162 ◾ Odyssey—The Business of Consulting
By saying “Look, what we’re trying to do is make the workplace great,”
you’re giving people a common goal.
In these sessions, the first thing you’ll discover is a sense of commonal-
ity between the team members: “Wow, I didn’t know that is how you feel!”
It’s vital of course that the ground rules are set. There’s no defensiveness, no
accusations flying. They’re just bringing concepts up, getting it all out there.
Our intention is to find ways to work better together.
At that session, I gather a long list of what’s working, what’s not working,
and what could work better, and write it up on whiteboards. Typically, you’ll
find plenty of things that are working: There are good people with good
intentions, there are good products, and there are good clients and custom-
ers. And, on the other side, you’ll hear things like “There’s too much gossip …
not enough communication … the rules keep changing …”
With one recent client, there had been a lot of internal communica-
tion and morale issues. In particular, intense animosity had sprung up
between two departments. Deadlines were being missed, and instead of
taking responsibility, the staff were blaming the other side. These issues had
reached a point where they were stressing the entire organization. People
were getting caught in the crossfire and were being forced to take sides.
Ultimately, it began to impact the company’s ability to produce new products
and meet revenue targets.
My intervention began by helping people to understand their role in
creating and solving the situation. I worked with both teams to try to create
more compassion and forgiveness for those on the other side, using an exer-
cise that I call “Just Like Me.” It’s a way to break down the barriers and bring
people to an understanding of those they’re in conflict with. They’re human
beings too. They’re doing the best they can.
This assignment was a real challenge. It took about two months before
there was any significant change at all on either side.
Every organization is different, and the rate at which change happens
depends so much on willingness. This gets back to the Odyssey concept,
the necessity of there being a willingness and an openness to change.
Making change stick and having a really high-performing organization took
a full year, all four seasons.
How do we know it’s working? We survey throughout the process. It’s
about people evaluating themselves and the team: On a scale of 0 to 10,
how would you rate our ability to communicate effectively? How would you
rate our ability to deal with difficult issues?
The Mind-Set Factor ◾ 163
We’re also tracking their new behaviors and their outcomes. What real
results are happening within the organization? What’s happening to them
personally? What are they able to do that they couldn’t do before? What are
the new actions they’re taking and what are the new results that they’re
getting?
And although the transformation process takes a year, it doesn’t stop
there. I’ll continue to go back to that workplace on a semimonthly or quar-
terly basis, and I’ll continue coaching and making sure that the initiatives
that we introduced are effective and making a positive difference.
Much of my work is about helping people to set and maintain higher
standards. For so many people, they’ve just lost their vision for themselves
and for their work. Part of what I do is reinspiring and helping reignite their
personal and professional vision. I show them how to get back to work and
enjoy it.
Odyssey in Action II
John Oakes, CEO, SBL Consulting Group, Redding, California
Every Client Experience Is a Growth Opportunity
I was engaged by this client to develop a program to improve the perfor-
mance of their store managers, and to create bench strength; turnover was a
significant problem.
They asked me to come up with a plan to try to deepen the bench and
develop quality people that were a good fit, thereby reducing costly turn-
over while at the same time enhancing leadership performance.
After several meetings spent gathering critical intel, it soon became
evident that this was not the only issue. I conducted several Business
Management Reviews (BMRs) with the CEO and his senior leadership team,
after which I made a recommendation that the first step should be a three-
day strategic planning retreat at an offsite location. The CEO admitted that
they hadn’t done any strategic planning in the company in some years, but
he was open to the idea.
The BMRs exposed some serious culture issues and deficiencies at the
leadership level. These would have to be dealt with before we could address
his primary concern, which, as I say, was store manager quality and turn-
over. At that strategic retreat, I was able to uncover several organizational
164 ◾ Odyssey—The Business of Consulting
gaps and some legacy issues that were negatively impacting the overall per-
formance of the company.
The CEO began to see that he was carrying out responsibilities that
should have been delegated to others, and that one of his senior staff was
not performing in his key role. This exec was also undermining the culture
of the organization due to his negativism.
Another finding was that a number of executives couldn’t define their
own jobs. The CEO was a very bright and competent person, but the truth
was that he didn’t hold his leadership team to high levels of standards and
accountability.
The biggest issue, however, is related to the CEO’s number two. As we
began to develop strategic initiatives, one of which addressed the store man-
ager turnover problem, this executive simply didn’t want to get involved. He
had been in the company for thirty years. He was conservative, comfortable,
and utterly unwilling to engage the obvious issues, preferring instead to sim-
ply maintain status quo.
As part of this strategic process, I began asking critical role-defining ques-
tions. The CEO began to see the critical issues more clearly, and he began to
see that the number-two guy didn’t have the capacity and vision to execute
these issues effectively.
The week following, I was back in the CEO’s office, having a discussion
about my findings. Once we had gone through all of the issues, I asked him
a question: “Knowing what you know now, would you hire your number
two person for that role today?”
He looked at me intently. “No,” he said, “not at all.”
“Well,” I said, “then you know what to do.”
Sixty days later, the individual was out of the company.
The emotional culture of the organization began to change almost imme-
diately. It’s astonishing the negative impact a single individual can have on a
leadership team.
So much of the process of making change lies in establishing responsibil-
ity and accountable commitments.
The CEO has achieved huge personal growth over the last two and a half
years. Why? Because he’s taking responsibility for things that he should have
taken responsibility for before. The company has changed in a number of
areas. “Succession by design” and consistent strategic processing have been
implemented at every level in the organization.
I’ve been working with the CEO now for over two years. We meet once
a month for two hours and we look at strategies to move the company
The Mind-Set Factor ◾ 165
forward, and it has moved forward phenomenally. I also meet with the
senior leadership team monthly to stay in touch with the key initiatives.
The culture has been transformed. When I started there, sales were $145
million and value per share was $30. Today, its sales are approaching nearly
$200 million and value per share is at $55. This is an ESOP company, an
employee-owned company, so those numbers are a huge motivator. The
people working there see that growth in share value and they will say, “I’ll
do anything it takes to make this company successful!”
In order to deal with the turnover problem, the company created a series
of “On Deck” programs to source and retain managerial talent in each of
the units. The two division managers have taken ownership of “On Deck,”
which is now in its third iteration. The quality of the people who are com-
ing into and working their way through the program is outstanding. We
have millennials, along with more experienced people, but those who come
through it are really excited about the opportunity; people want to be in the
program because they really feel they can make a contribution to the com-
pany. This provides them with a career path that did not exist previously.
Working with the company has really allowed me to grow personally as
well. Every client experience is a growth opportunity. It is a reminder to
listen well, to ask the key questions, to interpret the real issues, and to guide
the client down a path of self-discovery. I don’t try to teach them as much as
to encourage them to start to teach themselves. If you have the right people
in the right place, doing the right things, you’ll get the right results, and you
will facilitate one of the most meaningful processes of discovery and change
that can happen.
Chapter Summary
The chapter begins by examining the nature of success before going on to
discuss the six dimensions of total success. In understanding the consultant’s
mind-set, the triple mind looks at the classic division of mind function into
conscious, subconscious, and superconscious and demonstrates how present
moment awareness is a key learnable skill for personal mastery in the pro-
fession of consulting.
Next, we looked at recent developments in positive psychology and
explored the key topics of self-ideal, self-image, and self-esteem. Understanding
the responsibility issue is fundamental to all consulting mind-sets. The related
discipline of business consulting responsibility has broadened considerably
166 ◾ Odyssey—The Business of Consulting
in recent years and is an area of particular interest for consultants. Finally, we
explore four timeless life and consulting principles.
Calls to Action
1. What steps can you take to further integrate the talent management
model into your life and consulting business?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
2. How are you currently rating yourself on the six dimensions of success?
What steps are you planning to develop your success map?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
3. How is your triple mind serving you (i.e., your conscious mind, your
subconscious mind, and your superconscious mind)? What steps are
you planning to develop them?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
..................Content has been hidden....................
You can't read the all page of ebook, please click here login for view all page.