Lend me your watch

This has been an interesting week. The seminar on 9th July went well and there is now a waiting list for the next one. Email me if you would like to come. I also visited some very good networking sessions. During a conversation with a fellow net-worker I had mentioned a quote I had read, "The stone age didn't end because the cavemen ran out of rocks". The original quote was made in the '70's by one of the OPEC members to develop alternatives to oil revenues rather than see their incomes dry up. Our conversation was around how to best promote change within an organisation, and the initial premise was that change only comes about because of impending doom and disaster.
There probably are organisations out there that are proactively looking to change, but they are few and far between and I've only met a couple. Most carry on until there are major issues in performance before the nettle is grasped and change is made. A typical scene in these companies is one or two lone voices trying hard to turn the juggernaut but largely being ignored.

Most organisations seem to have a "Largely Ignored Visionary". LIVs can read the writing on the wall and sense the impending disaster but are frequently completely unable to do anything about it. Nobody within the organisation wants to listen. They will however listen to an outsider and this is often the role of an external consultant. Consultants are engaged for many reasons, but the role they perform can be surprising. Beyond the skill backfill role of making up for insufficient capacity most managers think of consultants as external "experts". Generally I find I play the "expert" role about 10% of the time, the rest of the time it is as referee, adjudicator, facilitator, mirror or in this case as the dispassionate, slightly cynical, external observer.

If you recognise yourself as a LIV you probably need help to put your case and to make yourself heard. An external consultant will bring focus to an issue and frame it in terms that the rest of the organisation will understand, take on board and act on.

This can only have a positive effect. This type of change is good to implement and results in positive outcomes such as improved profitability and happier staff. Just be sure to ask for your watch back.