3 ms·

We've recently had an ex-consultant join our team as a perm and one of the biggest challenges he's faced is reducing his ego. It's taken several months to adj

We've recently had an ex-consultant join our team as a perm and one of the biggest challenges he's faced is reducing his ego. It's taken several months to adjust his working methods into a "team player" and realise he's not the only smart person it the room.

mosselman 7y ago
We also had an ex consultant join recently and that wasn’t at all like you describe for us.
- raihansaputra 7y ago
  That might really depend on their experience. "Consultant" is a wide term. They can work for the Big 4 companies around people like them, or one-man-army helping small businesses with stubborn clients. What might be successful for them by having to push those clients might not be a best fit for a team. Doesn't mean they won't fit, but both the team and the ex-consultant need to know the context.
- spurdoman77 7y ago
  Surprise that consultants can be as different as normal people. Fundamentally I dont think there is a big difference, they just prefer different kind of work. Personally as an employer I really enjoy consultants, because I habe freedom not to order their services when I dont need them anymore. With employees I am kind of obliged to keep them hired until they want to leave.
  - mosselman 7y ago
    > Surprise that consultants can be as different as normal people. That was my point, yes.
robinduckett 7y ago
Personally, I thrive when being a facilitator, and I love being the dumbest guy in the room as I get to learn a bunch from interesting people. Keeping egos out of the room is important.
lowercased 7y ago
from the other side - I've worked for many years as either the only or the primary person responsible for delivering a project. I've spent a few months on a team in a project this year. The one 'adjustment' I had to make was understanding that if something wasn't delivered, it wasn't "my fault" (or wasn't my fault automatically). I missed a couple of delivery dates - the world didn't end. I pushed out some stuff with errors - other people on the team picked those up and fixed them. I did the same for others when I could. The mindset wasn't so much "I'm the only smart person in the room" as "I've spent 10 years being personally responsible for nearly every aspect of every system - and done that reasonably well - and now there's other people in the process". There's some adjustments to make, and sometimes you don't always know the best way to make those adjustments. Now, some (most?) of the people on that team had < 5 years of professional experience. A couple had ~10-12. I have 25 years. There were times when I tried to offer up my perspective/experience - not because I'm necessarily "smarter" but... if I've seen problems and know how to avoid them... shouldn't we try to avoid them, and help the business avoid those problems? Now, I have been on teams where I am the smartest person in the room (or... the most productive, or the most accomplished, or whatever). It's not like that all the time, but it does happen sometimes, and it can be awkward. Pretending that everyone has equal skill and experience and that all inputs are valid doesn't benefit the project or business, although it might, in the short term, help team morale by not hurting feelings of some people. Some of those same people might end up leaving at a moment's notice anyway (which I've seen happen - don't upset person A - they're valuable(!) - then person A leaves with 1 hour notice).

mosselman 7y ago

We also had an ex consultant join recently and that wasn’t at all like you describe for us.

raihansaputra 7y ago
That might really depend on their experience. "Consultant" is a wide term. They can work for the Big 4 companies around people like them, or one-man-army helping small businesses with stubborn clients. What might be successful for them by having to push those clients might not be a best fit for a team. Doesn't mean they won't fit, but both the team and the ex-consultant need to know the context.
spurdoman77 7y ago
Surprise that consultants can be as different as normal people. Fundamentally I dont think there is a big difference, they just prefer different kind of work. Personally as an employer I really enjoy consultants, because I habe freedom not to order their services when I dont need them anymore. With employees I am kind of obliged to keep them hired until they want to leave.
- mosselman 7y ago
  > Surprise that consultants can be as different as normal people. That was my point, yes.

robinduckett 7y ago

Personally, I thrive when being a facilitator, and I love being the dumbest guy in the room as I get to learn a bunch from interesting people. Keeping egos out of the room is important.

lowercased 7y ago

from the other side - I've worked for many years as either the only or the primary person responsible for delivering a project. I've spent a few months on a team in a project this year. The one 'adjustment' I had to make was understanding that if something wasn't delivered, it wasn't "my fault" (or wasn't my fault automatically). I missed a couple of delivery dates - the world didn't end. I pushed out some stuff with errors - other people on the team picked those up and fixed them. I did the same for others when I could. The mindset wasn't so much "I'm the only smart person in the room" as "I've spent 10 years being personally responsible for nearly every aspect of every system - and done that reasonably well - and now there's other people in the process". There's some adjustments to make, and sometimes you don't always know the best way to make those adjustments. Now, some (most?) of the people on that team had < 5 years of professional experience. A couple had ~10-12. I have 25 years. There were times when I tried to offer up my perspective/experience - not because I'm necessarily "smarter" but... if I've seen problems and know how to avoid them... shouldn't we try to avoid them, and help the business avoid those problems? Now, I have been on teams where I am the smartest person in the room (or... the most productive, or the most accomplished, or whatever). It's not like that all the time, but it does happen sometimes, and it can be awkward. Pretending that everyone has equal skill and experience and that all inputs are valid doesn't benefit the project or business, although it might, in the short term, help team morale by not hurting feelings of some people. Some of those same people might end up leaving at a moment's notice anyway (which I've seen happen - don't upset person A - they're valuable(!) - then person A leaves with 1 hour notice).