A good advisor understands the client's challenges

When the customer makes contact, our first task is to uncover and understand their situation and the challenge they want to have solved.

-    We must understand the problem the customer has and help solve it for the best interest of the customer. This requires that we can associate ourselves with the customer's challenge and project - that we can visualize the picture the customer is in. The task is not always clear and distinct, and then we are the ones who must help define it. We do this through good dialogue with the customer so that we create a common understanding of what we are going to solve and what services we are going to provide, says Geir Juterud, Executive Vice President for Large Assignments at Multiconsult. He has extensive experience as a consultant and project manager, including from Campus Ås and Nye Rikshospitalet.

Our role in an industry perspective

Understanding the client's organization and situation is of great importance to an advisor's own understanding of their role. At the same time, it is important that each advisor understands the expectations the industry has for our role as a design advisor and how we solve our tasks. We must embrace the professional responsibility that lies in the role.

-    To succeed, we must understand the value chain and our place in it. We must relate to both our own client and the client and contractor. Our approach must always be neutral and professionally impartial. This means that we must understand who our client is, while at the same time professional good judgment must always be at the core when we solve the tasks. We must balance our professional integrity and the desire to solve the client's needs. We must stretch ourselves, but always maintain our professional integrity even though it can sometimes be a demanding balancing act, says Geir.

How to become a good advisor

To become a good advisor, it is important to have work experience from the entire value chain, and from all phases of a project. We can gain that experience in many ways, such as through participation in varied projects and assignments, working in different parts of the value chain with contractors and clients, and through collaboration with more experienced colleagues.

-    With us, the majority of competence development takes place in assignments and in close collaboration with others. Most new graduates have good relationship skills, but need input from our seniors to understand their own role and gain a foothold in their own professional environment. Through the sharing of expertise and experience, our seniors with extensive consultancy experience contribute to the development of the younger advisors.