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Reflecting

By on August 9, 2011 in Business Life, Managing Your Business

Photo by Swami Stream

It was just a few weeks ago that I finally underwent “minor” surgery on my ailing right knee. Even though the medical professionals consider the “procedure” routine, it still lays you out for a while. Simple things, like walking up and down stairs, become a challenge. And forget driving, walking more than a few feet at a time, or showering. Plus, I found writing to be a challenge.

Fortunately for most people who undergo this kind of surgery, these limitations aren’t permanent. You do have to live with some uncertainty about how well you’ll heal, and stay patient as you regain strength. But a forced break from everyday routines can result in renewed appreciation for the people and relationships that define your life.

You also have time to reflect on the big questions about your direction, business, and quality of life when the day-to-day stuff isn’t the only thing on your radar. Some people use vacations to take a step back and think about their grand plans, while others find different ways to achieve the same aim.

Whatever way you choose, be sure to find a regular opportunity to take a breather, reflect on where you are and where you want to be. If the circumstances demand it and the timing is right, set a new path for yourself. Some of my best long-term decisions came about when I wasn’t preoccupied with deadlines, clients, and my business.

I’m guessing that most of you recognize the value of down time, but how often do you really get it? I’m not waiting for the surgeon’s knife to reappear before I do it again.

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Services Industry News: Quick Takes

By on July 6, 2011 in Business Life, Industry Trends

Here’s a brief roundup of links and news from around the services industry.

24% say they’d rather give up sex than sit through another PowerPoint presentation.

The Economist offers advice to consultants as demand for services rebounds.

Job market for consulting shows real signs of life.

What consultants are earning at 4,956 companies.

Accenture’s earnings beat expectations. Booz Allen’s profit surges.

PwC gobbles up consulting firm PRTM. The financial details are hush-hush, but you can bet some people will end up with bags of money.

Consulting Magazine selects its top 25 consultants for 2011. Mostly a vanity award?

According to the Boston Consulting Group, consumer sentiment is currently all over the map.

What do executives want from their CIOs? PA Consultants’ survey says cost savings, increasing operational efficiencies, and delivering consistent, stable IT performance.

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3 Ways to Generate Breakthrough Ideas

By on May 17, 2011 in Business Life, Consulting Process

creativityWe all face complex issues that demand our best thinking and ideas, whether the issues arise at work or in our personal lives. And most of us use an assortment of techniques to generate useful ideas, from brainstorming and what-if questions to mind mapping.

These techniques work. But what you do when you’re not trying to generate a big idea helps the most when you eventually need that breakthrough. How do you prepare for the time when you need your creativity the most?

New ideas are born through the resorting and recombination of your existing experiences and knowledge. So allowing your mind to have new, unfamiliar experiences creates more possibilities to consider when you call on your brain to hatch new ideas.

Here are three ways to help you prime the pump for breakthrough ideas.

Break Your Patterns

Open your brain to new experiences and possibilities by simply changing parts of your daily routine. Maybe you vary your exercise session, take a new route to work, or read a book by a new author, in an unfamiliar genre. You could visit a museum you’ve never been to, vary your habits at work, or talk to someone who works in an entirely different field.

Clear Out Distractions

Ask anyone when the best ideas pop up and you often hear, “in the shower.” Sometimes people get hit with a great idea when they’re walking, washing dishes, or just sitting quietly. When your mind calms down, new ideas emerge.

These days, it’s tough to get those quiet moments, except in the shower. Give yourself the chance to calm your mind during the day. Don’t feel the need to respond to every email or text within minutes. Set aside times during the day to handle email and other tasks. Don’t let them suck up every free moment you have between daily activities.

Embrace the Unknown

Each time we advance a new idea, our minds leap into a potential new future. For some, that’s scary. If you want to generate breakthrough ideas, you must be at ease with the uncertainty of a new future. Among the things that help develop your comfort with the unknown are travel to new places, learning a new skill, such as a new language, or trying things you’ve never experienced.

Most of what we do to create breakthrough ideas happens long before we try to generate those ideas. If you can be systematic about changing up your patterns, managing distractions, and being comfortable with uncomfortable situations, you’ll be primed for your next brainstorming session.

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Services Industry News: Quick Takes

By on May 3, 2011 in Business Life, Industry Trends

Here’s a brief roundup of links and news from around the services industry.

CPAs: Half of our clients are still in crisis, in spite of improving business conditions. More than 25 percent of CPA firms are in crisis too, according to AICPA.

Smart people make the worst teams, according to MIT researchers.

Ever wonder just how much content is on the web? Here’s the answer.

Three stages of commoditization for consulting services, according to industry analyst, Fiona Czerniawska.

IBM is jumping into the Business Process Management business. Is any firm not in this market?

So, you want to be a consultant? One person’s lessons learned.

Research report: 75 percent believe IT projects are doomed before starting. Ouch.

ComputerWorld: 7 dirty consultant tricks (and how to avoid them).

Sparking creativity in teams: An executive’s guide, by McKinsey & Company (registration required).

Who’s using all those iPads?

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What Are You Getting Ready For?

By on April 21, 2011 in Business Life

michael mclaughlinEveryone knows that building new skills (and improving existing ones) is table stakes in the game of work. Ignore this reality and the market will pass you by. Most of us have plans for getting better at what we do, whether it’s becoming a better communicator, writer, salesperson, or project manager.

The skills that improve your performance now are essential for the present, but what about tomorrow? What skills and capabilities do you need to thrive in the work you’d like to be doing in three years (or five or ten years)?

Ask yourself this: what new skills should I cultivate so I’m ready for the opportunities I’ll create in the future?

If you want to write a book someday, for example, it’s never too early to learn how to write a book proposal, refine your writing skills, or understand the intricacies of book marketing.

By focusing on the skills you will need down the road, you get better at what you’re doing in the present, and set the stage for the future you envision for yourself.

What are you getting ready for?

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Breaking Down Relationship Barriers

By on April 11, 2011 in Business Life, The Guerrilla Consultant

michael mclaughlinNot long ago, I talked with a frustrated colleague. He’d been working with a new client for weeks, and everything was going well. But he was having no success meeting others in the client’s organization, even though he was sure he could help in more areas.

I knew exactly how he felt. I’ve been there more than once. Usually, we hit the relationship wall for one of two reasons: either the client intentionally blocks our attempts to branch out, or the client doesn’t know or fully understand what else we can do to help.

Read more…

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Blind-Sided

By on April 5, 2011 in Business Life, Managing Your Business, Organizational Change

michael mclaughlinThe Blockbuster video store that used to be down the street is now a credit union. Mega-bookseller Borders is mired in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. General Motors went belly up for a while, and so did consulting giant BearingPoint. The list of leading companies heading to court for bankruptcy protection goes on and on.

Many point to the unrelenting pace of change in these companies’ industries as the culprit. What really brought these companies to their knees wasn’t change itself, but the way company executives prepared for and reacted to that change.

In each of the cases above, you can find examples of executives who were content with the status quo, denied the truth of the emerging reality, and who bowed to the demands of self-interested investors for short-term profit.

These are problems of people, not organizations.

Noted futurist Dan Burrus tells us, “I believe the next five, short years are going to be called the great transformation.” That means more turmoil is on the horizon for those who fail to anticipate and adapt to change.

Now is the time to focus on the future of your business. How must your business change to thrive in the next five years? What new services will you offer? What services will you discontinue? How will your mix of clients change? How will your approach to marketing, selling, and service delivery evolve? What new skills do you need now and in the next few years to succeed in the emerging market?

You can be sure that the string of high-profile bankruptcies will continue. Executives in book publishing companies, media organizations, educational institutions, and many others are scrambling to find ways to remain relevant.

Anyone can avoid that fate by acknowledging the transformation in most every industry and planning for a new reality today, not down the road. Why wait to be blind-sided?

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The One Sentence Challenge

By on March 31, 2011 in Business Life, Managing Your Business, Marketing

one sentence description of your businessCan you distill the purpose of your business, latest project, or your career into a single sentence?

A single sentence brings clarity to your purpose, helps you communicate that to others, and sets a foundation for how you’ll achieve your purpose. Most importantly, the process of crafting a single sentence forces you to define precisely what you want to achieve for your business, project, or career.

Scan the New York Times Bestsellers List and you’ll see how novelists condense the plot of a book into one sentence (One-armed juggler races against time to uncover the mystery of his Mother’s terminal illness.)

Don’t talk about yourself in that one sentence, but emphasize what you’ll achieve for others (Project Life Raft creates new educational opportunities for underprivileged children by recycling computers and books formerly owned by others.)

Try to limit your sentence to 20 words or less. Pyramid Consulting helps clients land more profitable customers at a lower cost of acquisition.

Strive to be specific. For example, The Rain Group says “…we help companies with complex products and services develop an army of rainmakers – top performers who drive robust revenue growth.”

Few things bring your business or project into focus more effectively than a single sentence description. You can build your project plan, marketing plan,  or career plan around that 20-word description.

I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t struggle to get that single sentence exactly the way they want it–myself included. Still, it’s worth the effort to try.

What’s in your sentence?

 

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Clients Aren’t Just Clients…

By on March 25, 2011 in Business Life, Client Relationships

They may be prospects, targets, executives, staff members, managers, or any other label we apply to them.

But that’s not all they are. They are people.

They could be mothers, fathers, spouses, little league coaches, amateur athletes, art enthusiasts, history buffs, cooking enthusiasts, or hopeful fiction writers.

If you get beyond the abstractions and understand people for who they are, you’re likely to get the support you need exactly when you need it.

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Overwhelming

By on March 15, 2011 in Business Life, Client Relationships, Consulting Process, Managing Your Business

Chances are you’ve had clients decide not to implement your recommendations. Hard as it is to face, sometimes the problem lies with you, not them.  It may be easy to paint a picture of a client’s intended destination, and people will nod in agreement–that’s exactly where they need to be.

But the process, learning, and commitment you ask of people to make that journey is often enough to overwhelm them. Experts can freeze their clients into inaction by making unrealistic assumptions about what it takes to accomplish a new task. Once you’ve built a plan with such flawed assumptions, expect resistance to change.

The challenge: Never take for granted the depth of your own knowledge. Remember, the things that seem easy to you now weren’t always so simple. So keep the beginner’s perspective in mind as you conceive of projects and chart your client’s path.

Are you overwhelming anyone?

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