My intent in this post is to explain what a consultation period entails. This groundwork is the basis for how I prefer to conduct business. In my mind, there should never be a question of what to expect from a consulting period going in. With that said, few plans survive first contact, and there is no way to define a future consultation period with certainty.
In the initial stage, I gather as much information I can about a business given the time allotted. This process includes speaking with the owner and anyone else the owner feels has insight on the issues plaguing the business. Additionally, I look at the website, Facebook page, etc to find discrepancies, or trends. The trick is to gather enough information to understand, but not so much that the information skews my ability to hear from the employees accurately.
Once on site, I like to conduct what software product designers call empathy interviews. These types of interviews are designed to help spark and facilitate conversations, while also learning what people desire from the workplace and their leadership. The questions differ from a standard survey in that the questions are open ended. People don’t think in linear, emotionless patterns, but in colorful interwoven stories. My desire is to truly learn how someone feels about their job, their ideas for the future, and their level of commitment to the employer. To accomplish this it is imperative to get to know the person, not just the role. This takes time and patience, but it has a better ROI than any formula, strategy, or structure that could be developed to lead others.
The process then leads back to the intelligence aspect of my background. Although empathy interviews are not an “intelligence thing,” they play well into understanding the psyche of an individual. As important as it is to understand the technical side of the job, it is only one piece of the puzzle. I have an assumption going in that owners are technically competent or they wouldn’t have a sustainable business to begin with. Sustainable is not the same as thriving, and for a business to thrive it must understand the principles of leadership. This is the biggest focus of my time; gaining an understanding of the culture and people of the business.
This knowledge can then be translated into an understanding on how to motivate or demotivate them. Demotivating personnel may sound like a strange tactic for a leader to use, but it can be effectively used to arrest negative behaviors. This has the beginning of a whole other blog post about tactics and better understanding so I will table it for now. Just understand that delving into who someone is and what motivates them is the key to helping them achieve their work goals.
After spending time with each and every employee (all opinions are valid and important to capture) it is important to start compiling and validating all the new information.
Each practice and leader will determine the path of the consulting period. Some leaders will need more direction in communication, others will need discussions about structure, while others could need training about culture creation. There are many other lessons to be learned and combined, but no two situations are the same so no two consulting periods should or will be the same.
Part two will cover, how the information is compiled and communicated to the leadership team, while also discussing how to address the information.
