Musings of an HR consultant

The moment I became a consultant the reaction of friends and family is, “Oh! now you can work to your time and to your convenience”.  My colleagues went on a different level, they immediately visualised me as a successful entrepreneur and assumed that I am earning like never before and more than anyone else. They also say, “so no more bosses eh, you are your own boss!

The truth is that I have as many bosses as the number of my clients;  and more because everyone wants that one extra piece from me, the consultant.

As a consultnat I have experienced that some employees in the organization will work with me and will make me feel like a part of the organization while some tell me how it should be done, how so many things are wrong at their place of work and how we can do things differently.  It is an eye opener, a forum from where I get insights to add to my scope of work.

At some clients offices I am welcomed as if I are an employee, I am an intergral part of the organization and I want to do more.  What hurts is when I am doubted by some because I am a consultant because we work with clients with a lot of ownership and accountability.

I feel indebted to that first client because they believed in me when I had no credentials to provide as a consultant. By the time I got my second client I am more assured of being able to build my practice, of being able to deliver to a client.  However, each client is as important to me as any other and I do my best always to ensure that the organization gets the best from me and my team.  If at any point I think that we cannot do a certain part of a work either due to lack of skill or due to lack of resources or because I feel it is not in scope I do not stop work, I call it out and try and find a solution to the situation and resolve it.

It is indeed a delight when my client refers me and I get more work due to that reference.  There can be no better praise and no better appreciation than a reference that gets me more work.  The day I get a reference is the day that sweeps away the doubts I had and the uncertainities that may come.
It is even more satisfying when one of my team members is recognised doing outstanding work because I know how they work independently with little or no help from me.  They become independent at work  find resolutions to the problems they face and the questions they have at the organizations that they service.  I treat my client client organization as mine so I hope that my clients treat my team as theirs and keeps them safe and honest.

All in all thus far it has been an amazing journey, bittersweet experience for me and what I considered to be bitter at any point almost always becomes sweet either in the form of a realisation, a learning, an experience, a path to move forward.