{"id":37222,"date":"2021-07-23T01:44:45","date_gmt":"2021-07-23T08:44:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=37222"},"modified":"2021-07-21T10:44:40","modified_gmt":"2021-07-21T17:44:40","slug":"more-than-a-guide-for-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2021\/07\/23\/more-than-a-guide-for-work\/","title":{"rendered":"More than a guide for work"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vancouver-based consultant Zena Simces\u2019 You Can Make a Difference: A Guide to Being a Great Consultant<\/em>(Tellwell Talent, 2020) is an informative, concise and useful primer for anyone considering this career path \u2013 or, really, anyone who works with diverse individuals or groups.<\/p>\n

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Zena Simces shares lessons from her experiences in You Can Make a Difference: A Guide to Being a Great Consultant.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Based on knowledge gleaned from 30-plus years of experience working with a wide range of clients, as well as other research, You Can Make a Difference<\/em> is what its title says, a guide to being an effective consultant. But it also is kind of a guide for how to be a good person and interact well with others. As Simces notes in the chapter on \u201cUpholding Ethical Standards\u201d: \u201cMy parents (who were in the grocery business) shaped me as a person and as a consultant. Their motto was to treat people the way I want to be treated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps now, in the context of ethics and family, I should mention that Simces is a longtime family friend. While I don\u2019t think that this fact has influenced my opinions, it is interesting that, more than once in her book \u2013 starting with the first chapter \u2013 Simces discusses the need for consultants to be aware of things like unconscious bias and to try and mitigate their impacts.<\/p>\n

\u201cKnowing your strengths and weaknesses is important,\u201d she writes. \u201cWe all struggle with self-awareness, but effective consultants recognize their biases and how to address them. They are natural self-starters and strive for excellence in all that they do, so they are aware of their blind spots and work to improve in areas they are weak.\u201d<\/p>\n

The book is full of practical advice like this \u2013 not earth-shattering insights but valuable information, collected into one easy-to-read volume of about 100 pages.<\/p>\n

You Can Make a Difference<\/em> is divided into two main parts. The first section takes readers through how to become a consultant, including consideration of whether that\u2019s really the right career path for them. The second section highlights the main skills needed to do the job well. The four-page selected bibliography offers a start for readers who want to dive into the topic more deeply.<\/p>\n

The two-and-a-half-page foreword begins with an example from Simces\u2019 career \u2013 an instance when things did not go as planned, at least initially.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile I have learned much from my successes, \u2018failures\u2019 like this one offer me the opportunity to learn and grow, which is essential,\u201d she writes. \u201cBeing a successful consultant does not only involve substantive knowledge and technical skills, but also \u2018soft skills,\u2019 such as relationship-building, listening, communication and leadership. This combination allows a consultant to more efficiently and thoroughly achieve his or her clients\u2019 goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

As she notes, these abilities, in reality, are \u201ctoo important to be called \u2018soft\u2019 skills and have become the essence of what is required to be a great consultant. In fact, the Business Council of Canada\u2019s Skills Survey (2018), which is based on responses from 95 of Canada\u2019s largest companies, lists soft skills such as collaboration, communication, problem-solving, analytical capabilities and resiliency as top priorities for entry-level hires. Companies also valued these soft skills for mid-level employees.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"image<\/a>This is another example of why Simces\u2019 book also would be of interest to people who aren\u2019t necessarily wanting to become a consultant. And that she starts her book with sharing how she learned from a misstep illustrates another of her points that would be beneficial to anyone, not just consultants \u2013 that it\u2019s OK to \u201cshow some vulnerability. In fact, it takes courage to show vulnerability, and it takes strength to redirect to find a better solution. This can contribute to greater confidence between you and your client.\u201d Or any relationship.<\/p>\n

Unlike other books of this kind, Simces doesn\u2019t give multiple examples or long stories to help drive home or explain a point. She gives one \u2013 and short ones at that \u2013 and moves on, which I appreciated. She trusts readers\u2019 intelligence and doesn\u2019t fill pages with unnecessary or ego-inflating narratives. Each chapter ends with a summary of the ideas therein and, in the second section, each chapter also includes a list of key tips covered. While this may seem like overkill, I found it helpful, especially when wanting to quickly find the details about something I only semi-recalled reading. I could see the tips or summaries making the book an accessible reference tool to have on your shelf or computer desktop long after having read it.<\/p>\n

Whether or not You Can Make a Difference<\/em> translates into your being able to make a difference in the world as a consultant, I can\u2019t say, but it gives anyone considering this career path a solid framework for trying to do so. And its lessons and observations are applicable beyond the work setting. We could all use a gentle reminder on how to build trust in relationships, to have the courage to admit what we don\u2019t know, to be flexible and open to change, and other such life, never mind consulting, skills.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vancouver-based consultant Zena Simces\u2019 You Can Make a Difference: A Guide to Being a Great Consultant(Tellwell Talent, 2020) is an informative, concise and useful primer for anyone considering this career path \u2013 or, really, anyone who works with diverse individuals or groups. Based on knowledge gleaned from 30-plus years of experience working with a wide […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[784],"tags":[20742,20743,9219],"class_list":["post-37222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","tag-career","tag-consulting","tag-zena-simces"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37222\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}