Secret Techniques to Overcoming Obstacles as a Manager or Consultant

Over the years, I have had to opportunity to manage different groups and perhaps more importantly observe how different managers and consultants face obstacles. Often these techniques for addressing obstacles are passed down through mentorship or peer exchanges, and as such, these techniques are less documented. Here are some of the techniques that come to mind and are especially more common in entrepreneurial or intrapreneurial situations:

  1. The Experiment – In this case the obstacle that the manager wants to overcome is to make forward progress into an unknown area. For example, suppose a manager wants to adapt a software product for an adjacent customer market. The manager may allocate a budget to a small business development and delivery team to explore and develop a lead customer in the new market.
  2. The Audition – In some cases, the problem to be tackled is either new or the prime resource to deliver is an unknown. For example, suppose the manager needs someone to serve as the principal consultant to lead a new group of services professionals. The unspoken audition may be that the manager may want the principal to lead one engagement with key folks on the delivery team as part of the engagement. The other aspect of the audition may be to have the candidate assist with proposal development and lead an aspect of a customer sales pitch meeting.
  3. The Process Versus Milestones Approach – Some situations arise where it is not possible for one group to dictate the larger process that a company (or another group) should follow. In these cases, the basis of the conversation can be shifted so that groups agree to measure key milestones and outputs. For example, suppose one internal group wants a sales organization to follow a certain process to control focus and quality of customer messaging. While the internal group may find it difficult to instill explicit processes within the other group, the two groups can agree to have review meeting milestones and measurements to assess focus and quality indirectly. So the technique is based on the concept that processes and milestones go hand-in-hand. If one has trouble on the process, try working from milestones angle instead.
  4. The Associations Versus Strategic Approach – Strategy ideally comes before tactics. However, strategy often requires a lot of top-down thinking and heavy analytical brain power. For example, in top-down marketing one may need to define targeting and positioning methods after one has done a complete analysis of the customer segments, value propositions, competitors, company strengths, etc. Yet the battles in the field are happening today & right now. What are the soldiers supposed to do at this moment? Here’s where intuitive thinking, improv, and emergent strategies come to mind. In these cases, immediate tactics are based on doing something consistent with what has been done in the past, creating connections, or taking actions that create consistent associations (such as brand associations).

There are obviously many more techniques that managers use for overcoming obstacles in dynamic situations. What are some techniques that you’ve learned in the field?

Eight Secret Weapons of the Modern Consultant

Although I’ve developed a number of blog posts addressing the practice of management consulting, I have spent little time tying things together into a framework of secret weapons of the modern consultant. Secret weapons are a spectrum of tactics and skill areas – while some may be used widely, they are often passed through mentorship or apprenticeship in bits and pieces. A modern consultant is a professional that can work in dynamic industries, operate within multiple types of consulting organizations (e.g., niche, large traditional), and has experience as both an operating manager and an advisor.

So here are eight secret weapons of the modern consultant (arranged roughly in order from foundational to more advanced)

  1. Problem Statement Articulation Skills – This skill requires a consultant (or manager) to define the boundaries of a scope of work. Implicit to this is being able to define what decisions points need to be met and the managerial significance of the issue at hand. Because the organization is preparing to commit resources to investigating a problem, this is core to getting started. For some further discussion on this topic, I wrote a management consulting post awhile back on “Articulating and Rearticulating Problem Statements” (https://steveshuconsulting.com/2007/04/articulating_an)
  2. Structured Problem-Solving Skills and Industry Knowledge – Facility with structured approaches may be developed by learning key frameworks such the popularized McKinsey MECE approach (see here http://firmsconsulting.com/2010/09/22/a-complete-mckinsey-style-mece-decision-tree). Skills can also be gleaned from thinking about how one would practice consulting science versus giving simple advice (see post by me here https://steveshuconsulting.com/2006/12/an_illustration-2). Aspects of industry knowledge come through experience and specialization and can be augmented by reading trade magazines, etc.
  3. Engagement Management Mastery – This skill ties together problem statement, structured approaches, and industry knowledge. Mastery goes further by synthesizing the resources that will solve the problem at hand along with managing advisor-level relations with the executive sponsor. For more info on the engagement management topic, readers may consider reading my post at https://steveshuconsulting.com/2007/05/perspectives_on.
  4. Interpersonal, Facilitation & Leadership Skills – Interpersonal and leadership skills are pretty well-documented in other areas. One of my favorite foundational books on leadership is the Leadership Challenge by Kouzes and Posner (http://www.leadershipchallenge.com/WileyCDA). On facilitation skills, I have seen less documentation on the subject in a concise format. Facilitation skills are especially important because they help a professional in cases where authority does not exist and where influence must be used to achieve management goals. Here is a post on facilitation skills that I wrote before https://steveshuconsulting.com/2008/01/a-perspective-o.
  5. Storytelling and Executive Analysis Skills – At least two core frames of thinking come to mind, when I think about this subject. The first frame is best illustrated by how one ties together presentation slides in a storyboard using “bottom-line titling” versus “topical titling” as described here (https://steveshuconsulting.com/2007/02/what_a_sample_c). The second key frame is driving towards answering “So What?” questions all along the way in an analysis presentation. An example of answering the “So What?” question might be, “Client needs to focus on improving six red-flagged areas which cost the client $X per annum in above average churn.” Without bottom line or prescriptive messages to analyses, consultants may find themselves in an unfortunate spot of brain-dumping information with no end purpose or goal.
  6. Adaptation Skills – When I think of developing adaptation skills, I think of developing skills that improve behavior and communications skills “in the moment” a la Business Improvisations at http://www.businessimprov.com (Disclosure: Client). I also think of changing one’s reference of thinking with concepts such as “there are no sacred cows”. Something that I have a lot in consulting environments is the idea of constantly seeking better ideas, better ways to describe things, and new approaches. With this in mind, one can’t get too protective of one’s work because one’s goal is really to further the quality of work of the engagement team and ultimately the end goals of the client.
  7. Business Development and Management Skills – Consulting services sales and marketing are unique topics, and turning to folks like Michael McLaughlin at http://www.mwmclaughlin.com, Ford Harding http://www.hardingco.com/blog, and Ian Brodie http://www.ianbrodie.com are some of the best investments that one can make. For the management of consulting firms, one of my go-to references is Managing the Professional Services Firm by David Maister http://www.amazon.com/Managing-Professional-Service-David-Maister/dp/0684834316/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_2.
  8. Forecasting and Envisioning Skills – The eighth secret weapon is quite elusive. Do you develop these skills by understanding systems thinking (a la Peter Senge and the “Fifth Discipline”)? Does it come from understanding economics or innovation processes better? Does it come about by trying to apply social responsibility concepts (a la Umair Haque and “New Capitalist Manifesto”)? It is possible that the eighth secret weapon is analogous to the mysterious Dragon Scroll from the animated movie, “Kung Fu Panda”. For me, I see three prototypes of people that develop the eighth secret weapon: those that have innate talent and vision already, those that develop such skills by mastering a craft (or a practice area), and those that use their networks to help develop insights into the future.

So there you have it. Eight secret weapons to further one’s mastery of consulting.

What I Didn’t Learn In Business School I Learned From Improvisation Instructors

Well I suppose technically speaking I learned this as part of instructional and experiential sessions at the UCLA Anderson School of Management and Duke's Fuqua School of Business, but I didn't pick up improvisation instruction at the Chicago Booth School of business more than a decade ago when I first got my MBA (side note: a cohesive mix of business theory and improv training definitely would have been good for prepping the cohorted classes).

Without getting technical and being too precise, what does improvisation mean to me (apologies to my mentors for cutting corners)? To me improvisation is about reacting in the moment at the top of one's intelligence and skills to serve not oneself but the greater good.

But there is a lot of confusion about what improvisation (or improv) means. Does is mean "acting" and "being funny"? No. Does it mean "making it up as you go along"? No.

Considering that I am a jazz drummer (long-time hobbyist), I would have thought I understood what the term improvisation means. After all, improvisation is something that is done in jazz music (e.g., bop, fusion) all the time.

I am realizing that improvisation is really a general foundational skillset and knowledge area that gets augmented by domain-specific areas. So "jazz improvisation (on the drums)" builds on concepts of core improvisation by adding things like common ride cymbal and snare drum comping patterns, song structure, phrasing, and supporting the band (above all). On the other hand, "improv acting" can include other concepts and specializations such as "physicality" (which seems to be about making it seem like you are interacting with real physical objects on stage when there is only thin air) and even "improv musicals".

As such, business improvisation is about taking improv concepts, developing specific specialties, and applying them in business situations. So core concepts of business improvisation can be further developed in areas such as creativity and innovation, teamwork & communication, change management, crisis management, merger integration, and conflict management. To take it a step further, these applications can be further used in situations related to sales & marketing, customer care, operations, and general management.

So what did I learn from my improvisation and business academic mentors? A lot, but here I'll share the tip of one area. It's about focus (of attention). Focus is something that needs to be worked on very consciously. And for me, there are elements of situational specifics. So for example, focus in a jazz improv session (a la Miles Davis) is different from focus in a sales meeting and which is different from focus in the household when you are talking with family. One can take one's skills too much for granted and move on autopilot. So a potential hazard of expertise is that one loses focus and/or one falls into the same habits. Improving focus requires constant work. And while I may go into more detail in a later post, some key elements of tweaking focus are around warming-up and supporting the team (and building on ideas).

Note: I have recently taken on a fractional, management role with a firm specializing in business improvisation training and human capital program development. If you want to learn more about programs that can be developed for your organization, please feel free to contact me. Thanks!

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