Tag Archives: planning

TNF #095: Charting your course

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Welcome Professionals…

… Today’s edition of TNF is inspired by the summer vacation period. Some of you may have read last year’s blogpost about “Surfing the client”, TNF #044. I went wind surfing on the Lake of Garda in Italy back then and wind surfing is exactly what I do this week.

Surfing and sailing provides us with a rich set of analogies for business life. During the year we are constantly out there on the open water, coping with different weather conditions, sometimes surfing new business opportunities and sometimes fighting the upcoming thunderstorm. We need to adapt to the terrain, the wind, the water. We have to pick the fitting gear every day and need to make sure that we make progress towards our goals and do not drift away.

Vacation time is a period where can step out of the water. We can sit on the shore and reflect the period behind us. We can make new plans for the time ahead and chart our course for the future. We can address some basic questions that need a regular review. From my point of view, twice a year is a good frequency for charting your course.

  • Charting your course: Where do I want to go? Do I clearly see the fixed star for my course
  • Progress assessment: Did I make progress into that direction? Where do I want to make improvements?
  • Equipment planning: Do I have all the resources, capabilities, tools and systems in place? What do I need to add or get rid of?
  • Milestone setting: What are my next milestones on the way to my goal?
  • Determination: How do I feel when I reach my next milestone? What will I do to celebrate this success?

I am writing this while sitting on the shore of Lake of Garda, watching my kids aquire some new wind surfing skills. Wishing you all a great summer vacation period!

Use the time for charting your course!

Malte

Thursday Night Flight is brought to you by Malte Müller Professionals. Sharing best practices for top management consultants on topics like communication, client handling, problem solving, appearance, and fitness. Check out www.mm-professionals.com for more material and free resources!

TNF #084: Small pain

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Welcome Professionals…

…I was at the dentist today. One of my inlays was broken and I decided to have it replaced as protection from potential further tooth decay. This preventive maintenance is costly, time consuming, and not really pleasant. As I was laying on the dentist chair, I thought about the analogies to our consulting profession.

small pain

What we would all agree to as a wise decision in dental care also applies to business. Accepting the smaller pain today in order to avoid the bigger pain in the future. Thinking through the various decisions within my 15+ years as a top management consultant, I can come up with many examples for the smaller pain:

  • admitting a mistake
  • asking an embarrassing question
  • changing staffing after a few days on the project
  • giving pushback on targets set by client/superior
  • scheduling a weekend shift before an important presentation

All these highly unpopular and sometimes painful actions have the potential to avoid a bigger and even more painful failure in the future. However, I sometimes had the idea that I might get away without any pain. I might get lucky, I thought. Well, very unlikely to get lucky on caries for the next 50 years with a broken inlay. Why not apply this wisdom to everyday business?

Welcome small pain!

Malte

Thursday Night Flight is brought to you by Malte Müller Professionals. Sharing best practices for top management consultants on topics like communication, client handling, problem solving, appearance, and fitness. Check out www.mm-professionals.com for more material and free resources!