The Art of Synthesis: A Key Skill for Consultants

Avoiding the pain

Much of what consultants do, at least those of us working in international development, involves synthesizing boatloads of information. I’m going to go further, and argue that it is a core competency. If you are unable to effectively absorb, process and synthesize large quantities of information on a given topic, in a way that is useful, you will struggle. Moreover, often you will have much less time than you need or want for the task, so you need to find an efficient way of getting it done.

In my early days as a consultant, fresh out of grad school, I found writing analytical reports a laborious, even painful, process. I wasted a lot of time. I didn’t really know how to go about it. I had to research and write about issues and countries I initially knew little about — such as rural finance in Ukraine, agriculture in Azerbaijan, or community-driven development in Kyrgyzstan.

I would say that my graduate school courses and research papers gave me a decent underpinning in this area, but I still struggled with what to write and how to write it. I somehow pulled off these assignments, but I’ll be the first to admit the process was inefficient and ineffective. I lost many nights and weekends, and when I wasn’t actually writing, it was never far from my mind. If I were to add up the hours, I probably earned well below the minimum wage on those contracts.

It has gotten easier over time, although writing concise and clear and analytically robust reports remains the most challenging aspect of my work. This blog post is therefore designed to help readers who face similar issues to synthesize more effectively, and hopefully lower their stress levels.

Not quite the same as whisky…

Synthesizing large quantities of information is a competence every international development consultant should have in his or her toolbox. It’s a skill you need. Why? Because a significant amount of the work involves summarizing academic literature, gray literature, data, news reports, meeting notes, and any other source that is relevant and credible. What is the final output? In the international development field, examples include the following: policy notes, issue notes, reports on lessons learned, case studies, chapters in a report, and so on.

Usually this is the moment for coming up with a good metaphor for the topic, which I’m going to dispense with right now: synthesizing information is not like distilling a good whisky. With whisky, you have a limited number of elements – fermented grain mash, oak casks, and time. I’m not saying whisky-making doesn’t require a lot of skill. But you can focus on a relatively narrow number of things to get it right. By contrast, the number and type of inputs that go into a typical analytical report are vast and varied, and may change with every assignment.

Researching, reviewing, and writing

Synthesizing a body of knowledge can be broken down into three main activities: 

• Research: First, you need to find the relevant information and analysis. Some of it is in written form; much, but not all (books, for example) is publicly available online; and some of it is only found inside of the minds of colleagues, stakeholders, experts, etc. whom you should try to meet with or interview. 

• Review: You need to review the material you’ve collected. That does not mean reading every word, however. If you try that approach you will never finish, at least not in the weeks or months you’ve been given. (I’ll get to tackling this little problem later.)

• Write: The written output needs to capture the essence of your topic and its various sub-topics and sub-sub-topics. Your synthesis of the material, the content, needs to be accurate, clearly written, and have a sound structure. Introductory and context sections need to include the most important and basic information. The level of detail should be appropriate — not too much, not too little. Make Goldilocks happy. And always keep your audience in mind.

Let’s assume you have been given the topic you have to write about, you know what and who it is for, and how long the report needs to be. So far, so good.

It’s good to tap into any skills you have lying around because the synthesizing process can be intense and challenging. (If you are an academic, a non-fiction writer, or a journalist, you already have a leg up.) If you are writing about a topic in which you are an expert, you are also in a good position. If you are methodical and well-organized, that’s helpful, too. If you are brilliant, have amazing retention skills and the writing just flows out of you, like Mozart composing new pieces, that is, well, fantastic. (You’re also probably not working as a consultant…or reading this article.)

Under pressure and within limits

The challenging part of the distillation process is when you come face to face with the constraints you work under. For example, you almost never have as much time as you would like. Consultants usually have contracts for a fixed number of days. Whether it is 10 or 50, that number is still a scarce resource that you need to manage well.

Some of your contract days may be needed for travel, for meetings, or for other activities. In other words, you don’t have the luxury of immersing yourself in your topic for months or years on end. You might only realize how tight your timeline is when the work is well underway, as in, “Whoa, I just realized I only have five days left to finish this!”

If you are on staff at an organization, your constraints may be more relaxed. (This applies especially to academia.) Researchers have years to conduct and write up their work. Since staff are paid a salary, they generally don’t have to worry about running out of work days, even if they do have to meet deadlines.  

Some things to try…

So much for the challenges. Now here are some things I have found helpful:

Be clear on what you are writing. Yes, you know the topic. But that’s not the same as knowing what you are writing. You don’t want to submit a draft to a client for review, only to have them say that’s not what they were expecting. Even if the topics and sub-topics are clear from your terms of reference, there is always a risk that you will focus too much on one aspect instead of another. Another issue might be that your report is considered too descriptive and not policy-oriented enough.

Start with an outline. Organize the material in a coherent logical outline. Get the client or team members to review it and provide input at this early stage. You can adjust it as you go along. But this outline is going to be the timber frame around which you will build your house.

Review material strategically and methodically. First, I like to read the table of contents, executive summary, introduction, and conclusions. I follow this with a quick scan of the entire document. I zero in on any relevant chapters and sub-topics and read them more in-depth. If it is an electronic document, I’ll “cheat” and do a key word search. I like to extract excerpts (using copy-paste function) and save them in a separate document, being sure to include the source citation. I may pull out citations to use in my report later.

Avoid working alone if you can. It is much more effective to collaborate on reports with colleagues. There will be more brainpower directed at the subject and different perspectives will be brought to bear. The back-and-forth flow of ideas is often stimulating, I find. It’s also a way of dividing and conquering, lessening the burden that one person would otherwise have to carry. Assign tasks to team members based on each person’s strengths; one may be a better writer, another a more thorough organizer of data; one may be a big-picture thinker, another will be good at details.

Break the process down into small and manageable tasks. An issue can seem overwhelming at first, because there are so many different aspects to it. It can help to take on one subtopic at a time, and temporarily ignore the others. Allot a half a day, a day, two days — however much time seems appropriate — to just that section or chapter. I like to open up a clean, new Word document for the purpose, and when I’m done, paste that separately created section into the main body.

Finally, one of the secrets to successful writing is knowing when to stop. You need to stop when the writing is good enough; not perfect, but good enough. You can keep revising a piece until the cows come home. You shouldn’t. Other work, other tasks, other things in life need your attention. Like that whisky — a perfect example of the distillation process bearing fruit.

(Revised May 8, 2020, and September 11, 2020, for clarity)