Holy Grail, Inc.

We struggle. We try this strategy, and that tactic. And we flounder.

The challenge of engaging employees -- of truly making a difference by communicating effectively with people -- seems too much. True fulfilment hovers beyond our reach.

So we turn to a fishmonger. Or a pollster. Or a management guru. Someone who has figured it out. Someone we would follow into a fire. Someone to whom we can pay big bucks to help us make a better company, with happier people, who care about their customers, and their employer, and each other.

Why do we need gurus, and copyrighted slogans, and patented systems to help us solve our internal issues? It's as if we all crave some kind of a corporate Doctor Phil to tell us how to be happy -- someone who can reduce everything down to a few phrases we can all understand, and provide us with a Master Plan to hang our hopes on.

A long time ago a colleague asked me, "Do you know what a consultant is?"

"No," I said, playing along.

"A consultant is someone who charges you for the time of day...and asks to use your watch."

As a consultant, I now resemble that remark. My own clients turn to me because they crave an outside perspective to help them decide how to address internal issues. They get trapped in the day-to-day grind and they crave someone who they can trust who will help them see things in a new light. They also want someone who has the time and engery to focus on the longer term stuff because it seems all they do all day is deal with the latest crisis and put out the most recent fire.

How do you use consultants, and do they make your life easier? Are there some things they're better at solving than others? Are they a real help, or a threat to your position'?

Comments

[Mark]

What a good consultant brings is the same answers you came to, but with the credibility of someone outside your organization.

A GREAT consultant shows you proven solutions to both the problems you knew you had a few more that you didn't, in a way that convinces leadership and teaches you enough to be successful implementing them.

[Rick McCharles]

Can I use your watch?

Good post, Ron.

I write only to let you that my "feedreader" is working perfectly. I subscribed to your RSS feed and now my software shows me whenever you have something new posted.

It's very convenient. Your readers who do not yet have a "feedreader" should get one.

Of dozens of good options, I use NetNewsWire Lite (free):

http://ranchero.com/netnewswire/

[Dave Traynor]

I also struggle with how to identify what I do as a consultant. One of the virtues of getting older is that so many things that seem so important when you're young are less intimidating when you see them over and over again. Experience is a great asset in this business. I try to assure those I'm working with that solutions are always out there, even for issues that seem out-of-control or insurmountable. But my most important advice is to always celebrate success. You have to give yourself credit for having done good stuff, even if the good work you did was hijacked by someone else down the road. Celebrate your success and enjoy what you do. Your attitude will spead to those around you, including the ones that are causing you grief.