If You've Ever Done Consulting

If you've ever done consulting or worked for a company that provides services to clients on an ongoing basis, you might run into the client who wants to hire you. Sometimes it's good, sometimes not, frequently it's a tricky situation.

The next entry in the Rule of St. Benedict doesn't exactly address this. So we'll take some liberties and see if we can extract some bits of wisdom that might apply nonetheless. Let's start by reading the Rule:

"If a pilgrim monk come from a distant region and desire to dwell in the monastery as a guest, let him be received for as long a time as he wishes, provided that he is content with the customs of the place as they are, and does not disturb the monastery by exorbitant wants, but is simply content with what he finds. Should he reasonably, modestly, and charitably censure or remark upon any defect, let the abbot consider the matter prudently, lest perchance the Lord have sent him for this very end. And if later on he should wish to bind himself to stability, let not his desire be denied him, especially as the character of his life could be discerned during the time that he was a guest."

The focus here is on visitors to the monastery. And we've already posted comments about visitors to our workplace. In the end, we concluded that "humility, especially in the form of setting aside ego and the desire to impress, will open the door to good, productive exchange. Having a set protocol of some sort in how we greet and treat our visitors will allow us to avoid anxiety or confusion. These help put our visitor at ease."

St. Benedict concern here is not with someone who stops by for a visit, but with those who someone (monk or other - he doesn't specify) who might sit themselves down and stay a while - at least long enough such that they might observe the goings-on in the monastery. In his typical humble and practical approach, St. Benedict's doesn't waste what he sees as an opportunity: Perhaps this guest might provide some insight or legitimate criticism that could help the abbot improve things. As usual, a wise approach.

Now, since we've already commented on visitors to the workplace, let's take some liberty here to see if we can derive more bits of wisdom for our workplace. We'll consider both those who do consulting for a living as well as employees of one company who might be working on a longer-term project with a client, one that puts us in their line of sight for an extended period. The length of their stay provides  ample opportunity to observe their skills, their strengths and weaknesses. 

Those who work as consultants might be in this position on a regular basis. And in such cases, a client might think, "Hmmm, this guy's pretty good at what he does. I wonder if he'd be interested in joining our team." While I've not run into this in my own consulting work, I've known others who have been approached by a client with a job offer. 

This can even come up similarly if we're employees and our work causes us to work mostly, or even exclusively with one client. For example, a former colleague of mine at a bank worked a lot with a large wealthy family whose assets were managed by what's known as a family office. My colleague provided banking services on behalf of his employer. The family office interactions were frequent and substantial. The family eventually decided that this guys skills were just what they needed to manage their own business. So bye-bye bank, hello family office.

There's really nothing wrong with any of this. And it doesn't necessarily disrupt the workplace of the consultant or employee who's services are solicited. If I'm an employer, and I run a a well-managed business that treats its employees well, I might run into this occasionally. It's just how business goes. There's no reason this should serve to disrupt my workplace when it occurs rarely.

Of course, if I notice that a valued employee of mine seems perturbed by one of employees being courted by a client I'd be wise to make a note and see if I can find out why. Is my employee jealous or envious of the departing employee? Maybe they would like to take that departed employees place, but I didn't give them that option. Any time you notice a change or disturbance in an individual's behavior, it's good practice to take note and, if and when appropriate, find out what's up. A skilled boss can - indeed should - do this without putting the employee on the spot. Doing so might help you retain a good employee. Taking the attitude that they should just "deal with it," while sometimes appropriate, is not the answer all the time.

(Of course, there are some folks who simple can't stand to witness another's good fortune. Not much you can do with these sorts.)

What if you're the guy who's running the company, or the department, that's hosting that consultant? You see how well he works and think he'd be a good fit for your company. We'll look at this next time.

For now, it does seem that such situations come up from time to time and under most circumstances really should not disrupt the normal course of business. There's no substantive threat to the stability of our workplace that I can discern.