Developing successful global consultants

Abstract

What does it take to be a successful global consultant, and how can we develop successful global consultants? This chapter attempts to answer these two questions by drawing upon our personal experiences of global consulting in industrial/organizational (I/O) psychology as well as relevant research on this topic. Although an I/O consultant may provide consulting services and/or work on applied projects in many areas, we present a competency model for global consultants based on our past work, accumulated experience, and collective knowledge. From the ten competencies in our model, three core competencies consistently appear as essential for success in almost any consulting role, whether it be global or not: managing time and resources, teamwork, and applied problem solving. However, we argue that these alone are not sufficient to ensure consulting success abroad. We discuss two additional competencies that are essential for consultants working globally: embracing diversity and integrity/building trust. Cross-cultural differences in various constructs, such as language, the perception of time, and social norms, all come into play in multinational settings and require global consultants to effectively display these two competencies in a variety of ways. Several personal anecdotes are provided to illustrate how the competencies in the model can impact consulting project success. These anecdotes are integrated with the existing literature in order to demonstrate how a successful global consultant needs to accomplish goals through effective time management, embrace diverse ways of thinking, and build trust with others. This chapter concludes with a call for ways to develop those skills and competencies by focusing on two primary areas: (1) learning a second language and (2) looking outside of the traditional I/O curriculum. It is our belief that these activities would greatly benefit individuals who are interested in becoming global consultants and increase their likelihood of success.