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

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

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

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

In consulting, as in Chinese calligraphy, “change” can represent both crisis and opportunity.  Imagine this:  After you have worked with your consulting customer to establish a well-constructed outcome and target results for your work, your client’s needs change.   Are you required to change your approach or services to match new needs?

The specter of “scope creep”  haunts many consultants when they find that initially proposed services may no longer be relevant.   Scope creep refers to the addition of new consulting services that were not specified in your original contract.

Of course, when the proposed change is a high priority for your client, and significant extra time will be required, it will be prudent to discuss and agree with your consulting customer on specific changes in your deliverables or cost.

From another perspective, change gives you the opportunity to add value by customizing service to meet the client’s new situation or by including that extra option or parameter into what you are creating for them.

Because each of us exists in business, home, or community settings that continually evolve, you can be certain that your client’s needs will shift.  Agree at the outset of your engagement on how you will communicate and handle changing requirements.  This will prevent scope creep, and give you a framework for periodic check-ins to insure that your services are still on target to deliver high value.

Randy and Susan

© Aligned for Results, LLC

One important aspect of discovering and describing the outcome your consulting customer wants is to identify any concerns or conflicting desires associated with that result.

Your client may not be consciously aware of concerns or conflicts.  However, the customer’s body language or the way they speak about what they want may tip you off.  Unless concerns or conflicts are identified and their impact minimized, you may find that the client holds back during the consultancy, making achievement of their stated result much more difficult.

Bringing Concerns to Light

You are not expected to be a psychoanalyst when uncovering these concerns. Rather, you can ask your consulting customer: “How will achieving the result you want impact (or affect) you, the team you lead, others in the organization, customers, your family, or the community?”  Follow up with questions that enable the customer to be specific.

The customer may respond with additional benefits.  This will help both of you understand the importance of achieving the customer’s desired outcome, and can increase motivation to succeed.

If you still sense hesitance or incongruity, be patient.  To surface any concerns or other desires which may conflict with the stated result, you may need to ask the question in different ways over the course of one or more conversations.  Your question can be as simple as:  “Now that I understand the benefits you can achieve from this result, I would like to know if you see any downside to getting or having it.”

Using Concerns to Sharpen the Outcome

Make sure that, if and when you identify any concerns or conflicts, you obtain enough information to be effective in resolving them.  Ask about and discuss ways in which issues can be handled as part of achieving the overall outcome desired.  You’ll then have the chance to research details during your larger assessment.  Addressing client concerns as part of project assessment  gives you the opportunity to discover more about related factors and potential resources for resolution.  It also gives you the opportunity to present and discuss specific mechanisms for resolving concerns when you finalize specific results, targets, and strategy in a subsequent conversation.

Randy and Susan

© Aligned for Results, LLC

When serving your client or consulting customer, one of the most important things you can do is enable them to discover:

1. what they specifically want, in measurable terms, regarding their subject of interest, and
2. their own internal or organizational resources which may assist in fulfilling that want.

As you do this, you lay the foundation for project success and client satisfaction. Serving in this way also builds relationship and trust. If there is a role for you in helping to achieve a client outcome, the trust you have built will encourage interest in or thoughtful consideration of what you may have to say.

One helpful question to connect your customer with their own guidance and resources is described in the following article:

Consulting-and-Sales-Success

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To your consulting success,

Randy

© Aligned for Results, LLC