The Seven Cs of Consulting: Your Complete Blueprint for any Consultancy Assignment [Paperback]

Mick Cope (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0273645110 | ISBN-13: 978-0273645115 | Publication Date: March 21, 2000

For any consultant aiming to survive and grow in this complex world, they need to have a clear and concise change model to hand, one that can guarentee delivery of a wide range of change projects. Based around the author's 7C's model (Client, Clarify, Create, Change, Confirm, Continue, Close), this book offers both budding and experienced consultants a solid and robust framework to enhance their ability to manage any consultancy assignment. - from understanding the client's needs, through to successful assignment completion and developing new business out of that success. With the help of the crib notes on the pull-out back pocket guide, the 7 C's model will show you how to improve your professionalism, and deliver clear and demonstrable results to clients, bringing them back for more.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

During 15 years as a business consultant, Mick Cope developed a structured yet flexible framework for action that he believes will benefit others likewise "employed to help solve a problem for someone else." In The Seven Cs of Consulting, he lays it out in a way that should prove useful to beginners as well as the more experienced. Everything is oriented toward gaining control of a project from beginning to end while delivering consistent results that can be comparatively measured and continually advanced. Focusing on method, not people, the book spans the entire event from "meeting the client to closing the contract and saying goodbye." Its primary themes are grouped under alliteratively dubbed and clearly defined taglines like Clarify, Create, Change, and Continue. In the Client section, for example, it addresses orientation (when "how they make sense of the world" must be assessed and processed) through contract negotiation (which, hopefully, leaves everyone "genuinely happy"). Additionally, the Confirm section (for substantiating "that what was wanted has actually been delivered"), the Close section (for ensuring "that the change finishes with style and grace"), and the others all include step-by-step recommendations that can easily be adapted to different situations. --Howard Rothman

Review

"It is a significant body of work and wide-ranging and detailed treatment. I am also impressed with the way that is seeks to pull together a variety of different strands of theoretical thought into a coherenet model with practical application."- Mike Mister, Ernst & Young "I have been in consulting for many years and read many books, but this is the one I wish I read years before the others."- Pam North, Independent Consultant "This book is essential for anyone interested in consulting. It is jam packed with all the things I know but sometimes forget and a whole lot more besides."- Angela Barst, Phoenix Training "A very rich, diverse source of informative consultancy approached whose power lies in being grounded in everyday reality and spiced with humour and common sense."- Ray Taylor, Changing Landscapes "A companion that takes you by the hand and leads you in a simply way through the complexitities of consulting."- Doug Odgers, Fellow of the Institute of Professional Sales "I would recommend this book to any consultant starting in the business along with the most experienced consultant as a reference."- Edward M Kohl, BCM Consulting "Excellent navigation for the consultant's journey."- Michael Wright, Institute of Management Consultants "A fresh and challenging look at the nitty gritty of a difficult profession. Full of good ideas."- Bob Dixon, Consultant

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Financial Times/Prentice Hall (March 21, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0273645110
• ISBN-13: 978-0273645115
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #714,844 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent personal distillation of the consulting process, November 7, 2002

By 

Chrissy Chan "chrissy" (New York, NY, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Seven Cs of Consulting: Your Complete Blueprint for any Consultancy Assignment (Paperback)

Overview:
Cope utilizes a structured, yet customizable methodology for this book that provides an action framework for his readers. Here, he presents his viewpoint of the entire consulting process in a distilled, comprehensive model entitled "the Seven Cs framework" that he hopes will benefit readers in their consulting engagements.

The seven Cs of consulting in Cope's framework are:
1. Client: Getting it right from the start
2. Clarify: Understanding the real issues
3. Create: Developing a deliverable solution
4. Change: Working to make things happen
5. Confirm: Measuring the change
6. Continue: Making sure the solution sticks
7. Close: Signing off with style

This book provides a good overview of the field of consulting for both beginning and practiced consultants alike, as it combines theories of consulting, as well as recommendations and tips for best practices in a smooth, comprehensible manner. The client-centered nature of the book also helps reinforce the importance of prioritizing the needs of one's clients, and of nurturing the relationship between consultant and client. For example, Cope suggests that taking the perspective that a client might have about the proposed project is one way to ensure that one operates with a focus on the client. Such suggestions, if put into practice, could help change the way that a consultant sees her or his client. The framework is supposed to be adaptable to individual needs and unique situations, but always provides a focus on the best practices at each stage of the consulting project, and reminds readers that the end of one project can also mean the generation or development of a future-oriented consultant-client relationship.

Structure:
The book can be broken down into four main sections; each section consists of a set of relatively short chapters. This format presents a swift, easy read for both those who finish the book in one sitting, and those who do not have the time or inclination to do so. The brevity of each chapter also allows for easy overviews or referrals to be made, and presents a good starting point for further research into specific areas or ideas, if the reader wishes to investigate a particular topic or idea in greater depth and detail. Key questions included in the Pocket Guide are listed at the end of various sections and chapters in order to provide a succinct point that the reader can make use of in an actual consulting project.

Book Highlights:
Cope has made a brilliant attempt at making the key points of his book easily memorable. Along with using alliteration to make his points attractively memorable, as well as providing clear, useful graphs and charts, he has also included a detachable and foldable Pocket Guide at the end of the book, which lists the seven Cs, a brief description of each, and major points from the various chapters of the book. One fine example of how he makes points from this book memorable and easily comprehensible is through his comparing various types of decision-makers that one might encounter in an organization, to the key characters (King, Queen of Hearts, Knave, Joker and Ace) in a deck of cards.

Readers will also be pleased to note the smooth integration of consulting theory and practice in Cope's framework. Although the book presents a light, digestible read replete with examples of successful and unsuccessful consulting engagements, sections of the book utilize a psychology-textbook approach to portions of the consulting process. For example, he provides a summary of the benefits and detractions of various data collection methods, an overview of the crucial area of data validity, as well as recommendations for successful data analysis.

Cautionary Points:
Although this book provides an excellent synthesis of consulting theory and practice, readers should remember that it still represents the views and recommendations of a single consultant. While his examples and opinions are interesting and deftly expressed, there is not very much research support cited, as this book was not designed for academic purposes. Personally, it even seems that the citations he uses were selected because they seemed to support his theories, instead of having been included on the strength of their research validity or usefulness. This book therefore belongs more in the realm of popular psychology than of research psychology, even though it contains sections on best practices of applied research methods. Indeed, most of the book's bibliography consists of popular psychology and self-help titles. Readers should hence see this book as a general overview of one person's viewpoint and recommendations for the consulting process, and use it as a starting point for further research and investigation into topics or areas of interest.

Review of Appendix Section:
The Appendix of the book presents a practical reference guide to the consulting process. It lists in checklist format all of the key components of the Seven Cs model, providing 49 intervention elements such as "Build", and corresponding change descriptors such as "Have you identified what opportunities exist for further work?". This checklist was designed to assist consultants in asking key questions to themselves and their clients to increase the chances of planning and executing a successful consulting engagement, as well as to assist the development of productive working relationships between both parties.

Conclusion:
Cope presents a comprehensible framework of the consulting process that takes readers from the beginning to the end of consulting engagements, and includes useful examples, graphics and recommendations for best practices in the field. It is written in an easy-to-read style and format, and it combines theory and practice smoothly, hence providing a useful overview of the field and the theories that can be used to drive it. Clever inclusions of a detachable Pocket Guide and a checklist of key questions that a consultant could use for consulting projects make this book a practical tool as well. Readers should bear in mind, however, that this is the expression of one consultant's views and ideas of the consulting process, and therefore be prepared to investigate areas and ideas of personal interest at a deeper level in order to obtain more details of the idea's actual method and merit.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 7 Cs of Consulting - Comprehensive guide to success, April 15, 2000

By 

Edward M. Kohl, BCM Consulting (Newark, DE) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Seven Cs of Consulting: Your Complete Blueprint for any Consultancy Assignment (Paperback)

Mick has put together a comprehensive process for change consulting. He starts with how to approach the customer and finishes with how to follow-up for more business. I don't think that there is much he left out in between!

Don't look to this book if you want a short 30 page, quick overview of the subject, but if you are looking for a complete guide to all aspects of consulting, this is the book for you.

The book is interesting and well crafted, explaining every concept in understandable detail. I would recommend Mick's book for every consultant would could use a planned framework for their business.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Book of Theory..., July 27, 2005

By 

T. Wett - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Seven Cs of Consulting: Your Complete Blueprint for any Consultancy Assignment (Paperback)

I have been freelancing in a semi-niche IT field for a few years now and am currently gearing up for launching a "proper" consulting practice to gain more commercial clients and higher profit jobs. This is the first book on consulting I purchased and I grabbed it up sort of quickly at the store based on the few pages I skimmed.

After just a few paragraphs the author gained my respect as someone who knows what they are talking about and who has clearly thought through these ideas before putting them to paper. The editor, on the other hand, should be fired. I found a typo on every page in the first chapter until I eventually had to force myself to ignore them and move on. My cover is different than the one shown here, so maybe other pressings are better.

I certainly would not consider this an A-Z guide for the business of consulting. However, it might the best book on client relationship management that I've ever seen. The author gets deep into the theories and philosophy of the customer. This is truly valuable stuff, especially in my field where working with computers all the time can start to turn everyone around you into an "application". Cope emphasizes heavily on mentality, who's thinking what, getting people thinking on the same page and more useful pieces of the psychology of dealing with people. Another thing I liked is how genre-neutral it is throughout. It is not written with the assumption that the reader is working in any specific field. The info is completely universally helpful to all.

Having said that, I took it upon myself to shelve this book for a later day after getting about 50 pages into it. Not because it's not good. It's just not what I need at the moment. I was looking for a thorough guide to the business of consulting and I found that in Alan Weiss' "Getting Started in Consulting". I will definitely return to "The Seven Cs" in the near future as it provides an edge that I haven't seen in any other book. If you are an established consultant and are looking to improve the way you work, interact and progress through your jobs then this is a great read. If you are brand new this is probably not the best primer.