flow: your happy place

the psychology of challenge vs skillConsultants: highly paid experts for whom time really is money. Consultants (incl. engineers and lawyers) are often called upon to complete activities that involve painstakingly following client policies and processes. These can be laborious, complex and time-consuming. If you think they'd be happy about this because it means more billable hours, I think you might be wrong.

Often maligned and usually misunderstood, people tend to think consultants are motivated by money. I believe instead they are motivated by fully utilising their skills to help clients. Knowledge workers like to think - to be challenged for their creativity and opinion - not to follow administrative rules. 

That is why consultants love productivity tools. Tools that speed up the repetitive elements of their work and free them to do what they are really good at. To better get them in the state of flow, a state when your skills are fully employed and your attention fully focussed. The buzz of flow is a consultants happy place. See the work of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi for more on this theory. Don't be surprised then if your consultants are the first to embrace your process automation.