High-Impact Consulting: How Clients and Consultants Can Leverage Rapid Results Into Long-Term Gains (Jossey-Bass Business & Management) [Hardcover]

Robert H. Schaffer (Author)

Book Description

Series: Jossey-Bass Business & Management | Publication Date: April 1997

The core idea of the book is that most consulting work is not effective because it emphasizes processes and deliverables rather than business results. Further, most consulting projects are too ambitious and long-term in definition, making it difficult for the organization to see and feel positive results and have the stamina to go on. To make matters more difficult, most clients collude with the consultants in this situation by placing all their trust in the consultant and not taking responsibility for results. In effect, management consultants and their clients are engaging on long-term co-dependent relationships that mostly benefit the consultants. By contrast, Schaffer argues for an approach to consulting that is focused on results, broken into shorter-term pieces, and is driven by both the client and the consultant. This book presents both a critique of current consulting practice and, more important, a detailed approach to results-based consulting projects. The book addresses project design, client/consultant relationships, and methods for achieving small wins that maintain motivation and keep the company moving ahead.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"If senior executives are going to spend large sums of money for internal consultants or outside firms, you need to be clear about the actions you must take to avoid disappointments and to make sure that expert advice is translated into tangible, bottom-line improvements. This book offers many practical ideas on how to do that."
— George M. C. Fisher, former chairman and CEO, Eastman Kodak Company

"Most consulting is practiced in ways that are doomed to failure. If you use expert advisers, whether from your staff or from a consulting firm, this book provides plenty of insight on how you can increase the odds of a high payback."
— Lawrence J. Toole, former senior vice president and manager, human resources, GE Capital

"The allure of using consultants for tough business problems is fraught with risk. As Bob Schaffer explains, the relationships between business managers and consultants frequently end in disappointment. High-Impact Consulting should be read by all managers about to use a consultant, and by those consultants who want results as well as fees."
— John H. Biggs, chairman and CEO, TIAA-CREF

"Effective consultants, whether external or on company staff, must sell and deliver significant and measurable results. Too often what is delivered is just advice and activity. Bob Schaffer tells client executives how to demand stretch results and teaches consultants how to change their practice to deliver them. His approach works."
— C. Richard Larrick, manager, mill improvement process, Georgia-Pacific Corporation; former president, Paper Industry Management Association

--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

From the Publisher

"If senior executives are going to spend large sums of money for internal consultants or outside firms, you need to be clear about the actions you must take to avoid disappointments and to make sure that expert advice is translated into tangible, bottom-line improvements. This book offers many practical ideas on how to do that."
— George M. C. Fisher, former chairman and CEO, Eastman Kodak Company

"Most consulting is practiced in ways that are doomed to failure. If you use expert advisers, whether from your staff or from a consulting firm, this book provides plenty of insight on how you can increase the odds of a high payback."
— Lawrence J. Toole, former senior vice president and manager, human resources, GE Capital

"The allure of using consultants for tough business problems is fraught with risk. As Bob Schaffer explains, the relationships between business managers and consultants frequently end in disappointment. High-Impact Consulting should be read by all managers about to use a consultant, and by those consultants who want results as well as fees."
— John H. Biggs, chairman and CEO, TIAA-CREF

"Effective consultants, whether external or on company staff, must sell and deliver significant and measurable results. Too often what is delivered is just advice and activity. Bob Schaffer tells client executives how to demand stretch results and teaches consultants how to change their practice to deliver them. His approach works."
— C. Richard Larrick, manager, mill improvement process, Georgia-Pacific Corporation; former president, Paper Industry Management Association

--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 234 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1 edition (April 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0787903418
• ISBN-13: 978-0787903411
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #447,204 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for consultants and managers, August 1, 2005

By 

Khaled Hassan - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: High-Impact Consulting: How Clients and Consultants Can Work Together to Achieve Extraordinary Results (Completely Revised and Updated) (Hardcover)

High Impact Consulting is a must read for both consultants and managers striving to excel in today's competitive, fast paced market. The book provides a recipe for consultants to perform better in their job and tells managers what to expect from a good, high impact, consultant. I was first introduced to this book by Prof. Alan Goldman as a required read for the Organizational Consulting class at Arizona State University, MBA program.

The author starts by comparing low-yield, conventional consulting to the high-yield, high impact consulting. He concludes that traditional consulting suffers from five fatal flaws that lead to an implementation gap in the client organization since most consultants don't make client implementation a central focus of their consulting practice. It is vital for consultants to make certain that clients absorb, use, and benefit from the solutions the consultants offer. In order to do that, the author advocates that high impact consulting corrects the five flaws of traditional consulting through the following
1. Define the project in terms of specific client goals that will be attained instead of defining the project in terms of the consultant deliverables.
2. Determine the project scope based on what the client is willing and able to implement instead of ignoring the client readiness.
3. Divide the project into increments with rapid cycle time for quicker results to give momentum to the project instead of aiming for one big solution that requires huge investments and long cycle time.
4. Consultants should work with clients in a collaborative, full partnership mode through every stage of the project instead of passing the responsibility back and forth.
5. Leverage the use of small consulting teams instead of labor-intensive use of hordes of consultants through active participation of the client and helping the client make better use of their own talents.

The author uses a wealth of examples to support those ideas based on his personal experience and the experience of other consultants that worked with him. The remainder of the book provides recommendations for the consultant-client contracting process, the need for senior management support to ensure success of the consulting project, and how to overcome client and consultant anxiety.

The reader would find this book easy to follow with clear ideas that are based on the author's experience, not on academic research. Working in the aerospace industry for a number of years, I can relate my personal experience to many of the conventional consulting flaws that the author introduced and attempted to fix. I have witnessed a number of consulting projects that companies would spent thousands of dollars on with no clear outcome or successful implementation. This book definitely made me an advocate of high impact consulting when I do internal consulting or when I seek help of external consultants.

The main drawback in this book is the author's writing style. In his attempt to deliver and clarify his ideas to the reader, the author falls into the trap of repeating himself over and over and over again. It would be helpful if the author uses future book revisions as an opportunity to focus his ideas and avoid repetitions. Also, in this era of globalization, it would be useful to add a chapter about cross cultural consulting and how high impact consulting would be adjusted to accommodate cultural diversity.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Right Way to Consult...for THEIR results, not YOURS, February 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: High-Impact Consulting: How Clients and Consultants Can Leverage Rapid Results Into Long-Term Gains (Jossey-Bass Business & Management) (Hardcover)

This book gives an account of the absolute right way to consult. But there is a problem: One, however, I believe is a good one whose day in the sun has come.

Consultants and consulting firms have different definitions of success. A GOOD and TRUE consultant wants to see his customer succeed, and this book shows how to accomplish that. A TYPICAL consulting firm wants to rack up the chargeable time. There is a dichotomy here, one with which I have dealt personally for 18 years before founding my own firm.

The author correctly describes consulting success as client results. However, most large consulting firms describe success as a monstrous amount of chargeable hours. In short, don't you dare solve your client's problem before your billing has reached at least six figures!!!

Read this book. If you are a consultant, celebrate it. If you are a partner in a major consulting firm, decry it. If you are a client, hold your consultants to it!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars High-Impact Advice, July 24, 2006

By 

Elijah Chingosho "Dr Elijah Chingosho" (Nairobi, Kenya) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: High-Impact Consulting: How Clients and Consultants Can Work Together to Achieve Extraordinary Results (Completely Revised and Updated) (Hardcover)

This is a high quality book that provides excellent advice to managers and consultants. The author explains the critical factors for an effective design of projects, especially the need to define project objectives in terms of client results instead of merely consultant deliverables. Schaffer identifies five serious flaws that he says low-yielding consultants suffer from of coming up with solutions with no regard on the capacity of the client to implement them.

This is a must read for managers of companies that may need to employ consultants. These managers will be able to demand high value from the consultants. It is also very critical for practising and aspiring consultants as they can learn how they can add value to their clients by providing new methods or solutions to their clients, and ensure that clients achieve measurable improvement arising from the solutions they provide and finally ensure that the client is able to sustain the improvement in future. Schaffer presents useful and practical recommendations directed at both the consultant and client to ensure a win-win relationship.

The book has several case studies and tips that help reinforce the concepts that he is propagating. This is a well written book that is easy to follow. The book is a useful addition to my library.