Raising the Bar on Consulting in the Social Benefit Sector: Ethics, Principles, Lessons Learned is a series of blog posts that explores the work of consultants to nonprofit/social sector organizations who find the hard-hitting truths that will help these organizations become more effective. The blog features the work of Shiree Teng, strategy and developmental evaluation consultant. The interviewer and host, Naaima Khan, also consults in the areas of evaluation capacity building/design and strategic planning. Whether you’re starting out, well along your path or at the edge, you’re welcome to offer your insights and reflections on our Lessons Learned as Consultants community!
Shiree Teng
Naaima Khan
Naaima: Welcome, Shiree. Thank you again for taking the time to share your wisdom and experience. I'd like to start from where we left off last time when we discussed starting a consulting practice. We covered a lot of topics and talked a bit about using your network as a source of getting business when you are starting.
Now, let's say for argument's sake, that your closest friends from your network leave you high and dry. You're tapping into your network of 30 friends, you know these people well, you've worked on your elevator pitch and you share it with them. Then - crickets - everybody seems either busy or non- respondent. Can you share what can be done in this scenario?
Shiree: I would say if you send out something to 30 of your closest people and nobody responds, then you shouldn't be a consultant. It’s tough to hear that, but it's a sign for you. Data is data. Silence is data, non-response is data. People ignoring me is data.
You gotta take all that data in - that 30 people don't respond. This is not the path for you because none of them will hire you. And that's painful to take in. So that data exists for a reason. You gotta dig in your heart and ask, ‘Why is that?’ So that's the first thing I would say. Second, it’s one thing to see people busy. You know, some of the emails might bounce back; people have moved on. Or maybe a couple of people respond. It's not absolute zero silence. Then I would go to LinkedIn and work that platform. I would browse through your connections and request at least five 25-minute calls.
And let’s just say maybe you reach out to those five out of your original network of 30 and say, ‘This is what I'm about, this is what I'm into. What do you think? Are there people that have asked you about needing consultants recently? Might you or your organization know who else I should be talking to?’
But ask for no more than 25, or even 20 minutes, because people's time is precious. Especially other consultants because every hour is a billable hour or time they could be taking off, right? So you're asking for something quite precious. If you do get that time with them, honor it. Don't be long winded, be very clear. Prepare for the meeting and use their time wisely. If none of that works, I would say, look for consulting firms - perhaps boutique consulting firms - see if they're hiring, and join them.
When I started, I was an associate consultant to three networks and I loved it because when I work at home, I'm by myself. But with these networks, I belong to these communities of colleagues. And they would give me spill-over business - stuff that they can't take on or stuff that they wanted me to take on for their team for whatever reason. They would bring me in as a contractor. And it's great because you don't have to hustle on your own for every gig. Some of them come from these networks and you meet people.
And you learn, I learned a lot from watching how other people do it. At the beginning of my consulting practice, I did that for about 10 years. So it's not just something that you do for a year and then you move on. I did that for 10 years. Because I love these colleagues and sometimes the gigs are bigger than what I could bid for on my own. Through these types of projects, I could see a bigger, global view of what's happening in our sector. And I get to have more impact by being on someone's team rather than solo. As a solo practitioner, you will only get certain types of gigs - those that are made and geared for solo practitioners. And then other clients are expecting teams because they are offering bigger jobs.
Naaima: Yeah, absolutely. And sometimes you just have to step out on a limb and introduce yourself. Like I did when I met you! I was in the midst of leaving a job for a variety of reasons related to a lack of acting on the principle of equity. You were consulting at the time with my previous employer on race equity. And I was just like, “I have to tell this woman my thoughts.” And so I just spilled all the beans to you. And I think I quite succinctly pointed out the core challenges that my employer was facing in addressing racial equity. I'm so glad that we made that connection because that prompted, you know, further conversation and now this wonderful relationship that I'm so grateful for.
So I think it's definitely also about taking steps to put yourself out there that people who are starting out may be uncomfortable with in the beginning. When you’re not running your own business, you're not used to putting yourself out there like that. In fact, I don't even know what moved me to reach out to you like I did, when I look back on it. But I'm so glad I did.
Lastly, Shiree, I want to talk about this concept that you alluded to briefly in our last conversation but we didn't explore. This idea of being kind of stuck in this capitalist system and framework in an age where people are radically reconsidering and reexamining the basic tenets of capitalism. So can we talk a little bit more about that?
How do we, as consultants, set up our practice and our philosophical approach so that we're not reinforcing the same problematic principles that drive cutthroat capitalism?
Shiree: So using your example, Naaima, is each one teach one. Each one, raise one. So just because I've been in practice for a long time and my practice is flourishing for which I'm very grateful. And I feel like it puts me in a position where I have more responsibility for sharing everything that I've learned and also bringing on younger, more queer, more excluded marginalized people who want to be consultants. I want to bring them close to me. I want them to work on projects with me. Like what we've done. I feel like that's part of my ability, my responsibility to contribute and give back. We all want to give back. But giving back can look very different. Right? So every year I make it a point to donate probably 20% of my gross income to my clients. I will buy tables at their galas. I will be a monthly sustainer to their organizations. I don't have a sliding fee scale. I don't believe in that.
And I am actually charging on the very high end of consulting now, right after all these years. So giving back looks like working and bringing younger people who are new to consulting into my orbit and introducing them to my network of clients and other consultants. Because, one day, I won't be here and you will. So why am I hoarding my contacts, my clients, my work, everything I've learned, you know, walls I've hit? I don't need to hoard all that. I need to share it. So that's what I'm doing now. More consciously and more intentionally. I'm working in teams except for one client, everything else is in teams. And I'm very clear that the people I want on my teams are the future of our country that have been excluded from reaching their dreams of freedom.
Naaima: From a third party perspective, some of the principles that I've seen you act on that are, in my opinion, anti-cutthroat capitalism include working from a mindset of abundance. I feel like you've always come from this place of believing that there's enough work to go around. There’s no keeping tabs on what work was done last time and what can we get out of this adding this particular individual on a project. And I've really admired that about your approach - you bring on people that you trust with your gut that there's some value there.
That really helps you take that approach of giving back in this way of, of raising or helping take the next generation under your wing. Another thing that comes to mind is this concept of taking time to go more slowly. For example, you're not about having a packed agenda and plowing through it and meeting these hard deliverables rapidly. You move intentionally and you're very emergent in your own practice. For you, getting the outcome is about driving toward the deliverable and the end product while getting there in a way that has everybody involved and included. I appreciate your approach.
Shiree: Thank you for lifting that up. I think abundance and generosity go hand in hand. If we are generous, generosity will come to us. People feel it. People feel your spirit. You don't have to say it. What you said about time is about trust, right? That I can take a slower pace because I know our relationship is gonna be needed so that we can go faster later.
So it's a balance. Just like the rest of our lives… bringing balance between the light and shadow parts of ourselves, seeing that in each other, and our clients, and loving ourselves and them through all of it. You can't just do an hour of relationship building. People will say, ‘We're paying you for what?’ But without investing time in relationship building, whatever's gonna come later is just gonna take longer. So it's an investment that you need to make in some fashion.
And you, you mentioned trust, right? I didn't know you when you reached out to me other than, you know, the few meetings we'd had with 39 other people on zoom. So sometimes you just gotta trust your gut. And I haven't always been right. Sometimes it has hit me on the head and I say, ‘Ooh, what'd I do that for?’ But more often than not the majority of the time when I trust myself, it all works out because I can always change my mind. If it didn't work between us, Naaima, we would have just stopped. I would've just stopped. So just because you trust, doesn't make you a fool. But I feel like we have to lean into generosity, our gut and our intuition for abundance to come.
Naaima: So wise, Shiree. This is a great conversation and I can feel us getting deeper. We’ll have to wait until our next post to continue discussing some of the more philosophical aspects of anticapitalist consulting. Until next time!