ENTRY

Entry is the initial phase in any consulting process and assignment. During entry, the consultant and the client meet, try to learn as much as possible about each other, discuss and define the reason for which the consultant has been brought in, and on this basis agree on the scope of the assignment and the approach to be taken. The results of these first contacts, discussions, examinations and planning exercises are then reflected in the consulting contract, the signature of which can be regarded as the conclusion of this initial phase.

Entry is very much an exercise in matching. The client wants to be sure that he is dealing with the right consultant, and the consultant needs to be convinced that he is the right person, or that his firm is the right consulting organization, to address the problems of this particular client. Such a matching exercise can be difficult technically, but there may be even more difficult psychological problems. True, the client has invited the consultant, or agreed to consider his offer, and did so with some purpose in mind. It may be that he has turned to the consultant with great hopes, or regards him as a last-resort solution in a crisis. Nevertheless, the consultant is a stranger to the client organization. There may be mistrust, uncertainty, anxiety. The consultant has probably been in similar situations before. He knows, however, that his past successes with other clients are by no means a guarantee of repeated success. Furthermore, the client may have decided to talk to several consultants before choosing one for the assignment.

Thus the contacts and activities that constitute the initial phase of the consulting process have to achieve considerably more than the definition of terms of reference and the signature of a contract. The foundations of successful assignments are laid at this very early stage by establishing mutual trust and empathy, agreeing on the “rules of the game”, and starting the assignment with shared optimism and a vision of what can be achieved.

The full range of initial contact activities described in this chapter concerns new assignments with new clients. If a consultant returns to a

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