Consulting

How will you apply any/all of these concepts, methods, or approaches to the work you do?

Example 1

In my current job, while I can see utilizing some of the methods we have discussed in regards to consulting, I mainly can see myself utilizing Daniel Pink's selling paradigm. My current position, to be defined for most people to understand, is an assistant manager of sorts. The goal of course, is to move up, or jump into a new type of career that will help me obtain more of a leadership position. In order to be where I strive to be, I feel as if I need to earn more years of relevant experience. I came to my current company straight out of Undergrad and was promoted a year later to my current position, which I have held for about two years. I feel that in yearning to change my career path, while I have gained many new skills and competencies through this job, I feel that there are still changes I can help to make, and lessons for me to learn before I move forward. In helping my team to accept change, I believe that it is crucial to utilize Pink's selling paradigm, the ABC model. I think it is especially important to utilize attunement to gain the trust of my co-workers and employees in trying to make changes that will benefit us as a team. Being a young employee on a team where I am mainly surrounded by people with many years on the job, I am required to utilize buoyancy in order to create a sense of balance with my team members. In allowing myself to be more vulnerable when trying to promote a change, I might allow my teammates to feel more connected and as if they have the ability to provide input. This is especially important being in a place where I want to learn more, and only wanting to make positive changes towards my team. Without their input, I may try to change something and not recognize problems which may arise. The last portion of the ABC model is clarity. When looking at my team, I believe many of them see some issues that need changing, but may not know how to change them, or are afraid to speak up and recognize publicly that there is an issue. It would be my job to bring clarity in the changes I am trying to instill, to bring recognition to the problems that others may already be aware of.

Tying with this, I feel as if to help motivate my team, and to assist them in accepting change, I need to be able to help them focus on their own personal core individual motivators. It is easy, working on the front lines of the mental health field, to lose sight of why you are doing this type of  job, and burn out rates run incredible high (I can say I've experienced it in my short time in the workforce, and am lucky that we have excellent vacation benefits). Because of this, it is important to remind my employees and co-workers why we are here, by reminding them of their intrinsic motivators, especially focusing on purpose. Without a reminder of why, it will be very hard to incorporate change in order to better ourselves at our jobs and to help us work together as a team. 

Example 2

It is amazing to think that this semester is almost over and summer is here! During the course I often found myself thinking how I am a consultant outside of class and how I can use these important steps in what I do for a living.

I work real estate with my father who has been in the business for 35 years and is going strong. Today he owns lot of rental property, property on the seacoast and around the state. This means that my father and I have a lot of people to attend to each and everyday, tenants, bankers, inspectors, etc. The biggest thing I took from this class is to BE ALL YOU CAN BE! Life is but a dot, make your dot GLOW!!! Being an authentic leader is my number 1 thing, treating people with respect and honesty, showing that its all about them really gets my father and I far in what we do each and everyday. When you show people that you care about them and what they have at stake it gives you a similar light of being a leader. People look up to you in what you provide and when answers are needed they know that you'll give them the right answer. Sometimes in the rental business a different kind of resistance can happen between people, some people don’t get along, words are said and resistance between people builds. I’m attuned to what’s happening and I’m buoyant to people moving and things changing. As owners and friends my father and I need to step in and need to work on becoming authentic humans and treating others with respect and honesty. In the rental business I find my father and I being consultants a lot now that I think of it on the job. Many people will want to talk about finances and some will ask for advice on subjects or issues, and my father and I will tell them what we would do is that was our situation. I have an example of relationship building which is the most important part of consulting. My father owns an apartment complex which I am heavily involved in, I had work to be done. So I got there Friday night, worked all day Saturday and left the complex Saturday night at 11 getting home at 1 in the morning. This was do to so many tenants who I built relationships with wanted to see me and say hello. Its a hard balance to get all the work done and work on building relationships and spending time. The people have been great to me and its well worth the long drives and sacrifices.

The rental business is a busy life, this weekend was spent painting the house and building a new deck. ITS DONE! My father was the consultant on how to build the deck and I swung the hammer and the paintbrush. It’s amazing how we are all consultants everyday!

Example 3

There are three types of skills that are not only important to consulting, but also being successful in any career. These are technical skills, consulting skills, and interpersonal skills. I believe the job I am in now I have learned a lot about the technical skills required for the higher education field. While I haven’t been in the industry that long, I think I learned a lot in my previous job as a graduate assistant. I however, by no means, know it all. This is definitely an area that I could improve in and will continue to pay attention and ask questions throughout my career. Consulting skills are something I think we do all to often, but without even realizing it. This is normally seen when another employee asks for help and/or advice. Again, this is something I think I could work on, as I’m still fairly new in my position. However, I most certainly know the individual I constantly ask questions to. Interpersonal skills are critical for any industry. You need to learn how to communicate, build and foster your relationships inside and outside of work, and be apart of a collaborative partnership. This leads me into my second point, in regards to the three potential consultant roles. I think in any work and/or personal relationship you want it to be collaborative. There needs to be a balance of responsibility and each individual needs to understand the other person, team, or organization.

Throughout session two we talked about the actions of a flawless consultant. I think the two that resonated with myself are to behave authentically and build capacity/capability in others. I think these two actions can be applied to any work environment. Being successful in your place of work, means you understand and know when to give up control, and when to hold on. You focus on what you can do and be proactive by accomplishing this, and also, by empowering others. By acting authentically you know yourself as a leader, inside and out. You are original, realistic, reliable, and genuine. Others respect and listen to you because of these qualities. You have developed self awareness, you seek feedback, and you empower people. While I think I have these qualities, I also think it takes some time for these to resonate with others before you can truly become a leader. By building capacity/capability in others you encourage a workplace where others feel confident and they can perform their job successfully and effectively. These individuals can often become part of your support team as well.

Session three was all about the contracting meeting, which I related to an interview and/or the first couple weeks on a new job. This the first interaction you have with the new company. As with a contracting meeting and that being a predictor of how the project will go, this can also give you valuable insight into what the job and the organization’s culture may be like. As in the contracting meeting, you are both there because you need each others help: the organization needs your skills and your performance to be successful, and you need the company to help provide for yourself and possible family. I also found it easy to relate to the organizations way of communicating and in the fact that it can sometimes seem like a code. When first starting off in any industry there are acronyms and synonyms that the organization uses. This can be extremely difficult to interpret at times. And as with any job interview, there is always the possibility that the job wasn’t the right fit and you would be better if you declined the offer. Session three also covered the ABC’s of selling, which again, can be related to the workplace. These are attunement, buoyancy, and clarity. I think, personally, I need to work on buoyancy. I often find it difficult to “bounce back” and I tend to dwell on certain situations.

Session four focused on resistance, not only unique to contracting, but a normal occurrence in any field. The two underlying emotions are lack of control and vulnerability. I don’t mind not having control, however I don’t like to appear vulnerable. I have no problem asking questions, however if it appears that I need help completing a project in a timely manner, I feel as if I’ve failed. I often take help as a sign that I’m not efficient and/or not fast enough. Personally, I need to work on these negative attitudes and realize that help can be a positive thing. Session five focused on phase 2, discovery. I believe this whole phase can be applied to any organization that is trying to identify and solve a problem within a department or the company. As we learned in class, discovery is often the best way to go about identifying and solving a problem. We want to get to the social system problem and fix it, so that the organization can continue to be successful. This is done by narrowing down our focus and interpreting data. By using these two techniques we can often identify the social system problem. Session six focused on phase three, analysis. I think this is a little more difficult to apply to a normal work environment, unless the company is facing organizational problems. Perhaps the most beneficial step in analysis is managing feedback. I think in any company, feedback should be a consistent and mutual process. Feedback can be a cheap and productive way for a company to improve procedures and make employees feel valued.

Our last session focused on the last two phases, implementation and engagement and extend, recycle, or terminate. Implementation and engagement is all about change, which if any of us know, is the only thing constant in business. Organizations need to understand that people change and there needs to communication, education, and reward throughout the entire process. This will help simplify the change and your employees will feel more confident and be on board. I know personally I am one that would much rather have things stay the same. By using these elements and tips I can help coach and mentor other associates throughout change. I think I’ve gotten better with change, just by working at this work place. There are constantly new positions being posted, new buildings being built, offices that are moving, new software implementation, new processes and procedures, etc. And the last phase, which is dependent upon the company, would be whether they decide to extend the contract, recycle and improve the contract, or terminate it and be done. I think this can be applied to any project or change in a business. I hope most of the time the organization would decide to either extend or recycle. If there is a true problem I hope the company would continue to work at it until they find a positive solution for all involved.