Perceived power is achieved power

Whether you’re a consultant or a contractor, the amount of power or influence you have in a contract has nothing to do with how much you’re given. It all comes down to the question of perceived power that your client, reporting supervisor, or even your co-workers have from you.

Companies hire contractors for different reasons than they hire consultants. As such, their perceived power is different. Contractors are often hired to supplement current full-time staff by adding additional resources to one or more projects. In this case, the perceived power of a contractor is, at most, the same that is granted to full-time employees with whom they work. Consultants, on the other hand, are often hired for their expertise in one or more subject or functional areas. The perceived power of a consultant is in, or even abovethat of your reporting supervisor.

ONLY ONE CONTRACTOR

When consulting in a larger work environment, consultants are often treated the same as contractors. My guess is that these companies have so many different contracting companies coming in to help with resources, they just don’t know who’s hired for what. Although equality in the workforce is supposed to be a good thing, when it comes to perceived power this is not always a good thing.

In this type of environment, contractors (and therefore consultants) are perceived as powerless. You may even hear one or more managers in the workplace say that they don’t have to listen to or do anything a contractor/consultant says, as they are “just a contractor.” As a professional, try not to take the comment personally; it has nothing to do with your skills or skill set.

Companies that have managers with a “just a contractor” mentality have probably had a bad experience with contractors in the past. If you find yourself in this type of environment, be sure to do your best to try not to confirm their negative and false stereotype.

ACHIEVE PERCEIVED POWER

Many times, consultants are hired based on the reputation of the company they work for. The higher the reputation of the consulting firm, generally the greater the perceived power of the consultant. This is great if he works for one of the “big six”, but if he doesn’t, his perceived power may have to be earned the old-fashioned way; through hard work. Unfortunately, there is no “magic” way to gain perceived power. Perceived power is gained as a direct result of the work he produces for the client.

One way to achieve perceived power is simply to be competent in the functional area for which you were hired. You can also win by being professional in your behavior and communication. In other words, remember these three rules:

1. Communicate the status of your projects with the client frequently.
2. Never let your customer be caught off guard by potentially bad or negative news.
3. Whatever you do, make sure your client doesn’t hear bad or negative news from their supervisor before telling you. If/when that happens, it can not only destroy any perceived power you have, it can destroy your individual reputation and/or that of your company.

Another way to achieve power is by suggesting new ideas. Sometimes it takes an outsider to point out the obvious. You can also achieve perceived power by continually suggesting ways to improve current processes. Remember that your success depends on their success. It is very important that the suggestions you provide and the decisions you make are based on your valid and justified research.

LOSE ALL PERCEIVED POWER

Unfortunately, there will be times when it doesn’t matter how successful you are or how much the client has benefited from your services. If a full-time employee “has you in the eye,” his perceived power, no matter how great it once was, could be reduced to little or none. I have seen this happen to some of the best consultants I have ever worked with. It doesn’t matter if the employee’s logic for wanting you to leave is justified or not, you better start looking for another client to work with.

From what I’ve been able to observe, this happens occasionally when things start to progress faster than the manager wants. As ironic as it sounds, sometimes a great consultant can do their job too well. This, in turn, makes the manager feel that his job may be in jeopardy (always remember that there is no such thing as “job security”). From a manager’s point of view, it comes down to the basic battle of “he goes or I go.” You can guess who wins that battle. (hint: it’s not you).

ABSOLUTE “PERCEIVED” POWER

You may have heard Lord Acton say, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Absolute power, however perceived, can also absolutely corrupt. It doesn’t matter what your true power or influence is; neither should. In most settings, it’s about perceived power. If your client perceives you as an expert, you are. If you are perceived only as a complementary resource, that is all the power or influence you will have; unless you earn more.

In general, consulting can be a very rewarding experience. Remember, consulting is not about you or your success; it’s about your customer’s success. Your reward is how your success can be directly tied to some of the work you’ve done for them.