Consulting soft skills: be enthusiastic about your assignment!
The idea for this post stems from recent feedback I got on an assignment from the project lead: I showed a high level of energy, but I should have showed more enthusiasm. I chuckled at first – but maybe there is something to it. Let me see if I can find some use for enthusiasm in consulting:
Be enthusiastic to power yourself
Are you thinking self betrayal right now? Well, this is one way to put it. What if you are facing a severe excel-cranking session and all you can do is think “when will it be done?”… and how could anybody ever be enthusiastic about powerpoint slides? That is not the point. The point is that you can influence your reactions. Make it a self-fulfilling prophecy! “This chart is gonna be rock`n`roll when I am done with it!” … “I’m gonna beat some awesome result out of this excel!” … make it a self-fulfilling prophecy. It has to be done anyway – so why not tell yourself that it can be fun? It might work! To prove the point, lets do a little test. For ten seconds now, smile brightly and laugh – regardless of what mood you are in, in almost all cases your body will sense your smile and your laughter and send out an internal happy pill to the brain. By acting as if you were happy, you can induce real happiness…. and that is the mechanics you can use to make your work more fun / less pain, too.
Be enthusiastic to power the team
We are working in a high-stress, high-pace, high-pressure environment, so there is energy inherent in the system. Deliverables need to get ready, the project is moving fast, and so do the tasks. With enthusiasm – or as I put it for myself, outspoken positive energy – you can bring a good spin to all that stress. Does that sound too touchy-feely for ya? I understand. See, it is not about sticking smiley badges on everyones chest. It can be as simple as sharing the image of a desired outcome with a colleague in a positive way - “hey, when we get this analysis done and melt it down to three slides, that will be a killer argument and really opening the clients’ eyes!”. I think that sharing positive images can make a difference in the attitude you and your colleagues have towards the things you work on (which can be tedious tasks sometimes).
Be enthusiastic to power the client
Towards the client, of course, you are the serious and all-business consultant. Still, I have made good experiences with conveying a positive mood. This can easily drift towards promising the client stuff that you are not sure you can deliver on – thin ice, that is. Don’t make promises you are not sure about. They will hold you accountable. Instead, show enthusiasm when delivering results! It is not making your presentation a circus show… but you want to make your results shine. Invest in your presentation skills. Smile. Use your voice. Convey to them the meaning of what you show them, not only the pure content.
