Tag Archives: top management consulting

TNF #073: Conversation starter

Welcome Professionals…

…When we meet someone for the first time, there are good and bad introductions. One of the worst is to start right away with the question of “what do you do?”. Meaning “what is your profession?” or “what are you doing for living?”.

This answer to this question instantly leads to categorizing the other person into useful or not useful contacts, into potential client, supplier, colleague, or outsider. We can be sure that the counterquestion of “what do you do?” will follow shortly after the answer and if we don’t watch out, the conversation will be over by that time.

We unconciously categorize people by all kinds of ways before we approach them: by age, gender, color of skin, clothing, status, behaviour, and so on. There is no need to add another categorization right in the beginning of a verbal contact. It is much better to open the conversation with a commonality than another differentiation. Something that addresses a common experience. Something that most likely can be shared with the approached person.

Potential openers could be something along these lines:

How do you know the host of this party?
The weather is supposed to be fantastic on the weekend – do you have any plans?
I think the band is doing a great job tonight, what do you think?

You get the idea. Wishing you good conversations!

Malte

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TNF #072: Getting ship done

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Welcome Professionals…

…You all have probably heard about a famous quote that is often used in the context of teamwork and motivation. It goes like this:

If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men and women to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.

There are several versions of this quote and most of the time it is associated with Antoine de Saint-Exupéry who is best known internationally as the author of “Le Petit Prince”. I don’t know if he is the definite originator, but for sure I have heard this quote a thousand times.

While the motivational saying sounds pursuading in general, I have never really seen this working in practice. Teams perform best when led by precise orders. Sure – go ahead an give your work some meaning! Every project leader shall feel blessed whose team is yearning for results.

But if this teaching “to yearn for the vast and endless sea” is all that a project leader does, odds are that team members spend endless hours at their desk yearning, without getting any tangible results. Or they pick the easiest jobs first, or they spent time in group discussions dividing the tasks themselves, or … – whatever.

If you want to get your ship done and you don’t have time to have the team figure it out by themselves, give clear and concise orders. Control work progress in a decent number of milestones. That’s the way to go!

Now I hope I get some push-back from the little prince lovers out there.

Good luck building your ship

Malte

TNF #071: Simply to the point

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Welcome Professionals…

…I attended a speaking event yesterday. The first part of the presentation was delivered by the CEO, who had been running a successful company for 25 years. The second part was delivered by a consultant, who had served this company over 10 years and used it is a case study to explain some general patterns of leadership.

After the presenation was done, we had a casual conversation among the audience, since this was a best practice sharing event. I talked to three independent participants, who all mentioned the same thing: “Why do consultants always have to make it so complicated?”

Whether this generalized critique is fair or not, I think we need to take this feedback seriously. Oftentimes, we consultants tend to use complicated vocabulary for messages that could be delivered in much more simple terms. Why are we doing this? Is it just to make a simple finding look more sophisticated? Or are we shying away from straight and clear messages?

The attention span of an audience is extremely short and is getting shorter with more and more overload of data and general distraction. Complicated vocabulary and fancy buzz words will turn off the receiver. If we want to get our messages across, we need to deliver them very clearly and straight to the point.

Wishing you concise conversations

Malte

TNF #070: Online communication

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Welcome Professionals…

…Would you agree that online communications tools make our work more efficient? Some people are in serious doubt about that. But let’s assume that it is true. It is much quicker and – when done correctly – even more precise to send an email instead of having a conversation in person or over the phone. Beyond email, specialized online collaboration tools have profound advantages. They clearly have their mark in business communication.

However, relying completely on online communication is a dangerous mistake. Whether we want our co-workers to perform a certain task or a client to choose working with us – we need to build trustful relationships in order to get the job done. Only these relationships will be a high enough motivation in the long-term to achieve outstanding results. Sure, there are hierarchical structures that should legitimate a certain taks request. Also, a clear logic and rationale certainly help. But in the end, the relationship between the two parties makes the difference.

Online communication is inappropriate for building relationships. Everybody reads messages in their own head, adding the tonality and emotion to it on their own behalf. It does not matter how many emoticons we add – an online message will never reach a sufficient level of personal interaction that will build a trustful relationship. We need to interact with real persons in order to build a connection.

That having said, this is a plea for connecting with co-workers, suppliers and clients in person. Walking over to someones desk, taking the time to get somebody on the phone live, and even making a dedicated visit may take some extra effort. The difference is huge. In fact, relying solely on online communication will not work.

So, instead of sending the next email, walk over to the desk of your team member. It’s worth it and I personally think it is also more fun.

Wishing you a good social time

Malte

TNF #069: Problem solving process

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Welcome Professionals…

…Problem solving is a process, it is very rare that the solution hits us like a lightning bolt. Solutions usually need to be crafted over time through various iterations.

However, from time to time I catch myself waiting for this kind of lightning bolt. I find myself chewing on a problem, ruminating for hours and hoping that I will find that final answer. But all ruminating won’t solve the problem for me.

What works is to get started in a creation process. Trying to formulate ideas, write down evaluations, set cornerstones, and jot down design sketches. Through the process of physical activity I come to iterative conclusions until the solution is found.

Complex problem solving needs plenty of operations. If I try to retain all intermediate results in my memory, it is clear that doing the next calculation becomes harder the more I have to memorize. It is much easier to roll out ideas on paper (or on a screen if you like) step-by-step. My brain can use full capacity for each next operation.

This is why it is so important to sit down and get started with the creative production process. I like to think about problem solving as a craft, not an art.

Wishing you sound solutions

Malte

TNF #068: Client visit

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Welcome Professionals…

…Sometimes we want to visit prospective clients in order to establish or deepen a relationship. We do not have ongoing project work and we have not been invited to a specific subject discussion or proposal. Yet, we want to engage into a conversation on current or future challenges, getting to understand our client better as a person and as a company.

When the time is ready to arrange such a client visit, I have made good experience with a rather casual approach. I tell the client that I will be close to his/her office on a specific day or week and that it would be nice to drop-by if he/she can make up for some time in the agenda. Placing the request this way highly increases the likelihood for the client to say yes. Moreover, if the answer is no, it is much easier to ask for another meeting when the opportunity comes again.

The casual offering takes a lot of pressure out of the request. If we tell our clients, that we are willing to make a long journey for a fully dedicated meeting with them it does not really flatter them. They immediately think that they will have to offer something in return. If the supplier is going to invest time and energy into a client visit, the client feels obligated to offer some proposal opportunity or similar in return. While this reciprocity rule works for us once we can engage in actual proposal work, it is risky to overwhelm the client in the very early stage.

This approach has another great advantage. It allows to combine various client appointments on one trip. It can dramatically increase efficiency. When arranged well in advance, it is usually possible to to find some other prospects on the way. I have made it a habit for scheduling. For every client meeting that I arrange, I ask myself who else at this client site could I visit? Who else in the the same area or along the way could I visit? Sometimes it makes sense to plan the route first and then fill it with appointments.

Wishing you a productive client visit!

Malte

TNF #067: New Year’s resolution

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Welcome Professionals…

…Happy New Year to all professionals out there! Hope you are having a great start into 2017.

It is time for New Year’s resolutions. Did you make any? Or did you even already break one? Why is it so hard to keep these resolutions?

New Year’s resolutions are typically about behavioural change. Examples are:

Quit smoking
Eat more healthy
Do more structured business development
etc.

As professionals striving towards continuous improvement we know what makes behavioural change successful. We know that we must set S.M.A.R.T. goals, that we need a clear “why” with an emotional attachment, that we need to establish habits instead of using sheer will power.

What we also know is that failure will be part of the road to success. It is highly unlikely to accomplish a goal in one step and without any form of failure. If so, the goal was just not ambitious enough.

For many people, failing on a resolution equals breaking the resolution. This is when the “what the hell effect” comes into play. The first time they fail, these people will think: “What the hell, this New Year’s resolution is already broken!” This is when the resolution gets postponed to the next year.

We as professionals know that failure is inevitable and only an intermediate step to accomplishment. A resolution does not get broken by failure. It only gets broken once we stop pursuing our goals!

Wishing you a Happy New Year full of professional accomplishments!

Malte

TNF #066: Bonus time

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Welcome Professionals…

…Year end is bonus time. Hope you get a good one. Here is my favourite bonus joke:

—–

A top management consultant and an investment banker talk about their year end bonuses.

The investment banker boasts: “When I received my bonus pay check, I bought myself the newest Porsche 911 model, put my girlfriend into the car, drove her down to Milano, bought her some nice shoes and handbags and partied all night. On the way back I got myself new Rolex as we passed through Switzerland. What did you do with your bonus?”

The consultant replies: “Well, I got myself a tailor-made suit, for the first time in my life.”

“Ok – ”, goes the investment banker, “what about the rest?”

“The rest was chipped in by my Mom!”

—–

Wishing you a happy bonus season,

Malte

TNF #065: Checklists rock!

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Welcome Professionals…

…I am a big fan of checklists. They are such a simple and yet a powerful tool. Every pilot, every maintenance engineer and every commissioning operator uses them. Not sure if every consultant has them in place.

In our company, we just finished a checklist for the initial briefing process with every client starting a new project. Since this is a regular process, you should expect us having a project startup procedure. Well, everybody had some bits and pieces somewhere, but we did not have a final consolidated version of a list. Until today.

It is quite useful, because no matter how much experience one has, it is always possible to forget about one or two items. It is a waste of time to go back and clarify those things after the event. On the contrary, it appears much more professional to have a well prepared checklist in front of you at every initial client briefing. These lists can even be used to be sent to the client upfront for preparation.

As I said, I am a big fan of checklists. I even have checklists for packing my suitcase for business trips. It adds to serenity and clears some brain capacity for more important usage.

Thursday Night Flight post written. Ticking the box!

Malte

TNF #064: Core values

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Welcome Professionals…

…today I turned down a client order. For the first time in my life. Ever. It feels a bit awkward, but I am convinced it is the right decision.

We had a contract on the table that the client was willing to sign. We were to do a retained search mandate for this client, looking to find and headhunt the Head of a Business Unit. It was a substantial contract value, certainly above average.

“Before we start” – the client said – “let me tell you about our company culture.” What then followed left me puzzled and a bit disgusted. I couldn’t believe they were really serious about what I heard: “We do not care for the individual. We only care for the company. We do not feel any sympathy for our employees, we do not have any patience with them, and we don’t give mercy. Feelings like this only weaken the organization”. That was the starting point to a 90 minutes lecture on their specific leadership style and so-called company values. What made it even worse – it was their Group Head of HR who conveyed these messages.

Usually, if I see some adversity, it makes me try even harder. Not this time. I felt a strong resistance to deal with this project. I tried to rationalize it. I made a list of pros and cons. Finally I decided not to work for this company. I would rather want to invest my dedication and energy into a company with values that I share.

Yours faithfully,

Malte