One of the Productivity Roles of an Advisor


By Hans Bool


TThe advisor is productive in a variety of ways. Different advisors -- either internal or external ones -- will dedicate their time according to a certain preference. Communication is said to be one of the most important skill of the advisor. He communicates with the sponsor about the problem and with the (other) stakeholders about their view on the issue and additional requirements.

During this communication process -- which is not a continuous process -- the advisor prepares for his or her “verdict;” this verdict should be prepared with a set of arguments that serve the stakeholders according to their share in the process. The (final) opinion of the advisor should be a logical result of individual arguments that are formulated. The formula should be as transparent as possible.

In this role, the advisor is not committed to the content of the advice. And this is only possible for an internal advisor if the advice is not about organizational matters. An internal advisor can’t really advice independently about something he or she is part of.

Than the acceptance of the advice will follow; the sponsor will have to decide whether the advice will be implemented. This process could be seen as part of the previous step as a recurring activity in which the communication with the stakeholders continues.

The advice process is not finished until the after "sales" process is finished. In this step, the advisor should track what happened with this advice, how it has been accepted, rejected or amended and this information should be saved.

This last point is essential. Each results counts; not only the acceptance of the advice, but also the time it took and … the additional information and knowledge it generated. Each advice process generates knowledge about how the specific (your) organization deals with any issue; it is the job of the advisor to search for principles that are used in the organization; "how do we deal with issues in general and is this (current advice) such a situation for which we can lean on an existing principle or do we need to invent a new one, for this exception."

This is one aspect of the advisory process. One, leading to “a verdict” and (two) gathering “case law” of how to deal with issues in general.

© 2006 Hans Bool

Hans Bool is the founder of Astor White a traditional management consulting company that offers online management advice. Astor Online solves issues in hours what normally would take days.


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