Employee or consultant on retainer

1CONSULTANCY ON THE PLATFORM OF THE WAY, THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE

EMPLOYEE ORCONSULTANTON RETAINER

A product of

EMPLOYEEOR

CONSULTANTON RETAINER

Consultancy on the platform of The Way, The Truth and The Life

www.wangaimaina.wordpress.com

2 CONSULTANCY ON THE PLATFORM OF THE WAY, THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE

An Introduction 3

The assessment 5

Where it starts 6

The glue that holds it all together 12

What needs to happen? 13

The End result 14

The Relationship – Taking Stock 15

Contents

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An Introduction

The genesis of this subject is as a result of an experience I had about four years ago. In the organization I was working in at the time, they introduced a performance management system that was very scientific and standardized. You would define the key performance

indicators such as profit, training hours etc and the competencies such as time keeping, strategic ability etc.

That year, I didn’t really put my mind into it because I was expectant and I figured that I would leave the company and the results wouldn’t count anyway. So I did what I was supposed to do and I remember my then supervisor commenting at half year review that if I wanted my bonus, I needed to rate myself properly. To please him, I rated myself better than I judged myself then he rated me based on what he believed at that time to be my very good input in the business. All this time, my mind was telling me that after all, by the end of the financial year, I was no longer going to be an employee, so it didn’t matter anyway. Three months later in December, I left to take care of my new born and three months later it was time for the end of year review. I went to the office for about 3 hours, did my review and we did it with my supervisor as well. The results came through and that year, I rated the worst performance I have ever recorded in my employment within the organization. The best overall rating would have been an S and the worst a D. I got a B!

When I resumed office, I found people with large smiles because there was a bonus that had been paid out pegged on the rating given. I had also received mine. Normally, as an employee, I would have kicked myself hard and said that I should have done better. Interestingly, I felt bad and it wasn’t about the money! It was because I was still employed and I had not fully established my business in the three months of nursing my baby enough for me to quit my job.

When it came to setting the KPIs afresh, I played self-sabotage again by setting KPIs that made sense to the organization but I did not believe in them. At that juncture, a light bulb lit. I took a step back and carried out a personal assessment of why I had stopped believing in that process or in the job that I had come to respect and appreciate so much. It is during that assessment that I as ked a set of questions that would see me have a paradigm shift which has developed to a people management principle that am still working on and have chosen to share even at its infancy stages.


Question My Assessment

If you were to make a graphical rep-resentation of the progression of your career / profession in the organization as at now, how would it look like?

Knowing yourself, complete the direction of that curve if you continue with the current attitude and ap-proach to your employment

Is that what you want? Absolutely NOT!!!!

Is there something you can do, to reverse the trend (if you want to reverse it) and change the curve?

Yes

Where are all your dreams, amid all the salaries, the benefits, the medical cover, the parts on the back etc?

This is wakeup call question!!

In 2008

TimePr

ogre

ssPr

ogre

ss

Time

In 2008

Resignation

Though unwanted this was theexpected trend

By the time I was finished with the last question, I landed on three realities:1. I was behaving like an employee2. I was negating the very statement that was the primary of my résumé’ – that my objective in

working is to become a management consultant3. I was jeopardizing my dreams, ambitions, desires, my future and that of my family; in the

long and short of it – I was short-changing myself.


Question My Assessment

If you were to make a graphical rep-resentation of the progression of your career / profession in the organization as at now, how would it look like?

Knowing yourself, complete the direction of that curve if you continue with the current attitude and ap-proach to your employment

Is that what you want? Absolutely NOT!!!!

Is there something you can do, to reverse the trend (if you want to reverse it) and change the curve?

Yes

Where are all your dreams, amid all the salaries, the benefits, the medical cover, the parts on the back etc?

This is wakeup call question!!

The assessmentAs we delve into the subject, let’s do a little exercise


Where it starts DefinitionsAccording to the Merriam Webster dictionary an employee is a person who works for another person or for a company for wages or a salary. A consultant on the other hand is a person who gives professional advice or services to companies for a fee.

In building up this concept, the basic underlying difference between a corporate employee and a corporate consultant is in their mentality.

Both of them work for the companies and both of them get paid but the modalities of execution within the framework of mentality is quite distinct and is what makes the whole difference.

Foundational truthsIt starts with some foundational truths and instructions that we have:1. Be Fruitful, Multiply, Replenish, Subdue, Have Dominion2. Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains [just one grain; it never

becomes more but lives] by itself alone. But if it dies, it produces many others and yields a rich harvest.

3. A man’s gift makes room for him and brings him before great men4. He who is faithful in the least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is

unjust also in much5. What profit has the worker from that in which he labors? Nothing is better for them than to

rejoice, and to do good in their lives and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor—it is the gift of God.

6. Painful effort in labor and all skill in work comes from man’s rivalry with his neighbor. Better is a handful with quietness than both hands full with painful effort. Yet there is no end to all his labor, neither is his eye satisfied with riches, neither does he ask, For whom do I labor and deprive myself of good? This is also vanity (emptiness, falsity, and futility); yes, it is a painful effort and an unhappy business

7. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.8. The heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all,

but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father.

The Seven arenas of influenceConsidering how the world works today, we will find that the issues of life fall into at least one or more of 7 brackets. Relationships have to do with family or community, management of public resources would be in the scope of government. Music and theatre would be influencing the family and would also form a platform of business and it also feeds our media. Newspapers and information management in various modes cuts across many sectors including business. MBAs, Degrees, TED talks, creativity would fit nicely in education but also in arenas of business and family. Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, churches, prophetic work and all those others influence family and are mainly in the grouping we would call religion.


Each one of us will find ourselves working within any of this at any one point in time. In summary, what is the core element of each?

About 30 years ago, Loren Cunningham, Bill Bright and Francis Schaeffer separately got messages from God about these areas and their importance.According to them and based on research they have done,1. Government is where evil is restrained or endorsed2. Religion is what influences us towards either the worship of God in Truth and in Spirit or

towards settling for religious rituals3. Arts & Entertainment is a powerful field of either endorsing or distorting virtue and values4. Education is a platform where the truth or lies about God are taught5. Media gives us information and helps us interpret it through the lens of good or evil6. Family. The forum through which successive generations are either equipped for success by

way of a blessing or set up for failure by way of curses or condemnation.7. Economy is the backbone of all the others as it funds and fuels them. In this sphere of

influence, people build up success either for their own glory or for honoring God. It is also the sphere that holds the resources that will push the agenda of God, or resources that will be captured for the extreme opposite.

So what does this have to do with being a corporate employee or a consultant on retainer?A short evaluation of some key components of the two gives us an insight of where we are going

Government

Economy/ Business

Family

Media

Religion

Arts & Entertainment

Education

Much of our culture is influenced by what happens in business and when you bring an economic benefit to a nation or culture then you have influence over that culture.


A short evaluation of some key components of the two gives us an insight of where we are going

Employee Consultant

End Month documentation

The payslip& a salary The receipt & statement of accountsMy retainer fees for the signed contract which does not require a monthly invoice

Approach to assignments

A lot of the time the approach to assignments is one that says “this is what I have to do and this is what I’m paid for”. At the beginning of employment, there is enthusiasm but as the days pass by, the com-fort zone begins to build and there is no drive to do more.

Every assignment is an opportunity to apply a skill and exercise some-thing new. Even if it doesn’t get the appreciation of anyone, it will have been grounds on which to build something that will be beneficial to the individual and eventually the company

Gifts, Skills and Abilities development

They are for use at all hours beyond the 8 to 5 routine and only come fully alive on Saturday and Sunday unless there is a holiday in between. For example, one is good in t-shirt design and just because they are not in the mar-keting department, they will keep saying how the company produces boring t-shirts instead of thinking outside the box

Every opportunity they get is a moment to drop signature marks of their gifts, talents and abilities. If the same person had a consultant approach, they would easily walk up to the marketing team and in a subtle way suggest some designs. No matter if they talk behind your back. When the t-shirts are printed, guess who is smiling at an achievement?

Entrepreneurial expertise

This is more or less explored in what is sometimes known as moonlighting. The expertise is best evidenced by either the phone calls that are picked and someone walks away from the desk with one hand in the pocket or by the dodgy presence in the office.Unfortunately, the enterprises set up and backed by an employee mentality run a very short course. The end result is always about the deal that is going down.

As far as a consultant mentality is concerned, the employer is simply one client in the sea of many who would want to enjoy the profes-sional services rendered. For such an individual, it could be a limitation in the personal life, or confidence crisis, or a need to develop a skill while being paid for it that is holding them back from getting more clients. For one with entrepreneurial expertise


Employee Consultant

The employer is more of a con-venient relationship to fall back to incase the deal falls through. The employer is also a necessary incon-venience because of the salary and the perks instead of being viewed as a learning base for how to and how not to run a business.

A consultant mentality allows one to walk away with valuable business lessons such as negotiation skills. When a consultant on retainer goes out to negotiate a deal for the employer, it is not the boss on the table! So if he/ she goes back to the employer and presents a negotiated package that benefits the employ-er, benefits may accrue to the company but the actual expertise necessary for a startup is retained by him/ her

Résumé It simply screams that I am seeking to be used

Employees seek to expound the job titles given and the responsibilities that those titles carry as well as the perks/ benefits that accrue thereof.

An extract:Career Objective:To work in a challenging envi-ronment where my skills will be used to achieve the set company objectives

To be engaged in a self-motivating and challenging position, serving it with unreserve commitment and accountability, upholding the image of the organization to its clients,stakeholders and to the general public

It is bold and provoking a meeting with the would be employer.

Consultants seek to show achieve-ments earned more than jobs done

An extract:Career objective:To be a business development con-sultant involved in the generation, implementation and continuity of scalable solutions andservices by serving in senior level capacities within the sales, mar-keting and administration functions that will utilize and build my expe-rience, acquired skills and learning abilities

Creativity/ Innovation

Employee mentality will focus on keeping innovations and creativity away from the workplace because:• Itisnotaprimaryrequirement of the job. Especially for the repetitive jobs• Itwillnotbeappreciatedor recognized

A consultant mentality might even end up seeking for opportunities to explore this. Companies that really push the agenda of continuous improvement provide a wonderful opportunity for such an individual.


Employee Consultant

The evidence of creativity within the workspace will be sporadic. Sometimes it may be unconscious efforts that result in the creativity being seen by colleagues

Such companies also attach a reward system towards innovation and the benefits that accrue there in are both immediate and long lasting

How easily can you be replaced?How easily can work your input be recognized?

Trademark The reality of a trademark checks in like it did for Marty the Zebra when they eventually landed in the wild and Alex could not pick out his best friend from the herd of Zebras

The position might be there for as long as one is there and could be scraped as soon as you step out of the door.

A consultant mentality allows one to leave a signature mark on every piece of work done. It will be common to hear comments like, if you want it to have a unique presence, just talk to so and so.

The ability for an organization to replace one with a consultant mentality is determined by how much they want to dig into their pockets; otherwise they have to settle for less than they were used to.

Authority Employee mentality leaves one not “visibily” hungry for authority. It allows one to play the coach while sitting in the spectator box

For the consultant, authority goes beyond leading people or being the boss among the people. It is about taking responsibility and being accountable. They choose to learn the good and bad side of authority and more often than not, they are the ones who take on acting positions when the main leader/ boss is away.

The beauty about this approach to authority is that at the point of parting ways and starting their own business, such individuals operate at a different level from someone on the other end of the spectrum.


Employee Consultant

Networking Social media: Facebook, raving/ ranting twitter, etc. The employee will socialize as much as possi-ble. The question is the purpose behind that and the where. Peer to peer networking is great but it begs the question of how you grow each other. Others hang out to drown out the frustrations of the corporate world, to spend the hard earned income or to look for a “ka-deal” that will have a faster return

Social media: Facebook, Engaging/ Inspiring Twitter, LinkedIn. For the consultant. Socializing is pretty much the same but the differenc-es that may be spotted include who they are hanging out with, where and how. They utilize that opportunity to scout out for what will take them to the next level. Either a new job or an opportunity to invest the hard earned income for a long term return.

Ambition “As long as the bills are paid, the kids are going to school and my deals are ok, then it is well. Why sweat more?”

This is a typical employee men-tality for the corporate that has employed him/ her. The only time ambition is almost tangible is when there is a deal which is being threatened and they can’t afford to strike out at any point

As far as the consultant mentality goes, this individual is at a place where he / she knows that there is more to life than being stuck in traffic, going to an office for 8 hours to leave with enough money to just pay the bills and keep the cycle going in the following month.

Beyond this knowledge, this individual is hungry for that which is more but he / she appreciates that where they are in life as a con-sultant on retainer by one client instead of fifty clients is because he needs to build a portfolio, or he needs to accomplish something for a greater good, or he just needs to accumulate enough resources before he ventures out on his own.

Shelf life Almost similar to the element of the trademark is the issue of what happens after you are gone. An employee in an important role is a disaster waiting to happen if there is no one being groomed to take on after them.

While no one is indispensable in an organization, the consultant on retainer sets him/ herself up as someone whose departure will cause some irreversible harm – and they know it because it is true. The extra thing they go ahead and do is that they develop the people around them.


Employee Consultant

Shelf life While it is true that it is the responsibility of the company to groom someone, the employee might end up being the biggest loser. How? What if the employee was to be promoted to the next level but because there is no one who can do what he does, he gets skipped because he is seen as being more fruitful in that area?

A lot of people riding on the employee mentality are driven by the fear that the person they groom will take over after them and they will lose the job they so dearly love.

My primary question in this case usually is if management is taking the time to train and develop you, is it for your own good, for the overall good of the company or for you to take over the entire business one day?

They have internalized it that the company doesn’t belong to them and it never will be. The only thing that can happen is to remain there rising the ranks to the proverbial glass ceiling and they the downhill trend towards retirement comes to be sent away with a wheelbar-row and a wall clock!

The consultant doesn’t want this, so he sets up strategic partnerships with people to show them what he does and even though he will be replaced easily, he will have increased the opportunities of others within the organization and he will have increased his expertise for the business he is going to set up.

The above are just but a few areas of comparison. The question that now lingers is what happens?Is there hop for the employee to become a consultant or for the consultant to get better? What happen sustains one to the point that the organization cannot contain the consultant anymore?

The glue that holds it all together There are three things that will keep it all structured.• Purpose.AccordingtoMylesMunroepurposeistheoriginalintentinthemindofthe

creator that motivated him to create a particular item. It is the why that explains the reason for existence. Products or services that are essential to us are a child of purpose e.g. penicillin and the bulb. In other words, before you do anything, there must be a purpose already established in your mind that gives conception to the idea that becomes the


substance of the process you will go through to bring it to reality. Thus, purpose precedes action. What is your purpose? Are you currently doing what matches up to your purpose?

• Stewardship.AccordingtotheMerriamWebsterdictionary,stewardshipisthecarefulandresponsible conducting, supervising or management of something that has been entrusted to someone’s care. You have a gift in singing and you know it. Do you have a performance lined up? Have you written a song of late? If you have a skill in coaching and mentoring, have you taken someone under your wing for even an hour or so?What has been entrusted to you - Your body, the natural resources around you, the finances, the relationships etc? If you were to give an account of it all, would there be more apologies and excuses than results and plans?

• Dominion.ReferringtoMylesMunroeagainheexplainsdominionastheexerciseofcontrol,governance, rule, management and or leadership in a particular arena BUT NOT over people. You are a being of free will and as your Creator had a purpose for you, it wasn’t a purpose shrouded around slavery and servitude. The purpose was and still is based around you having an upper hand in exercising accountability and responsibility over the use of resources for the successful fulfillment of goals. The end result of dominion is growth.

What needs to happen?The three elements need to be rolled into one to produce growth as you purpose

Purpose

Dominion Stewardship

Keeps you rooted and gives you direction

Ensures fruitfulness, multiplication, replenishment

Gives you stability and strength to subdue


The End result The three elements need to be rolled into one to produce growth as you purpose.

IntentionalRelationships

Appointment

Seeds, ideas

Vision

TruthsDiscernment

Opportunity

Walking Alone

Obedience

Information

Gifts, Talents,Abilities

KnowledgePurpose

Tim

e

Growth

Growth

Fruitful

Multiply

Replenish

Subdue

Dominion


The Relationship – Taking Stock

Taking stock

What arena/ industry are you in?

Who has more influence in any operation? The one at the top or the one doing all the work?

What guides your journey? What is your value system?

Do your goals have a meaning?

What will happen when you get to where you are going?


EMPLOYEE ORCONSULTANTON RETAINER

A product of

EMPLOYEEOR

CONSULTANTON RETAINER

Consultancy on the platform of The Way, The Truth and The Life


Documents

Employee or consultant on retainer