The Odyssey Arrow Value Engagement Process ◾ 43
Although you do not, at this point, recommend any particular course of
action, you provide participants with a view of how you work and an indi-
cation of what an intervention might look like.
Sometimes, at a BMR, the consultant will try to do too much. Resist the
temptation to transform what is essentially a fact-finding mission into a full-
strategy session. Again, slow down to move faster. Do not try to jump the river.
To help illustrate how to follow up a BMR, the following is a sample
report emerging from the ACP Engineering BMR.
ACP Engineering—BMR Report
The following report was prepared and presented to the client post the BMR.
ACP Engineering is a fine company, doing most things very well. This
should be self-evident to everyone who attended the BMR in the Heritage
Hotel on 18th–19th of May. The consistent message coming through from
this meeting, as well as each of the six one-to-one sessions that preceded
it, was that “the time has come” to move this practice on to a new level to
reach its full potential.
There was clear evidence of a simmering sense of frustration with why
ACP was not simply “getting on with it.” This is a healthy and a necessary
catalyst to the step change that is required. The reasons WHY you should
transform the practice and HOW you should set such a process in motion
will emerge from this “stuckness.”
The primary objective of any potential intervention is cultural transforma-
tion, change management, and leadership development to better prepare the
company to achieve its vision. The latent talent, intellectual prowess, repu-
tation, and sense of camaraderie, all of which were so evident at the BMR,
will be vital in helping to “springboard” the practice into the premier league.
The main message emerging from the Heritage meeting is that you are
ready, willing, and able. Moreover, you are willing to invest the time and the
resources necessary to make change happen as a collective unit. Collectivity
and teamwork are vital ingredients of any proposed intervention.
Building the core competencies that are necessary to transform the busi-
ness is THE critical factor in your long-term success. Dealing with succession
planning, talent management, networking, marketing, branding, relationship
selling, and internal communications management are all part and parcel of
the “education” that is required and the “imagination” that is necessary to
move from “the old way of doing things.”
44 ◾ Odyssey—The Business of Consulting
The first part of the process will deal with the softer, more psychological
factors involved in changing the thinking, attitudes, and business practices
of your organization. The more functional and strategic part of the process
is about equipping the senior team, in particular, with the mind-set, tools,
and techniques to move from being “successful engineers” to being busi-
ness leaders. In this regard, developing the commercial acumen, leadership
robustness, and financial management skills will be critical to your success.
Napoleon said that “men will die for ribbons.” When your purpose and
reasons are crystal clear—and committed to paper—people become better
problem solvers and better communicators. They become more creative,
more efficient, and more productive. In a nutshell, when the why is strong
enough and clear enough, the how becomes easier.
The fundamental job of all leaders is to create the vision and then to
show the way by putting wheels underneath it. The critical thing is to bring
everyone with you. When a whole team moves together, waste is drastically
reduced. More importantly, the focus moves from the past and present to the
possibilities of the future.
ACP Engineering has a great story to tell. You have to articulate that story
to the people who will join your company over the next three to five years,
to your Ideal Clients in the market place and to potential business partners
and other stakeholders. The time has come to stop telling “the great story”
to yourselves alone and start the campaign to convince a whole new audi-
ence over the next five years.
Building the underlying confidence of the organization is a key part of
this. Building the competencies and skills that are sometimes alien to being
a good engineer is equally important. It will take time, dedication, and a new
resolve to embed these essential leadership competencies deep into the
ethos and culture of ACP Engineering.
The way in which you explain yourself to yourself is called your explana-
tory style. The following list of verbatim comments from the Heritage meet-
ing gives some clue as to your state of readiness for the organizational
process that lies ahead:
◾ “We are in a period of growth.”
◾ “Jumping to the next level.”
◾ “What is the ACP value proposition?”
◾ “We are in a state of flux.”
◾ “Busy being engineers.”
◾ “Top ten in Ireland in terms of work.”
The Odyssey Arrow Value Engagement Process ◾ 45
◾ “I have learned new things about this team today.”
◾ “We are going to have to change as people.”
◾ “Maybe it is time to eat for the practice.”
◾ “How do we become the best all round practice in the country?”
◾ “We need something to pull us together.”
◾ “Are we commercially naïve?”
◾ “Why are we having difficulty attracting senior engineers?”
This is just a flavor to help you appreciate your views of ACP. Next week,
I will compile a recommendation to demonstrate how we can move forward
together.
Odyssey in Action I
SergioMotles, Summit Consulting, Santiago, Chile
The Power of the BMR
I always divide the BMR into two sessions, the first in the afternoon and the
second the following morning. Holding it at an offsite location is always a
good idea because it creates the right kind of atmosphere.
I usually begin at 3 p.m. with a clear agenda. The first session is all about
the present and the past. I’ve asked the participants beforehand to prepare a
short presentation, so everybody comes with two flip charts ready-made.
In the first session, we’re concerned with the first set of charts, which looks
at the past and present. The second set, which looks at the future and “the
how,” we look at in the second session the following day.
They use colors, pictures, or just bullet points, whatever they feel is the
best way to transmit their ideas. We hang those on the walls at the begin-
ning of the session that first afternoon. That way, we can see the emerging
picture; what the company actually looks like to the people who are run-
ning it. It’s also a really dynamic process; I try to make it fun. You’re moving
around; they’re moving around. There’s an informality about it that helps
people to relax and open up about the real issues.
My role is to facilitate and engage everyone in dialogue and to move the
process along.
It’s vital to nurture an atmosphere of trust. I point out that whatever is
being said is being said for the good of the company. You can’t have any
46 ◾ Odyssey—The Business of Consulting
accusations; it’s my job to keep everyone on message and to prevent any
kind of hostility from creeping in. I also make sure that whoever’s highest in
the hierarchy speaks last. That way, anything that’s difficult to say has been
said before the boss stands up.
At this point, we’re not talking about solutions, we’re just saying, “This is
what’s happening with each one of us, this is our experience of our work-
ing lives, this is what’s not been said up to now …” They talk about what’s
bugging them and what’s stopping them from working as they would like to
work.
We break about 7 p.m. or 8 p.m. after I summarize the day. We eat and
maybe go to the pool. It’s important that everyone stays onsite and that the
air of informality and sociability continues all the way through.
The next morning at 8:30 a.m. or 9 a.m., we start again. I outline the
agenda for the day. This session is about the future and identifying actions
to get there. The previous day, I asked the general manager to speak last.
Today, I ask him to speak first. He talks about his vision because every-
thing has to be aligned with his vision. So he goes first, talking about
the future as he sees it. Then each member of the team gets up and talks
about their view of how things should be. The format is the same as the
day before. We use the flipcharts, and each speaker outlines their ideas. As
the morning goes by, a vision of the future slowly begins to emerge on the
walls.
Once everyone has spoken, I work through the points with them. I say,
“Let’s summarize, between all of us … What is going to be our main focus,
our main objectives over the next year.” You end up with no more than
eight big issues. Someone will say, “How are we going to do all of this?” I
say, “Don’t worry about that. Let’s deal with the ‘what’ now, and worry about
the ‘how’ later.”
Next, I say, “OK, who’s going to take charge here? Who’s going to be
accountable for each point, for each of the strategic objectives that we’ve
agreed?” And I parcel out each one to the relevant person, together with
an agreed time frame within which the objective must be reached. Again,
I tell them that we’ll talk about how to begin to deal with each objec-
tive later. For now, it is enough that there is an internal champion in the
company who will take responsibility for striving towards their particular
objective.
In my next meeting, I bring in the report from the BMR, and I say, “This
is what we agreed, these are the objectives we defined.” They might relate
to strategic alignment or communication, computer systems or teamwork,
The Odyssey Arrow Value Engagement Process ◾ 47
whatever. It’s at this point I start to unroll the solutions, but as I do, I have
already recruited individuals within the company who are accountable for
each strategic objective.
I always get a great reaction to these BMRs. By the end of the second day,
there’s tremendous enthusiasm in the room. People want to talk, but they’ve
never had the opportunity before. By creating the right kind of atmosphere, you
can achieve a depth of discovery that you just don’t get with any other tool.
I just recently completed a consulting assignment with a Chilean com-
pany which specialized in the importation and distribution of playground
toys. We went through a very rigorous BMR, which turned up some serious
communications issues within the organization. I recommended a four-
month program of motivation and coaching, which ultimately transformed
the way they did business.
That process was instrumental in creating high levels of trust between us,
to the point where I was asked to sit in on management meetings through-
out the following year. I helped directly in the finance area, which is my
own area of expertise, and coordinated the hiring of other consultants to
work on the IT and marketing initiatives.
Within a year, the company had doubled their sales into the Chilean mar-
ket and had substantially increased exports to other South American compa-
nies. Those initial stages of the Odyssey Arrow created huge levels of trust
and generated exactly the right environment for me to move from Level 1 to
Level 3. I had moved into a position where I was able to provide the client
not just with a product but with a truly transformational intervention.
Odyssey in Action II
DanGrobarchik, Exsell Inc., Green Bay, Wisconsin
It Starts with Finding Ideal Clients
Most consultants know their stuff, but they’re terrible sales people. When I
saw the Odyssey system, I went “Yes!” This is what I’ve been teaching for
years, and now in addition, you have all of the rest of the Odyssey program
to back it up.
A couple of years ago—actually the second time through the Odyssey
process—I was introduced to a consulting firm in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
When I started to consult with them, they basically had no clients.
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