How I Deliver: Asking the Right Questions
My role as a Point B consultant is to offer my clients clear advice that will help them have a successful impact on their company’s strategy.
Clarity is that wonderfully empowering “Aha” moment we create together as we cut through the jungle of bias and arrive at an elegantly simple question to focus our work on. Establishing an early sense of clarity with our clients on where and how we can make the greatest impact is at the root of what separates good advice from misguided advice.
Throughout my client work, I continually ponder whether we are asking the right questions. A recent engagement had my client passionately insisting we should answer the question, “How do I improve the efficiency of process X in Department Y?” There was plenty of evidence to suggest there was a problem. Experience told me it was a problem. But was that really THE problem? Had I run off and answered that question, I would have given my client technically sound but misguided advice.
The question we concluded we really should have really been asking ourselves was, “Do I have the right leadership in Department Y to help drive the strategy of my company?” That clarity was the key that unlocked the right door, setting the stage for creating the right impact for my client.
That engagement reminds me of a story a colleague recently shared with me. He recounted a time his college professor said to him, “You made that sound very complicated, but that’s OK because you don’t fully understand it yet.”
Getting to clarity takes time but when you have it, making the right impact and leading to success is much faster.
See Point B's Point of View on Clarity