From book to practice – applying flawless consulting in client projects

Some books stay with you long after you close the cover. For Anzac, one of our Technical Consultants, Flawless Consulting by Peter Block was a reminder that great consulting is about more than systems, it is about people.

The lessons from this book continue to shape how we approach client projects at SLEEQ — balancing technical skill with empathy, building authentic partnerships, and ensuring solutions live long after go-live.

Balancing technical skill with emotional intelligence

Our team of consultants are trained to solve problems. Flawless Consulting reminds us that the best solutions are not only technical, they are human. A well-architected Salesforce integration means little if a client’s concerns are ignored.

One key lesson for Anzac, was learning to treat feelings as data. Emotions, whether our own or the client’s, provide signals about what is really happening in a project. By listening and responding to those signals, consultants can move beyond fixing systems to building confidence and clarity.

Building authentic partnerships

Authenticity is easy to talk about but harder to practice. Anzac says that “showing up honestly, saying what needs to be said, and modelling the behaviours we hope to see in our clients” is the best way to be authentic.

Creating space for clients to express uncertainty is central to trust, and a core theme of Block’s work. When clients feel safe to share their “what ifs” and “I’m not sure” moments, real progress begins.

Structuring the consulting process

Block’s five-phase model — contracting, discovery, feedback, decision, implementation — reinforces the importance of starting with clarity.

For Anzac, the contracting phase stands out as the foundation for everything that follows. “Clear contracts mean clear expectations on roles, responsibilities, and outcomes,” he says. “They prevent misalignment and create a shared understanding before a single line of code is written.”

At SLEEQ, this structure keeps us consistent across projects and ensures clients always know what to expect.

Cultivating client ownership

Too many solutions end up as shelfware, unused because clients never truly owned them. Anzac reflects that “our role is to support clients in solving their own problems, not to solve them for them.”

That ownership ensures the solution lives beyond go-live, embedded in the client’s culture and ways of working. It’s why collaboration is central to how we approach every Salesforce project.

Managing resistance with empathy

Resistance is not failure, it is part of change. Block urges consultants to address the emotions behind resistance before returning to technical solutions.

For Anzac, this lesson reinforced that effective consulting is as much about empathy as it is about expertise. By naming resistance and working through underlying concerns, we help projects move forward with fewer hidden blockers.

Why this matters at SLEEQ

These lessons are more than just book theory. They show up daily in the way we work. Balancing skill with empathy, fostering authentic communication, structuring engagements, cultivating ownership, and managing resistance are practices embedded in SLEEQ’s culture.

Continuous learning is not optional here, it is how we grow. When one of us learns, all of us benefit.

And when that learning flows into client work, the results last longer, land stronger, and build trust that endures.