Consulting Tips and Tools

When establishing relationship with a customer and determining what outcome or result they are seeking from your assistance, it is very helpful to “follow the passion.” In doing this, both you and your customers will gain a clear understanding of the most important forces motivating their requests, and the wider scope of impact and context for your work as a consultant.

By “follow the passion”, we mean going beyond your initial specification of the desired outcome or result. Those statements often represent an immediate, or perhaps technical, result the customer has formulated. Though important, such statements may be constrained by the customer’s conscious or unconscious assumptions about what is possible, or perhaps notions of the best approach to move toward a more important outcome.

You, with expertise on the topic, have a richer toolbox to draw upon. Knowing the deeper, wider, or more important outcome desired by the customer will enable you (as the consultant) to draw upon your expertise in planning for and achieving that outcome.

Even more importantly, discovering the deeper outcome will engage greater passion in the client — resulting in a stronger partnership, especially when you meet challenges along the way.

How do you discover what lies beneath the initial statement of what is wanted? Simply ask “So having that, what will it get or produce for you or for your organization (or for your community)?”

As when posing any question, listen carefully to the response. Ask probe questions to clarify. For example, ”Can you say more about that … or what do you mean by that, specifically?” Paraphrase or summarize what you hear to check for understanding. You may need to cycle through a series of probe questions followed by paraphrase checks in order to gain clarity.

Once you believe you have understood, based on the body language of agreement from your customer, you can check if there may be an even deeper or larger outcome being served by what you have just discovered. How? Simply repeat the process above, starting with: “So having that, what will it get or produce for you or for your organization (or for your community)?”

At some point, perhaps two or three levels down, you and your customer will have the sense that you have established the foundation outcome to be achieved. In sensing how far to probe, be sensitive to the level of trust and comfort your client has with you in that moment. If you feel you need to stop, come back to this exploration in a subsequent conversation.

For more on questions to discover what customers want and how to assist them in realizing those desires, see our new book “Customers for Keeps”.

Next Time — Follow the Passion, Part II

Randy and Susan

© Aligned for Results, LLC

Within the next few weeks, Randy and I will launch our eBook, Customers for Keeps: How to Woo, WOW! and Win Customers. In the run-up, I’ve been checking on-line links to consultants listed on the Resource page of our book. This page recommends people who have influenced our thinking through their writing, coaching, and example.

What a pleasure it has been to re-visit their websites!

Each of them continues to innovate and contribute as they grow their own unique method of consulting and coaching. Each of them continues to feed my spirit, teach me new perspectives and methods, or make me laugh.

Overall, this review revealed strands in the fabric of consulting that Randy and I deliver and believe in. The communication methods of NLP pioneers Robert Dilts and Judy DeLozier are woven together with the partnership approaches to consulting articulated by Peter Block and Alan Weiss. The community development strategies modeled by John McKnight, Margaret Wheatley, and others are threaded with the collaborative facilitation methods of David Sibbet. As we have used and evolved these methods in our own work, they have become part of the unique value we offer to those we serve.

Here’s a rewarding and revealing assignment: Make your own Great Consulting Books and/or Website list. Re-visit these sources and notice how they have influenced who you have become and what you now contribute.

Recognizing and acknowledging your coaches, teachers, and mentors can give you welcome sense of community and an on-going source of wisdom. And let us know about your favorite consulting resources. We may add them to the second edition of Customers for Keeps!

Susan Berry

© Aligned for Results

One of my favorite activities as a facilitator is setting the agenda.  Whether it’s for a strategic planning workshop or a project meeting, a crisp, well-focused agenda is my Number One tool for success.

On my agendas, outcomes are stated upfront, for all participants to review and acknowledge.  Putting outcomes first gives everyone at the event a target, a way to make sense of the content and interaction to come, and a standard for measuring success.

Putting outcomes up front requires that I, as the meeting facilitator, find out what the meeting sponsor and participants or stakeholders want to achieve.  The outcomes belong to them, not to me, and must be stated in terms that resonate with them.  I also need to know the current situation as it relates to meeting outcomes.  This tells me the distance between the two points, and how far we must travel in the meeting to reach our destination.

Exploring and describing outcomes from the perspectives of the meeting sponsor and its stakeholders often reveals differences of approach, values, and expectations.  Finding the common ground that can unite these different perspectives is essential.  This is what clear outcomes can describe and encourage.

Until outcomes are clear, there’s really nothing to justify a meeting.

Once the description of outcomes resonate with the meeting sponsor and stakeholders, agenda design becomes the art of arranging content and interaction in a sequence of steps that lead to the target.  Many routes can take you to Rome, once you know the look and feel of Rome.

What’s on your agenda?

Identifying and describing the outcomes your customer wants is a primary move and achievement for consultants.  To learn more about how to do this, see our ebook, Customers for Keeps, coming soon.

Susan Berry

© Aligned for Results

Can you remember a conversation that gave you greater clarity and focus about something you wanted to do or achieve?  Perhaps you were talking with a friend or a colleague or a mentor, and their listening gave you the time and space to find a new approach to your question.  From there, it’s a very short step to action.

At its heart, consulting is a conversation about what matters.  As you learn more about the person you are consulting and the outcomes they want to produce or foster, you are better able to assist them in figuring out the way forward.  What’s perhaps more important, they gain clarity about what specifically they are after, and how these results will affect their current work, organization, and customers.

A great conversation is grounded in a relationship of mutual respect and candid communication.  It’s a two-way channel with one intent:  To explore, expand, and align thinking around a topic of mutual interest and concern.

In today’s world of on-line communication, how can we encourage this type of conversation?

What are your thoughts on this?  How do you use on-line media to foster mutually respectful relationship and focused consulting?

Stay tuned if you would like to know more about how to apply consulting principles to conversations with customers.  This month, we will be launching an ebook on this topic: Customers for Keeps:  Consulting Tools to Woo, Wow!, and Win Customers.

Susan and Randy

© Aligned for Results

Alex, Eric, and Brenna blow glass on cruise ships that sail the Mediterranean and Caribbean.  On behalf of the Corning Museum of Glass, they present 2-hour demonstrations, creating multi-colored containers and sculpture that capture the essence of sea and light in a molten moment.

Their audience is enchanted as lumps of glowing dough transform into luminous containers and figures.  Blowing glass well, the artists tell us, requires a bone-deep Read the rest of this entry »

November finds us in the European and Mediterranean region, guiding a series of multi-agency planning meetings and workshops on how to mentor individuals.

Along the way, we have had the opportunity to visit the sites of several ancient cities and monuments.

Some of these sites contained an area reserved for healing, the Aesclepion.  Here, those who sought healing found sanctuary.   They spent the night in a cave sacred to the God of Healing.  It was said that the God would come to them in a dream, and the dream would offer clues to their healing.

What is the link between Aesclepius, strategic planning, and your power to assist someone else in achieving their potential?

All three require the time, space, and support to dream a new dream, and all three benefit from an external witness (whether healer, facilitator, or mentor).

And all three bless the witness, as well as the participants, with new energy and resolve to make our dreams come true.

Susan and Randy

© Aligned for Results, LLC

Randy and I are back on-line after an intense series of consulting and training projects.  Several of these initiatives replicated previous work, and several involved new sponsors, situations, and solutions.

As we assess the results, I find that the value of creating new models and materials is much different than the value of providing well-tested approaches.  Each has its own risks and rewards.

The potential for learning is high with new services. So is the reward of partnering with sponsors on innovative means to address evolving issues, needs, and priorities.  The risks of new services include the challenge of predicting time and cost requirements for first-time activities, or responding to unanticipated customer reactions and requests.

With well-tested methods and familiar situations, these issues subside.  Yet others arise:  When sponsors request services they have used successfully before, it is important to check whether the method still responds to what is required.  A fresh touch can be needed to ensure you, audience, and partners observe and participate with fresh eyes and ears.

Our customers and their needs do not stand still.  As consultants, each of us must continue to develop new approaches and ways of drawing on and expanding our expertise to meet these needs  For a healthy practice, innovation must be balanced with a stable foundation of reliable methods and services.

How can you achieve this balance with your consulting work?

Susan and Randy

© Aligned for Results, LLC

Consulting is a profession that can lead to exotic places.  We spent April in Japan, conducting several team planning events and learning about a rich and intriguing culture that is much different than ours.

As in all travel, the difference is revealed in the detail.  Case in point:  At lunchtime on a day-off excursion, we saw curtains waving over a small sliding door.  Even though this is the Japanese signal for a restaurant that is open, the place was deserted when we walked in.  Within moments the mom-and-pop Sushi team arrived, and our culinary adventure began.

How is great sushi like great consulting?

1.  II’s custom-made: Our chef listened to us, even though we spoke a different language.  He gave us photos of sushi and invited us to point out what we wanted.  He suggested options.   And when we reached agreement, he set out to satisfy our desires.   Innovation and delight begins with clear outcomes.

2.  It’s fresh: Whether the contents include cucumber, plum sauce, tuna or eel, great sushi combines only the freshest of ingredients.  The result is an extraordinary burst of flavor that satisfies far beyond its size.   How can you create this response as a consultant?  How can you discover and combine ingredients to fulfill the appetite of your customers?

3. Demonstrate the process: Have you ever watched the transition from a freshly caught fish into sushi?  Our chef worked under our noses, using the sharpest knife we had ever seen to assemble rice, nori (seaweed sheets) cucumber, wasabi, plum sauce and fish into sushi.  He was delighted to demonstrate his craft, and to instruct his diners.  In our team planning sessions, we weave instructional elements on team performance, collaboration and results management into the brew.  The result:  Participants leave with a memorable experience and expanded abilities as well as with a product that they can use immediately.

4. Surprise and delight: Our sushi session ended with photos all around.  We took pictures of our hosts and they took pictures of us.  Lunch had somehow become an international learning exchange that yielded much happiness for all involved.

How can your consulting be like great sushi??

Susan and Randy

© Aligned for Results, LLC

Teams, like individuals, gain confidence and velocity when they have a clear sense of purpose, support from sponsors, and a shared framework for action. Achieving this is particularly important (and particularly challenging) during start-up of a cross-boundary team.

In many organizations, cross-boundary teams are convened when a leader identifies desired results that require the inputs, perspectives, and capabilities of staff from a range of units.  (Typical cross-boundary team projects include process improvement initiatives, strategic planning, or  new product development.)  The initiating sponsor may or may not take on direct  leadership of the team’s work.  As the team forms, therefore, it is essential to clarify and translate the sponsor’s mandate into terms that make sense to team members.

The team’s Charter can be a valuable tool for doing this.   Savvy leaders can also use the process of Charter development as a way to orient team members, develop a sense of Team identity, clarify goals, and build the buy-in that is essential to team performance.

What Does an Effective Charter Contain?

The following seven sections group key questions for the team to consider as it defines its purpose, expected results, and method of operations.  Answering these can assist rapid generation of content for the draft Charter.

Purpose and Context or Rationale

Why does the team exist?  Who and what does the team serve in the larger organizational context?  What is the overarching outcome it is expected to produce, and what are the anticipated benefits of its work?  Clarity at this level will help team members understand the team’s mission, and why their contribution is vital.

Scope of Work, Results to Be Produced, and Accountability

Within the framework of the team’s purpose, what are the specific results it must produce?  Stating these results in measurable terms (with owners and due dates) can describe both the scope of team responsibility and standards for its success.  Who is the team’s sponsor, and to whom is the team accountable?

Team Composition, Roles, and Responsibilities

Who’s on the team?  Listing team members, along with their role and responsibilities, both explains expectations and publicly acknowledges contributions.  Be sure to clarify how team members are expected to interact or communicate with members of their “home” unit regarding the team’s work.  And be sure to describe the team leader’s responsibilities for communication between the team and its sponsor(s).

Team Authority, Boundaries, and Resources

What is the Team authorized to do in accomplishing its assigned results?  What are the limits of its authority, what actions require prior approval, and who can provide this approval?  What resources (time, budget, access to staff support and equipment or facilities) are available to support its work?  What resources are available if members face competing priorities and must modify current responsibilities to accomplish expected team results.

Team Operations

How will team decisions be made, documented, tracked and communicated?  Within this section, the team can outline internal communication lines, as well as how it will involve and inform its sponsor and other major stakeholders inside and outside the organization.

When will meetings take place, and what is their anticipated frequency and length? What are the “rules” for sending informed and empowered substitutes if a Team member cannot attend?

How will the team track, monitor, and communicate progress? How will it negotiate change in the Team’s Charter,  member role and responsibilities, or plans should this be needed?

Evaluation of Success

What are the criteria for evaluating the team’s performance? (In addition to achieving anticipated results, criteria could include increase in effective cross-boundary collaboration, higher organizational morale, identification of opportunities for additional organization-wide resource sharing, etc.)

How will individual and team success be acknowledged, celebrated, and/or rewarded?

How will final results of the Team’s work be communicated throughout the organization, and to other stakeholders?

Sunset, and/or Renewal

What is the anticipated date when the Team is expected to complete its work, and will either sunset or be renewed?  How will this decision be made?

Using the Charter to Boost Team Buy-In

Clarifying the Team Charter can establish a shared framework for collaborative action. The process for developing the Charter plays an important role in encouraging buy-in and commitment.  Consider the following two methods:

1.  Team Leader and Sponsor draft key sections of the Charter for Team review & dialog.

2.  Team members discuss the questions and draft their answers for review with the Sponsor.

Which would work best for your team?  Either approach can be effective, because both promote dialog and shared expectations regarding the Team’s mandate.  Because of the number of people involved, Method #2 will likely take more time.  This method may be worth the time it takes, however, if you want to develop clarity among all members regarding the team’s mandate, expected results, and member responsibilities.

Susan and Randy

© Aligned for Results, LLC

As an individual, and in a consulting role, I have noticed the importance of keeping my focus on desired results to travel the most productive and pleasant path to success.  When challenges arise, I want to access the widest range of ideas, perspectives, and resources available to me.

When faced with a meaningful challenge to something we have planned or already invested in, it can be all too easy to slip into extended focus on avoiding what is not wanted.  Depending on the potential consequences of the challenge, deeper concerns or fears may be triggered, with their associated emotions.  This is a relatively unresourceful starting point for thinking and action.

How can you stay resourceful in these situations?   Drawing on Neuro-Linguistic Programming modeling tools, Susan and I have identified one “how-to” strategy.  I outline it below both to share it with you and to stimulate comments on strategies that work best for others.

When a challenge or an unexpected event that could throw us off track must be addressed, or when I notice some degree of tension or lack of creativity when considering how to proceed, I have used the following sequence with success:

(1) Imagine as vividly as possible in minds-eye what is wanted, the Read the rest of this entry »