please click on the post title or the number to the right to comment
Posted by Kathleen on October 8, 2008 – 1:41 pm
In a consulting situations we have to resist the pressure to jump to quick solutions. Customers and clients are looking for help, and they ususally want to see results immediately. That is where the pressure for quick solutions comes from. Internal consultants are in the business of solving problems, and our partners count on us to help them.
Every customer situation has unique details. But there are several charactersitics that are nearly always present in consulting situations; there are particular goals to address, specific objectives to achieve, key stakeholders, individual roles and responsibilities, and appropriate measures for success. We make a practice of clarifying and aligning assumptions and expectations around all of these topics for more effective consulting.
Recently a customer requested support for a change initiative. While we worked hard to clarify and align assumptions and expectations about goals and objectives, critical stakeholders and roles/ responsibilties, we were unable to align our understanding around the measures for success. We had taken a long-range view of the situation and our client was focused on short-term strategies–our measures for success were entirely different.
To achieve alignment, we are advocating an approach focused on ideas that make the most sense for what the customer is trying to accomplish now, and move forward with both short-term and longer-term strategies. This enables us to define near-term measures for success and also identify what success should look like 12 months and 24 months in the future.
When our work as consultants is focused on bringing about changes in behavior, we need to consider how success might look different as individuals adapt to change over time.
What “lessons learned” have you identified in your consulting work on change initiatives?
How do you account for human behavior in defining success for change initiatives?
please click on the post title or the number to the right to comment
Posted by Kathleen on September 24, 2008 – 11:07 am
Managing multiple projects at once is perhaps the most challenging aspect of work as an internal consultant. Every customer situation is unique and each situation is a priority for at least one of our partners. How we manage, and “juggle” all those opportunities has a BIG impact on our relationships and our ability to influence and negotiate with others.
Juggling gets more difficult with each additional item you try to balance. There are techniques experts use to juggle many items at once. Consulting with multiple business partners on multiple projects requires expert techniques too.
Expert tip: No matter how many new opportunities arise, our consulting approach has to remain consistent. When we are disciplined in our efforts to clarify customer’s assumptions and expectations that helps us balance multiple priorities with a clear understanding of the different needs of customers.
We use different Partnership Agreements formats–it’s not the style that is important, it is the substance. I have inserted some Howick Associates examples as hyperlinks below. These templates describe many aspects of our work clearly, and the discussion that leads to that clarity builds trust and partnership. We have found that clarification of expectations is the most powerful tool in our consulting toolkit.
2-page-partnership-agreement-worksheet
sow-template
email-summary-template
What is your opinion: Is there anything more important than clear understanding of the scope of our work together?
We would love this blog to be a “go to” resource for sharing tools, that’s why we set it up! So let us know if you use another, alternative agreement template and link your template into your comments so other consultants can become more effective at multi-tasking.
please click on the post title or the number to the right to comment
Posted by Kathleen on September 4, 2008 – 2:06 pm
Recently I found myself helping a stranger in a US Passport Agency office. The experience reminded me again about the importance of asking good questions.
As a young man got in line behind me, I couldn’t help but notice his haggard appearance. And then he began to cry. My immediate impulse was to ask, “Are you alright?” But I considered my options and asked instead, “Is there anything I can do to help you?” His answer involved continued assistance, but after I heard his story, I wanted to help.
He had driven all night from Detroit to Chicago upon hearing that his beloved grandfather had passed away in the Middle East. He was completely unprepared for the trip and couldn’t find his passport. By asking how I might help I learned more about his situation and helped him solve his immediate problems of identification and forms. That solution enabled him to achieve his goal which was a new passport.
Consultants are often in situations that resemble the one I experienced. The quality of our questions, and they way we present our assistance can have a big impact on the results we can achieve together.
Roles and Responsibilities
- For consultants, the desired outcome should always be to help clients succeed, and in doing so create mutually beneficial solutions
- To do that effectively and consistently we have to develop our skills at asking thoughtful questions
- Asking thoughtful questions helps us develop more understanding our interactions with others.
- Better questions result in more precise evaluation, and more effective, creative solutions.
High Gain Questions Worth Asking!
What will happen if we don’t do anything?
Who else will be affected by this situation?
What is the bottom-line impact of this issue?
Is there data that demonstrates the bottom-line impact?
What will success look like?
Where will we see the indicators of success?
SHARE YOUR FAVORITE HIGH GAIN QUESTION!
asking-questions
please click on the post title or the number to the right to comment
Posted by Kathleen on August 25, 2008 – 2:53 pm
In response to our post last week, several consultants wrote to share their consulting lessons learned:
Nicole Milhaupt wrote “I could not agree more with the statement that trust and rapport develop over time and just how important it is in any relationship. While I was reading this post it brought me back to a conversation that I had earlier this morning with one of my service model partners. Our discussion was centered around an issue in one of our departments. As I sat listening to my service model partner describe the situation, I was repeatedly telling myself the story that the foundation of trust was never built. When the facts were all given I posed the very question to my service model partner, “What story are you telling yourself is the root of these issues?” My service model partner, without hesitation, responded that the trust was never built. And our action plan now will be centered around wokring to build the trust and rapport in their department to make them even more effective than they are already.”
Thanks Nicole! At Howick Associates, we know that when “trust has not been built” it is difficult to accomplish anything together. Our efforts as internal consultants to build trust and develop rapport with our customers and colleagues will help us achieve more sustainable results in the long run.
Cindy Salzwedel wrote: “Since taking this course I realized that while I did use many of these ideas in the past, I wasn’t always consistant. After a few weeks of making a conscious effort to put these skills to use, they are now becoming a habit. I am reducing calls, meeting time and emails by asking the right questions up front, setting boundaries and following thru. My customers get better service from me and I save time.”
Thanks Cindy! We always appreciate positive feedback on our workshop. Consistency is where the rubber meets the road in our experience. If your customers never know what kind of service you will be providing it is difficult for them to feel certain of your support.
Congratulations on reducing calls, meeting time and emails all while providing better service. Do you have any templates/job-aids you are using that you are willing to share with others?
Linda Steadman wrote: Never assume anything. No matter how many times I am reminded or remind myself of this, I still fall into the trap of assuming. Questions, detailed and direct, are the only way to assess a situation accurately. That is what enables us to be an effective consultant.This is particularly true in the ‘little’ situations, where the desired result seems so obvious. I’m finding that there is always more to a story than what you are first told. Getting beyond differences in word usage, discovering the true outcome desired, and probing for possible solutions sometimes takes hours instead of minutes and often ends in a place you never saw when you ‘assumed’ to know the answer.
Thanks Linda! We couldn’t agree more! We value High Gain Questions in all of our interactions with clients and use them to clarify and align expectations, manage scope and define projects. Let us know if you have some particularly valuble questions you use to minimize assumptions in consulting situations.
please click on the post title or the number to the right to comment
Posted by Kathleen on August 21, 2008 – 11:59 am
A few minutes into the conference call with clients, it suddenly became obvious that each of us had different objectives for this discussion. Of course, it was also painfully clear that the expectations of each participant were slightly different as well.
The client saw the disscussion as a “sales pitch” to help him understand the value of our “product”. While we viewed the dialogue as a part of the assessment of the situation we were discussing. As consultants we were focusing on getting results but our client was still building rapport and developing trust in our approach and experience.
Conveying our empathy, organizational attunement and expertise is critical to effective internal consulting. We have to communicate our professionalism, efficiency and knowledge through our consulting actions everyday. LESSONS LEARNED: We have to consistently define the objectives of our work and be careful to align everyone’s expectations for meetings and discussions. We cannot hurry along the process of building a true strategic partnership. Trust and rapport develop over time.
Clarifying and aligning expectations and identifying specific objectives for discussions is basic stuff. These are consulting practices that establish professionalism, build trust and help us develop rapport through on-going dialogue. These practices help give structure to any consulting discussion. Being disciplined and consistent in applying them in all consulting situations is a challenge in the multi-tasking reality of 2008.
WHAT IS YOUR LATEST LESSON LEARNED AS A CONSULTANT?
(share your story by clicking on the title of this post to add your comments!)
please click on the post title or the number to the right to comment
Posted by Kathleen on August 13, 2008 – 1:35 am
Groundrules
A blog is a new vehicle for dialogue for many of us. As anyone who has worked with Howick Associates knows, ground rules are always helpful for clarifying expectations and creating balanced participation in discussions. So here a few “ground rules” to help you make the most of this site:
- Check in every few days to read the blog. We will be publishing new posts every couple of days and each new post will include food for thought, new resources and high gain questions to promote discussion.
- Click on the title (bold yellow and underlined) of any post to add your comments
- Everyone participates, no bystanders, share your perspectives for a rich discussion
- Follow-up on new ideas and let us know your results
- Engage others whenever possible
- Let us know if you have questions or concerns
Click on the title of this post to add your comments and/or ideas for additional ground rules.
please click on the post title or the number to the right to comment
Posted by Kathleen on August 11, 2008 – 2:02 pm
please click on the post title or the number to the right to comment
Posted by Kathleen on August 11, 2008 – 12:24 pm
Those who study communication estimate that listening takes up more waking hours than any other human communication activity. If you are not listening, you are not learning.
We demonstrate that we are not listening through non-verbal messages and unconscious behavior. reasons-for-poor-listening In doing so, we reveal that our mind is closed and there is nothing of interest being conveyed to us. This is not effective consulting!
Measures For Success
Successful listening as a consultant includes both attentive and critical listening. These skills go beyond the basics of developing understanding and memory recall of the facts and ideas. When people listen attentively and critically they have engagement goals as well.
Consultants are successfully listening when we:
- Make eye contact
- Maintain an engaging posture and attitude while we facilitate dialogue, rephrase and reflect the facts, emotions and meanings in what we are hearing.
- Analyze and evaluate what we hear as we put this new information into the broader context of our knowledge and experience.
- Focus and concentrate to minimize distractions
- Prepare to interact with others in an intentional way even during informal discussions.
FOLLOW UP QUESTIONS FOR ALL CONSULTANTS!
What listening approaches have you adopted to better gather information?
What listening approaches have you adopted to improve or strengthen relationships?
To Learn More
listening-a-vital-skill2
attentive-and-critical-listening
listening-statistics
please click on the post title or the number to the right to comment
Posted by Kathleen on June 4, 2008 – 10:26 am
It feels like the conversation is just getting started when our workshop ends… So we decided to move the discussion about internal consulting out of the office and training room, and into cyberspace. We’ll facilitate sharing of promising practices, and provide a resource of practical tools and lessons learned for use on-the-job as usual, but we’ll do it with a new twist, 24/7 online access at your convenience.
What’s In It for You?
- Online participation in an on-going virtual dialogue about consulting work.
- A ready-made learning community, on your desktop, with people who are all working as internal consultants.
- IT’S FREE.
Why should you listen in and participate?
We have developed a successful approach to consulting–we’ve been practicing for 25 years. We have managed thousands of projects for hundreds of clients. That experience has taught us a few things. Those lessons learned are the basis for our workshop Internal Consulting for Results and this blog.
And your participation adds another perspective, and layer of experience to the dialogue. In logging on and leaving comments you can connect with other professionals to test out ideas, ask questions and we can all learn from each other.
Assumptions and Expectations
- We plan to post questions regularly (We’ve prepared for this like we would any meeting)
- We ’ll include new tools, data, and lessons learned in our repertoire of postings.
- We will include guest speakers for a broad range of expert perspectives on internal consulting
- We plan to evaluate our progress against measures for success in six months
- We want to hear your perspectives. But as facilitators, we reserve the right to edit comments left on our site that do not promote productive dialogue.
- The blog includes a passcode protected access for participants of our workshop Internal Consulting for Results. This will enable workshop participants to have easy online access to tools and materials associated with ICR.
Follow-up Questions
What is your most powerful communication tool?
How have you used it to your advantage recently?
