Consulting Network Code of Conduct
Overview: The Consulting Network and benjshap #consulting-network Slack channel is an invite-only community designed to support boutique consultants with client acquisition, subcontractor recruiting, referrals and shared services.
Community Standards: With growth comes a responsibility to ensure that this network serves its goal as a transparent forum for peer-learning, collaboration and commentary. The goals of this document are to:
Explicitly state a number of community standards.
Make it easier for new members become productive members of the community.
Tone and Civility: The greatest asset of our community is the quality of our members. A professional, fun, and civil tone is paramount. By all means get in there and mix it up, but treat your fellow network members with the same respect that you would expect from them. Harsh or abusive language will not be tolerated and is ground for your network membership to be revoked. We’re all adults here, so play nice in this sandbox.
Privacy & Confidentiality: This network is a PRIVATE community. The content generated from this network should not be shared by it’s me outside of the community Slack channel. That said, the content from this network may be reformatted & anonymized as marketing material for the purpose of acquiring customers for the network’s members. Also, do not, under any circumstances, divulge your client’s confidential information.
Conversation Format: One of the main goals of the network is to provide a place to ask & find answers to your consulting related questions. To avoid a flood of Slack messages, please follow these guidelines:
Search before you ask: Do your best to save our collective eyeballs for when they are REALLY needed. Before you ask a question conduct a search of the channel’s history. That way our signal-to-noise ratio on the list will stay as high as possible.
Question format: When you’re asking a question do your best to “right-size” the question so that is a unique topic. Please avoid open ended questions like “So, um, what’s the meaning of life as a consultant?” sort of thing. Focus on being clear about the problem you’re trying to solve / outcome you’re trying to achieve. For example, “What are the specific ways you keep a healthy work/life balance while managing multiple consulting clients?” Well formed & specific questions will result in the best kind of answers.
Answer format: Generally speaking, communities work via shared contribution.Think about what you can add to the group and whether you are providing insights that you feel benefit your fellow network members. Private replies don’t benefit the network, so [lease avoid direct conversations which could benefit the entire group.
Recruiting/Subcontracting: Sharing relevant opportunities with members of the network is one of the main benefits of this community. To ensure that you are contacting the most appropriate network member, please leverage your community manager to fill all sub-contracting & referral requests. Be sure to include detail about the client, the project, and your specifics needs.
Promotions/Sharing: Occasionally you may have a desire to promote something to the group. A survey, blog post, an event you are hosting, etc. When deciding what to post, please always keep in mind the purpose of this network: peer-learning, collaboration and commentary. If your promotion is EXTREMELY relevant & valuable to this network constituency, fire away. If you regularly post irrelevant SPAM, your membership access may be revoked. Don’t be a schmuck… Let’s keep this thing professional.
Feedback: This community will evolve over time. We hope to make continuous improvement and take your feedback very seriously. Suggestions for improvements, not matter how small, are always welcome. Please send your feedback to the community manager (Todd Hines) or community founder (Benjamin Shapiro) via private slack.
Recommending New Members: We are happy to welcome new members who provide value to our network. A personal referral from a member is required for access to this community. If you feel that someone in your personal circle would be a good fit, please direct them to contact us using the form on our Consulting Network page
Thank you for being a member of this community!
-b
Benjamin Shapiro -- Community Founder