3 Flawless Consulting
Chapter 4 Contracting Overview
Chapter 5 The Contracting Meeting
Chapter 6 The Agonies of Contracting
Chapter 7 The Internal Consultant
Chapter 8 Understanding Resistance
Chapter 9 Dealing with Resistance
Chapter 10 From Diagnosis to Discovery
Chapter 11 Getting the Data
Chapter 12 Whole-System Discovery
Chapter 13 Preparing for Feedback
Chapter 14 Managing the Feedback Meeting
Chapter 15 Implementation
Chapter 16 Strategies for Engagement
Chapter 17 Some Tools for Engagement
Chapter 18 Ethics and the Shadow Side of Consulting
Chapter 19 The Heart of the Matter
Appendix Another Checklist You Can Use (7 checklists actually)
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