What business are you in; What are the goals?
October 18, 2009
I may sound like a broken record . . . but, trust me, I’m not! Each consulting assignment begins with these questions — and the answers are always revealing.
A consulting project is rarely just about answering a question, or fixing something that’s broken. It’s typically about enabling something new, realizing a vision, getting a handle on something that has seemed inaccessible or mysterious. It may be about empowering staff or management, about building or envisioning a new tool, about creating new relationships with customers, prospects, or staff.
What the goal or goals, they need to be stated explicitly, so that the results can be reviewed in terms of what was really desired.
So …
- On the way in, what are we trying to do, and how will we know that we’ve done it?
- On the way out, have we done it? Any surprises? What have we learned?
How many of you have experienced projects without these simple steps, and what were the results?
I found your blog via your post on the Forbes article about Quakers and business. I’m glad I found you. I read several of your posts. I especially liked this one.
I also do consulting with organizations, and I resonated with this description:
“A consulting project is rarely just about answering a question, or fixing something that’s broken. It’s typically about enabling something new, realizing a vision, getting a handle on something that has seemed inaccessible or mysterious.”
Well said.
I’m also a Quaker and I’m seeking to integrate some Quaker principles and practices into my work with organizations: http://spiritofinstitution.blogspot.com