How do consultants deal with private enterprise bosses

I have been consulting on human resource management for many years, and most of this time I have been consulting private enterprises. In the process of consulting, you need to deal with the boss as well as the managers of human resources departments, and consulting in private enterprises will have more opportunities to deal with the boss. In the process of consultation, the direction and result of consultation will be strongly influenced by the boss to a great extent. At the same time, as a consultant, on the one hand, we should carry out relevant system design, on the other hand, we should constantly communicate with the boss to deeply understand their thoughts and ideas, as well as their true intentions. Knowing this will have a decisive influence on the success of our consultation. 1. At the stage of order negotiation, you will contact the boss at this stage to decide whether you can accept this order. In the process of contact, it is the concrete embodiment of a consultant's comprehensive strength, including professional ability, practical experience, communication ability, mentality and so on. However, these aspects are just the basis of the list. In the concrete process, we need to know the real intention of the boss. To be clear, he invited us over and wanted us to help him solve some problems. Many times, in the negotiation stage, the boss will compare different consulting companies and different consultants. Bosses often don't have much theoretical support in choosing which company to consult, but will judge which consulting company and what kind of consultant can help them solve the problem according to their own intuition. This intuition is a kind of cognition and reasoning based on experience. Data and facts do not necessarily constitute the reasons for their choice. Therefore, when dealing with the boss for the first time, you should be able to quickly understand the boss's heart and know what problems he wants to solve. In most cases, the boss will have many problems in his mind, and he is aware of the problems in his company, but these problems are scattered. As a consultant, he needs to have strong systematic professional knowledge and rich practical experience, be able to quickly combine and analyze these scattered problems, and communicate through popular language so that the boss can understand. For example, you can consult the company's related websites in advance, including the company's culture, organizational structure, business model, product information and so on. And quickly integrate and analyze these information with the information provided by the boss and their existing practices, and communicate in an orderly manner. Sometimes you may meet some condescending bosses when you first touch the bill. Due to contact with some consultants, they have a fixed mode of thinking in their minds, thinking that most consultants are partial to theory and cannot solve practical problems, showing an attitude of disapproval of consulting. This attitude is often manifested through its behavior. As a consultant who deals with it, the mentality shown at this time is very critical. My experience is, fully respect and understand the boss's mentality, don't argue in the process, listen to their experience with an open mind, show yourself at the right time, and make him feel that he will be different from the consultant he met. 2. During the consultation process, we will discuss with the boss more design schemes that need to be decided. When every enterprise introduces consulting, whether the boss admits it or not, consulting is a process of change for the enterprise. We are engaged in human resource management consulting, involving organizational structure adjustment, position system construction, job matching, salary performance system establishment and so on. Relatively speaking, bosses pay more attention to the following aspects: 1. The adjustment of organizational structure involves many elements such as corporate strategy, corporate culture, business model, boss's management style and so on. Many of the corporate strategies we consulted were unclear. If there is a strategy, it is only in the boss's mind. It is by no means a simple matter to establish an organizational structure suitable for the development of an enterprise and in line with its strategy. At this time, it is necessary to constantly communicate with the boss, understand his thoughts, and sort out his scattered ideas. There must be something special about the success of these private enterprises, including the boss's intuition and keen strategic awareness. What we have to do is to dig out these things hidden in the boss's mind and apply them to the consulting plan. Many bosses, with low academic qualifications and insufficient knowledge of management theory, will also show self-confidence when discussing problems with us, and are probably unwilling to express their ideas. As a consultant, you should be good at observing this point and understand that the boss is not unwilling to say it, but worried that it will be unprofessional or incorrect. In this case, we can communicate through various communication channels. One of the methods I use more often is to communicate with the boss in the coffee shop at the dinner table. The combination of formal and informal communication is usually effective. I remember that when consulting an enterprise in Shanghai, the boss of the enterprise was a gentle person who paid more attention to his image and personal influence, so I invited him to a coffee shop in my spare time, a more formal and relaxed place to communicate, so that I could judge his thoughts. When consulting in an enterprise in Zhejiang, the owner of the enterprise was a traveler who had experienced many things and was more loyal to the rivers and lakes. In this case, I adopted a way to close the distance with him and constantly encouraged him to speak his mind; When consulting a company in Shenzhen, the boss of the company studied tea culture more. I delved into the knowledge about tea, and through every tea tasting, I talked about the knowledge about tea, interspersed with the boss's thoughts. 2. The matching between high-level positions and people is sensitive, and the boss is also very concerned, even stronger than the adjustment of organizational structure. Because what kind of people will have a direct feeling for the boss in what position, it will also make the boss feel very embarrassed. Private enterprises often have different capabilities. Some people start businesses with their bosses. When the enterprise develops to the present situation, its ability often cannot keep up with the development. But there are some capable people who have not been in the company for a long time and can't convince the public; Others are people with average ability, but they are very popular with the boss. How to take care of the interests of most people in the process of structural adjustment is not only a headache for the boss, but also a difficult problem we have to face. After designing the organizational structure, generally speaking, consultants will not participate in personnel arrangements. But often the boss will always come to ask for our advice and see who should be placed in what position. It's not good to refuse at this time, and it's not good to refuse, so you may have to make an idea in the end. But if you want to make suggestions, you must be serious. Such suggestions must stand in the position of a third party and be fair and objective. In fact, when designing the organizational structure, they already know who should be in what position, but they are hesitant and unsure. At this time, the boss needs external forces to strengthen and recognize them. At this time, as a consultant, you need to understand the boss's thoughts, think from his perspective, give theoretical and empirical support, and consider the problem from the perspective of the overall situation and future development of the enterprise. When designing the organizational structure of an enterprise in Zhejiang, in the implementation stage, the boss asked me to give the matching degree of several candidates for the position of director. From the perspective of a third party, I objectively evaluated several candidates who might become directors. One of the candidates, with average business ability and poor management level, is not necessarily suitable for being a manager. So I euphemistically wrote inappropriate opinions in my suggestions. However, when exchanging opinions with my boss, he disagreed with me. Generally speaking, there are always reasons for the boss to object. Many times they may not be able to say a special reason or there are some inconvenient reasons behind it. The boss is stubborn in many cases. If we still blindly oppose his ideas and give various reasons, it is likely to further strengthen his position of choosing this person, and it will also cause an unpleasant situation for both sides. My own experience and understanding is that in this case, there is no need to say much, just ask why, and it may be the best way to spend more time quietly listening to and accepting his advice. In fact, for the boss of private enterprises, especially some enterprises with irregular management, he does not completely follow several conditions set in theory when choosing managers. For example, we will set several conditions such as "professional ability, business insight, communication, desire for achievement, personality", but the boss may not choose managers completely according to these rules and regulations. This time, in the consultation process of an enterprise in Zhejiang, I deeply felt that the boss would consider this issue from a balanced perspective in the process of selecting candidates. In a sense, personnel arrangement and balance are the best way. This balance is also an important way for them to keep people. 3. The salary setting of senior managers is also a concern of the boss. Bosses often get suspicious. In the process of salary design, bosses can't understand the process well because of their strong skills, which leads to the design results can't be completely assured. After all, salary is related to the boss's profit, so the boss can't fully agree that the salary of executives is determined by people's ability and performance and the salary level in the external market. They will decide executive compensation more from the perspective of internal finance. How to make the designed salary scheme reasonable and fair for the senior management team and the boss think that the designed salary model and adjusted salary are reasonable will become a difficult point in the consultation process, which requires both continuous communication with the boss and repeated communication with the members of the senior management team. In the salary design process of an enterprise in Shenzhen, in order to make the boss feel reasonable, I communicated with the boss through various forms. The boss is not interested in the principle and theory of salary design. He just wants to know whether the scheme I designed can make these executives achieve corresponding performance. This is where the boss is most concerned. In the process of communicating with the boss, don't explain the principles and theories. I just told my boss many cases of unreasonable salary through stories and asked him to help me analyze the reasons. In the process of explaining many stories, the boss gradually began to accept my point of view and gradually agreed with my design scheme. At the same time, I linked the executive's salary with the performance appraisal, and designed a special performance contract for the executive, thus effectively completing this work. Although the time cost of the way I take is relatively high, the most important aspect of our consultation is to solve some problems existing in the enterprise, and the solution of these problems needs the strong support and cooperation of the boss. Therefore, even though the time period may be longer, it is worthwhile as long as the effect can be achieved. Summarizing the process of dealing with private enterprise bosses in recent years can be summarized from the following aspects. First of all, professionalism and practical ability should be excellent, which is the cornerstone of project success. Excellent professional ability and rich practical experience are the basis of our design and implementation plan, and also an important aspect of the boss's reassurance. This requires us as consultants, on the one hand, to constantly improve our theoretical level, on the other hand, to constantly enrich our practical ability. Secondly, the concept of equal status is very important. In dealing with the boss, you can't be inferior, and you can't be superior to the boss without education. These two kinds of mentality are not conducive to dealing with the boss. This concept of equal status stems from a kind of self-esteem. The so-called self-esteem refers to the attitude of appreciating your own value, being responsible for your own actions and being responsible for others. When we deal with the boss with this attitude, we respect the enterprise and the customers, and we are likely to win the respect and trust of the boss. Third, understand the boss's psychology. As a consultant of human resource management, you can read more books on psychology, and learn more about and think about people's motives, values, traits, social roles, self-image and so on. After deeply understanding the knowledge of human nature, combined with practice, thinking about the history of the formation of the enterprise and understanding the success of this enterprise have many efforts made by the boss. At the same time, in the process of consultation, you should be able to quickly communicate with one or two other managers who share your values and get some information about the boss from them, so as to better understand the enterprise and the boss. Fourth, we should be tolerant. When dealing with the boss, we occasionally meet some employees who come to the boss and say that we are wrong and slander our image. Sometimes the boss listens too much and may not understand us. In this case, we need tolerance and patience. With the passage of time and the deepening of design, the boss will naturally understand us slowly. Fifth, express your theoretical knowledge in popular language. Consultants have a lot of theoretical knowledge, but they often lack practice. In the process of dealing with the boss, it is best to describe a lot of theoretical knowledge in common language through actual cases, which will achieve better results. Explaining profound theories in simple terms is the advantage of combining a lot of practice with theory. The boss may not have heard of the iceberg model, nor do he know much about the qualification model. But they will judge whether a person is suitable for a position according to their intuition. Besides education and skills, there are other things that determine a person's success.