Clever Counsel #36 - Interview With Jenni Field
I'm interviewing a handful of senior consultants I admire to capture their experiences and perspectives on the consulting journey.
For my sixth interview in the series, I want to spotlight Jenni Field, a longtime senior consultant and globally recognized expert in leadership credibility and internal communication You'll find her insights below.
What made you say, “Screw it, I’m going out on my own”?
Fear and ‘if not now when?’!
I didn’t want to go into another corporation and have the same experience I was having so I knew that wasn’t the solution. A few people had suggested consultancy for a while so as I was chatting to people about a change it became clear there was a market out there and it was a case of if not now, when?
I also had the benefit of chatting things through with a coach for a 90-minute session to discuss my values, options and decisions and that was incredibly helpful to make sure it was the right decision for me to go out on my own.
How did you land your first high-paying client?
When I launched! I started the business with three retained clients and it’s grown from there!
What’s one thing you did that changed the game for your growth?
Flexibility. Redefining Communications is a collective consultancy, so I have around 15 freelancers I work with on projects depending on the clients needs. This means we can keep costs low for the business and for the clients and we can adapt for the client needs quickly.
When there was a boom after COVID this was incredibly helpful to adapt to client needs and bring in support as it was needed – although I’d never recommend rapid growth to anyone!
What’s a piece of conventional consulting advice you flat-out ignore?
“What gets scheduled or measured gets done” when you run a business, things can move quickly and you can’t always stick to the plan. Being resilient and adaptable is key so avoid those rigid rules!
When have you felt like going back to working for someone else — and why didn’t you?
Ooh I’ve only had this once in the 8 years I’ve been running the business. I didn’t because I knew my work wasn’t done. I had too much I still wanted to explore and do on my own and my recent work in leadership credibility was starting to bubble up at around the same time.
I never close that door though – being open to conversations, opportunities and possible changes in the future is part of the joy of being your own boss!
Jenni Field is an expert in leadership credibility and internal communication. Author of Influential Internal Communication, and Nobody Believes You, her work as an international speaker, coach and consultant helps leaders and their organisations become more efficient and more engaging. After spending 13 years working inside organisations as Head of Internal Communications and Communications Director, Jenni set up the consultancy Redefining Communications to help organisations and teams use communication to go from chaos to calm.
You can find out more at Redefining Communications - Improve your teams communication or Jenni Field | Expert in Organisational Comms & Leadership
Grab the book: Nobody Believes You | Redefining Communications
Listen to Frequency podcast: Frequency - Podcast - Apple Podcasts
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