Marija Stevanovic

The hierarchy is more rigid in a corporate and requires a lot of fighting with bureaucracy. Prepare to align with complex processes and a lot of steps to gather required approvals. On the other hand, corporate equips you with the possibility to pivot into diverse areas, learn from smart minds and participate and lead complex and transformational projects with big and established clients.

The key is to understand your team's specific preferences when it comes to preferred channels and frequency of communication. Make sure that you share all important updates proactively, honestly and timely. Use 1:1s continuously for team members to share their view on the progress and discuss important topics. Technology is a great enabler in a remote environment, but the trust developed by truly understanding needs and aspirations of your team members contributes so much more to the actual growth.

Understand your client's burning issues in depth. Ask the right clarification questions ti get to the root causes of these issues. Set the expectations right from the start. Define riles and responsibilities and make sure that eaxh team member truly understands specific expectations for their engagement. Study the scope of work in details, re-align it with the client at the beginning, to avoid potential issues later on.

Remember that fir the communication to flow freely, even in the cross-functional environment, you have to set the foundations right first. And that means creating a safe and supportive team culture where all the voices are heard and ideas are shared freely. Tips that might help: 📌 Get to know your team members personally, understand their needs and aspirations 📌 Based upon their preferences, select the right channels and frequency of communication 📌 Align engagement values with those of each team member to be able to assign meaningful work 📌 Be clear and concise with your messages and repeat them until fully understood.

Perceive the feedback received as a best-intention advice for the specific work done. Embrace it and take time to reflect and understand it. Ask clarification questions if needed. Then act upon the feedback received by creating a plan for imprivement and growth. Track the progress, try to gamify the results and use your network to hold your reliable on the actual success. It will help implement corrective actions timely. The more you act on the feedback, the less fear of receiving it.

All your experiences and knowledge from the past engagements contribute to your consulting skillset. The key is to use it to: - teach and help those couple of steps behind you - deliver unique value to your clients - develop tailored approaches and methodologies for each specific client - build and nurture trust with your teams and clients to create long-lasting bonds.