Big questions

I have neglected the blog as I have been distracted over the last few weeks. Caught up in horizon watching for the pandemic wave. It has taken me some time to separate myself from those things I can’t control but it has also been a useful exercise in self-management.

So here we are, April 2020, in a very different place than we thought we would be.

One of my goals for the isolation period is to develop and refine a ‘trusted advisor’ offering for businesses seeking to answer the ‘big questions’ – whatever they may be.

I had a discussion with one of my mentors who is a highly regarded strategic consultant and does the ‘big question’ discussions as a core part of this work.

So I will download those notes here:

• Most people who are high up in an organisation are not having meaningful conversations on the ‘big questions’ for their business as they are busy, not necessarily incentivised and don’t feel that much can come from unstructured, ships-passing-in-the-night discussions
• There is a need for someone to ‘raise the things that need to be raised but are not raised’ – subconsciously the issues are there – this reminds me of saying that ‘the truth is always there, it is just whether we actively search for it’
• My mentor does training sessions on prompted, complex problem solving – collecting questions/sharing of insights – not focusing on solutions
• How do you know you have asked a good question? Silence – it indicates respect and importance
• What are my questions vs. what are my client’s questions? – What questions matter?
• Absolute honesty – rigorous honesty engenders trust
• Invariably, there is a client/consultant dance – formative discussion, what does the client think that they want? what are they saying? what do they need? Is there consistency between stated impacts and outputs?
• Deploy sense-making frameworks
• Clearly, most people are not good at strategy and they know it – however, it can be simply bringing clarity/simplicity/focus
• Many clients (especially those who are deep technical) are asking because they are under-skilled/feel vulnerable
• Treat people as human – doing their best, fallible
• Be the person sitting next to the client, not opposite them
• Move from the master/servant dynamic into a partnership
• Price accordingly – not hourly but options-based pricing
• Position to deserve respect
• Suggestion – don’t polish the turd – lead with your best questions
• Get rapid feedback from potential clients

It was an invaluable discussion. So let’s build a set of questions.

Next post: A set of questions for a client