Author: Carter McNamara

In a project, whether you are conducting a formal, systematic assessment or just doing a rather informal assessment, your natural approach to gathering and processing information will influence how you work. The Myers-Briggs folks provide some useful dimensions to consider. (Myers-Briggs is a registered trademark of Consulting Psychologists Press, Inc.),

Intuitive Versus Sensing Approaches to Gathering Information

There are a variety of assessment instruments that are often referenced when helping people understand their own unique styles when solving problems and making decisions, for example, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicatorâ instrument. One of the dimensions of the Myers-Briggs is “Intuitive versus Sensing,” which considers how a person gathers information. (Myers-Briggs is a registered trademark of Consulting Psychologists Press, Inc.),

Intuitive

A highly intuitive person often gathers information instinctively. They thrive on ideas and possibilities. They might seem oblivious to what is going on around them, yet they often effectively solve problems and make decisions based on surprisingly valid information. Many times, they might not even know how they did it. Some experts on leadership and management assert that highly experienced people often have developed intuition that enables them to make quick, effective decisions. A major advantage of this approach is that it can save a great deal of time. A major challenge can be how to explain their choices to others.

Sensing

These people thrive on facts and information. They are detail-oriented and accuracy is important to them. They are aware of their physical surroundings, of who is saying what. They solve problems and make decisions by considering the “data” around them. One of the major advantages of a sensing person is that their actions are often based on valid information. Thus, they are able to explain their reasoning and their actions to others. A major challenge is the time and care required for them to solve problems and make decisions.

Thinking Versus Feeling Approaches to Process Information

Another major dimension of the Myers-Briggs Indicatorâ instrument is “Thinking versus Feelings,” which considers how a person makes decisions about information.

Thinking

A thinking person often uses a highly objective, sometimes rational approach to organizing, analyzing and making decisions about information. At their extreme, they might shun consideration of emotions. The thinking person probably prefers the rational approach to problem solving as described above in this subsection. The advantage of this approach is that it often generates valid problem solving and decision-making. A major challenge can be that it might require an extensive amount of time to come to action.

Feeling

The feeling approach is used most often by individuals who are quite sensitive to their values in processing information. When people focus on their values, emotions often come into play. A major advantage of this approach is that it can help to ensure that people are happy and fulfilled in the situation – that their values have been considered during the process and are reflected in the outcome. A major challenge is that there are a variety of short-term factors that can influence a person’s emotions other than the current major problem or decision, for example, their not having had enough sleep or having eaten right.

Also see:

• Consultant — What’s Your Natural Approach to Problem Solving?
  
• All About Consulting — Using Consultants, Doing Consulting

————————————————————————-

Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD – Authenticity Consulting, LLC – 800-971-2250
Read my blogs: Boards, Consulting and OD, and Strategic Planning.

As a consultant, you work with clients to solve problems. Or, perhaps your philosophy is to help them address “priorities,” rather than “problems.” In any case, it’s extremely important to understand your own approach and how it affects others, especially your clients when working with them.

Different people have quite different preferences and approaches for solving problems and making decisions. Those differences can often cause conflict between people unless they each understand their own particular preferences.

The following preferences represent probably the most common preferences. It is important for you to note that any preference is not necessarily better than others. Certain preferences might work better in certain situations. The important point for you to realize is the diverse ways that people – including you – address problems and decisions. Always consider that diversity in your consulting projects.

Rational Versus Organic Approach to Problem Solving

Rational

A person with this preference often prefers using a comprehensive and logical approach similar to the following procedure. For example, the rational approach, described below, is often used when addressing large, complex matters in strategic planning.

1. Define the problem.
2. Examine all potential causes for the problem.
3. Identify all alternatives to resolve the problem.
4. Carefully select an alternative.
5. Develop an orderly implementation plan to implement that best alternative.
6. Carefully monitor implementation of the plan.
7. Verify if the problem has been resolved or not.

A major advantage of this approach is that it gives a strong sense of order in an otherwise chaotic situation and provides a common frame of reference from which people can communicate in the situation. A major disadvantage of this approach is that it can take a long time to finish. Some people might argue, too, that the world is much too chaotic for the rational approach to be useful.

Organic

Many believe that it can be quite illusory to believe that an organizational consultant is there to identify and solve problems for the client. Some people assert that the dynamics of organizations and people are not nearly so mechanistic as to be improved by solving one problem after another. Often, the quality of an organization or life comes from how one handles being “on the road” itself, rather than the “arriving at the destination.” The quality comes from the ongoing process of trying, rather than from having fixed a lot of problems. For many people it is an approach to organizational consulting. The following quote is often used when explaining the organic (or holistic) approach to problem solving.

“All the greatest and most important problems in life are fundamentally insoluble … They can never be solved, but only outgrown. This “outgrowing” proves on further investigation to require a new level of consciousness. Some higher or wider interest appeared on the horizon and through this broadening of outlook, the insoluble lost its urgency. It was not solved logically in its own terms, but faded when confronted with a new and stronger life urge.”

—- From Jung, Carl, Psychological Types (Pantheon Books, 1923)

A major advantage of the organic approach is that it is highly adaptable to understanding and explaining the chaotic changes that occur in projects and everyday life. It also suits the nature of people who shun linear and mechanistic approaches to projects. The major disadvantage is that the approach often provides no clear frame of reference around which people can communicate, feel comfortable and measure progress toward solutions to problems.

Also see:

• Consultant — What’s Your Natural Approach to Gathering and Processing Information?
  
• All About Consulting — Using Consultants, Doing Consulting

————————————————————————-

Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD – Authenticity Consulting, LLC – 800-971-2250
Read my blogs: Boards, Consulting and OD, and Strategic Planning.

There’s a lot of money available to help small businesses, and it seems like there’ll be more available as we work to make more jobs. So OD in small businesses might be even more worthwhile.

It rarely works to market myself as “guiding change” or “change agent,” etc. Instead, I’ve been more successful with, e.g., “turnaround specialist” or “business developer.”

Assessments should use the pareto principle, i.e., focus on some “best practices” in each of the major management functions. Focus on “low hanging fruit.”

Look at life cycles. Is the business getting started, i.e., new in a market OR has it been so successful and grown fast that it needs internal systems?

Don’t be afraid to look at the “business” or “hard” data, at least to understand the cash situation of the organization. Get help to do that if you aren’t comfortable with cash flows.

Always do a proposal and contract, not just a Statement of Work, because the client will regularly want you to do more, and struggles to measure “success” in the project.

Stick to your expertise. The owner, if he/she likes you, will want you to help in a wide variety of activities, so be mindful to stick to what you know.

Interpersonal relationships with the client are the keystone to project success. Much rides on understanding the owner’s personality.

Focus on leadership and managment “systems/structures,” not on people (which can be hard to do with today’s infatuation with heroic leaders 🙂

Change takes longer because external and influences have a larger, quicker affect on the organization.

Plans for change should have multiple phases and with quick successes.

Get paid after each phase!

—————————

For more resources, see the Library topics Consulting and Organizational Development.

————————————————————————-

Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD – Authenticity Consulting, LLC – 800-971-2250
Read my weekly blogs: Boards, Consulting and OD, Nonprofits and Strategic Planning.

Free Advice Too Often Backfires On You

During a recession when potential clients are more reluctant to pay consultants for services, it can be very enticing for consultants to do almost anything to win contracts, even to do a lot of free consulting — to give away what the consultants otherwise would be paid for.

For example, I recently had 3 phone calls with a potential client who was considering me to teach their employees how to facilitate strategic planning. I really wanted that work. So in each call, I tried hard to convince the potential client of why they should hire me. In each call I explained more detail about how the employees should facilitate. I even freely sent a book I had written on how to facilitate planning. A week ago, they told me they decided not to hire me, and would do the facilitator training themselves. I’m haunted by how much their decision was based on the free advice and materials I had given them.

New consultants far too often give away far too much. They’re trying to land those first few projects to get their consulting business started. Experienced consultants have learned that free advice too often convinces clients that your services aren’t worth that much or that they could merely do the project themselves. Free advice can also convince clients that, if they do contract with you, you shouldn’t be paid very much.

So how do you know when you’ve given away too much to the potential client?

Different Philosophies About Giving Away Value

Philosophy — Give It Away and It’ll Come Back to You

I’m a big believer in this philosophy, but only to a general audience. I’ve “donated” probably 3,000 hours over 15 years in providing one of the world’s largest collections of free resources for organizations at managementhelp.org. That Library has paid for itself many times over, especially by showing my strong expertise, resulting in clients hiring me. But those free resources were to a wide general audience. What do you give away to one potential client when they’re thinking about hiring you?

Philosophy – Give Free Consulting to Show Expertise, to Establish Credibility

Research shows that fear is a great motivator, but only for a short time. Free advice is the same. Some free advice in the first conversation with your potential client shows that you know what you’re talking about. The second time you offer it for free, you’re conveying you’re too eager to get the work – that you’ll continue to work for free or for a very low fee. It shows you’re an inexperienced consultant.

Philosophy — There’s No Free Lunch

Another philosophy is that the value of your services should not be given away, any more than you should work a job for free without getting paid. The basis for any successful consulting project is the exchange of fair value between the consultant and client. The consultant provides value in the form of advice or materials, and the client provides value back to the consultant (hopefully in the form of paid fees. If this exchange does not include equal value for both sides, the relationship will not continue. That premise has been verified for centuries and is the basis for capitalism.

It’s a favor, a benefit, to the potential client to know that the consultant’s help has value and should be paid for. It helps the client to appreciate and respect the consultant. It helps the client know the true costs in successfully operating his or her organization. It also avoids the client being hurt from the delusion that free help should always be readily available during a crisis. There is no ongoing entitlement.

Basic Guidelines to Quickly Gain Credibility, Get Projects – and Be Paid

First Clarify Desired Results

Actually, it’s best to work with the client — not at the client — to get him or her to describe what success looks like. Ask the client “What would be a successful project for you?” Is it decreased employee turnover, increased profit or successful operation of a technical system? What would that success look like to the client?

Then Explain the Nature of How You Work

For example, explain that, 1) during the project, you always ensure the client can solve those types of problems by themselves in the future; 2) always keep the client’s information confidential and 3) stay in constant communications with the client.

Then Suggest an Overall, Problem-Solving Framework

Briefly describe what has been a successful, overall approach for you in the past. Describe the overall steps or phases. Make it simple. Describe general guidelines, but not procedures. For example, if you were explaining to your child how to go to the store, you’d tell him what sign-posts to look for and how far between them. You wouldn’t tell him to put one foot in front of the other or the color of each house to go by.

Tell your client, for example, that: 1) you first clarify the problem’s cause from its symptoms; 2) you have several different approaches you can use (you might simply list them), 3) you implement the best approach and 4) verify that the approach worked.

Don’t describe the detail of how you do that work, for example, don’t explain, “Do this and then do that. If that doesn’t work, then do that instead. It’s easy.”

Don’t Ever Say “It’s Easy”

If it was so easy, then your potential client wouldn’t be calling you. “It’s easy” might make the client appreciate your consoling and assurance. However, it also might convince the client that you’re only needed for a few phone calls. Or it might convince the cash-poor client that you’re really not needed after all. It might convince the client that, if you are hired, you won’t be needed for long and that you certainly shouldn’t be paid much. (If the project later turned out to be harder than you thought, you would have hurt your credibility by having said earlier, “It’s easy.”)

Always Quickly Follow-Up With a Proposal and Contract

If you’ve followed the above guidelines, then a proposal (or Statement of Work) should be easy. It’s not uncommon that the focus and scope of projects change when implementing the projects. Project managers call it “project creep.” Rarely do clients want to pay more for the consultant’s additional work from the changes. So it’s important to be real clear in the first communications with clients. Proposals can do that. (One of the best ways to know what to say in a call with a potential client is to look at the content of proposals. See Proposals.)

So that’s when I really start ratcheting up my focus on formalizing a project, e.g., I’ll say something like “I’ve got some other “formalized” projects to attend to, but let’s turn this into a project for you, too, so I can really focus my attention on your situation. What do you think of the proposal I sent you?”

Always have a contract, especially about the roles and ownership of the client and you. In today’s litigious society, clients often want to own what the consultant brings and develops for the project. Be clear about what you own. A simple search on the Web will give more suggestions about the content of proposals and contracts.

If You Really Want Your Services to Be Free, Then Say So

If you feel you really have to give away some value for free, here’s how to do it. Always say, “I’m going to give you some free advice here.” Help the client understand your services are very valuable and, if the client contracts with you, the client will be getting a highly valued asset — and that you respect the client and yourself enough to acknowledge that asset.

Also See

1. First Set of Questions to Ask Your Potential Client
2. Proposals
3. Contracts
4. How to Start a Consulting Business
5. Consulting
6. Organizational Development

—————————–

Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD – Authenticity Consulting, LLC – 800-971-2250
Read my weekly blogs: Boards, Consulting and OD, Nonprofits and Strategic Planning.