All too often in consulting, the answer consultants come up with does not match the question our clients have. Just because we use the same words, doesn’t mean we share an understanding. GETTING THE QUESTION RIGHT is so important–because the question defines the problem and the problem drives your proposed solution. For example, a client was depending upon short-term loans to cover operating costs. This debt was creating significant problems, and more and more revenue was going to debt repayment instead of investment. So, the client asked for help in managing debt. In come specialists in debt management. But….. the problem wasn’t debt management, but budget and cash management. The solution was better cash forecasting in the treasury department. Shifting our focus from debt management to cash forecasting meant our proposed solution addressed their fundamental problem–and that is what we’re all about.
Straight from the Horse’s Mouth
Really! The time I spent working with horses and my riding students was a post-graduate education as an advisor. Looking back, you can only begin to imagine how grateful I am that I refused to listen to people who questioned my priorities.
WORK WITH WHAT YOU’VE GOT — not what you would like. Regardless of how much effort I put in, I was never going to turn a plow horse into a race horse or a race horse into a plow horse. What I could do is help an ordinary horse develop her talents into being the best possible horse she could be, or in building a foundation for more talented trainers in her future. It wasn’t about how great I was, but in how great the horse (or riding student) could be.
Applying that insight to people and institutions wasn’t that much of a stretch. Instead of immediately focusing on their weaknesses (already documented to a distressing degree), I took time to discover their strengths. This was their baseline, the starting point of our work. The focus of my services is not on their failings (which is not very inspiring), but in strengthening their capabilities (which is much more positive).
Getting Meetings on Track
I really don’t care for meetings, although people invite me to meetings on topics of little interest to me. One day, I learned the reason behind these invitations. “At some point,” this ambassador said, “I can trust that you will say something to get the discussion back on track.” Well, what I thought was a character flaw turned out to be positive attribute. But just what had I said?
- “Just how is that going to work?” A lot of talk around the conference table is ‘woulda-coulda-shoulda.” At some point, there has to be some action and that action is supposed to result in something (hopefully positive). This question reminds people that someone has to actually do something.
- “Are you sure about that?” Smart people are not always practical people. While answering the first question, they may not notice that step three or four of their solution depends upon something magical happening. With this question, I am giving them an opportunity to self-discover a critical logical lapse.
- “I don’t understand.” This is usually accompanied by a quizzical look, I’ve been told. Again, this is another opportunity for self-discovery that some key point is missing.
- If they persist, this next one is where I sit back and say, “I don’t think so.” Maybe whatever they are proposing will work, but there is nothing in my experience leads me to think success is eminent if they pursue this line of thinking. I could be surprised, but, “I don’t think so.”
- “At what point was this a good idea?” Depending upon the context, and my mood, this question can be positive (‘up to what point was this working and we can work from there?”) or negative (“you do realize that this was truly never had a chance to working?”)
This script has worked well for me over the years–even before I realized I had such a script. If the discussion isn’t going anywhere, feel free to adopt or adapt this approach. Beware, you may find yourself invited to more meetings!