I have one really great knife in my kitchen. 

I have lots of other knives that are good, but this knife is exceptional.  I received this knife as a gift from a friend after he tried to use one of my knives to cut something.  He was surprised at the sad condition of my knives, but he was shocked that I was completely unaware of the problem.

The first time I sliced a tomato with the new knife, I instantly understood the difference.  My tolerance for the other knives in the kitchen evaporated.  I would only use the special new knife and I treated it with loving care, washing it gently with warm soap and water and carefully drying it before putting it away in a special protective case.

Eventually, I forgave my old knives and began to use them again.  It’s not that the new knife wasn’t better, but not everything requires an exceptional knife.  About a year later, my friend once again found himself in need of a knife in my kitchen and, once again, he was outraged at the condition of my knives, but this time it wasn’t about the quality of the instrument.  It was me.  That day, I learned that you have to sharpen your knives regularly.  Even the best knife will lose its edge over time.

The same rule applies to consultants.

Make Training A Priority

In this economic climate, Practice Managers (quite rightly) devote the majority of their time to chasing down new business and keeping their existing customers happy.  Unfortunately, this means that we don’t have time to give individual attention to each consultant or to provide coaching and mentoring to keep their skills sharp.  We’re too busy working with unhappy clients, overdue projects, billing problems, and the myriad of other issues associated with professional services.

The problems are multiplied when skills development and training are neglected.  Excellent consultants get too comfortable or develop bad habits.  Mistakes and oversights occur.  Relationships break down.  Quality slips.

Create a Program

I’ve worked with some of the best, and even the best have a bad day.  But the gradual disintegration of skills is different.  It takes place over time and is often hard for the manager to recognize.  The person himself has no idea at all.

In a perfect world, consultants would work more like high-tech machines than like kitchen knives.  There would be a light on the dashboard to alert you that it’s time to upgrade her technical skills or send him to presentation training.  Even better, every consultant would take responsibility for his or her training and development, reading white papers after dinner and attending classes on the weekends.

In the real world, you may be well advised to create a schedule for sharpening each consultant’s skills regularly.

Every consulting firm is different and every consultant’s career path is unique, but the following is a generic, highly-simplified career path for technology consulting.

Most likely, you already have a formal program for training the Rookies.  You assign them to a mentor, usually an experienced consultant working on the same project team.  In addition to on-the-job training and mentorship, you may have a series of classes each new hire is required to complete.  It’s easy to remember to train Rookies because there is a measurable impact on the bottom line when the training is complete.

Technical Gurus train themselves.  They read and write white papers in their spare time.  They participate in user groups and serve as mentors to their fan base.  They are genuinely interested in their subject, they are curious about the newest technology and they like knowing about it before everyone else.  You don’t get to be a Technical Guru by waiting for someone else to send you to a training class.

PS Leaders also take some responsibility for their own development.  A pending promotion may inspire you to recommend sales training or leadership development, but ambition is usually sufficient catalyst for most leaders to continue training.

Make Training Part of Every Job

The most overlooked group is the Trusted Performers.  They are your workhorses.  They show up every day, do their work, and receive very few complaints from clients.  Until one day, like my kitchen knives, someone notices that the edge is dull and has been for a long time - and a preventable crisis lands on your plate.

To prevent dullness, create a yearly routine for training and implement it for every consultant on your team.  If you require each consultant to do one thing to develop their technical skills, one thing to develop their communication skills and one thing to help others do the same every year, you’ll soon find that the standard of performance for the whole team goes up dramatically.

The examples below are necessarily general because each practice has a different focus and specialization, but you can easily create three lists for yourself.  Ask each consultant to choose a task from one of your lists each quarter.

It’s not necessary to classify your employees or restrict participation to only the Trusted Performers.  Rookies can add these tasks to their training routine easily.  Technical Gurus will find their communication skills improve when they take on the role of mentor inside the organization.  PS Leaders are already coaching their direct reports and will be happy to get credit for something they are already doing, but may need to be reminded to keep up with technology changes.

Mentoring Is Training, Too

Professional skills can go stale more quickly than we realize.  Administrative and process tasks are usually the first place you’ll notice a slip in quality.  Unfortunately, there are no classes in how to submit a timesheet before the billing deadline or write an effective status report, which is why mentorship is a critical element of your skills development program.  When one consultant is acting as a role model for another, he will be careful to demonstrate the right behavior.

The simple act of sending someone to training to learn new technical or communication skills is reinforcement of its importance.  Implementation of a program that includes regular skills development, even when there is no budget for extended training excursions, will establish quality performance as a priority for every consultant.