Category: Consultant Notes

Categories
Consultant Notes

Individual Initiative and Significant Change

Consultant Notes

Individual Initiative and Significant Change

By Ray Rood

February 2021

Build a Priority Culture

Over this past very unusual year I have had the opportunity to be involved in an increasing number of coaching conversations about how best to navigate the changing world in which we live and work. Some of these conversations have been about personal life transitions and some about changing work-related roles and responsibilities. A major theme emerging out of all of these conversations has been the discovery of the significance of individual initiative, its related risks, and responsibilities in any change process, whether it be personal or organizational in nature.

​For the past twenty years or so, one of my favorite references for my organizational consultation has been the classic book, Deep Change, by Robert Quinn, which has helped me realize that every organization seems to be moving in one of two directions, “deep change” or “slow death.” This belief has, for a number of years, been the foundational assumption of our vision base strategic planning work within Genysys. It has only been in the last few years that I have realized the true significance of the subtitle of Deep Change, which is Discovering the Leader Within, and the essential role that it plays within any form of deep change, organizationally and personally. For an organization, I have concluded that it takes a critical mass (five or more) of individuals who think and act as leaders for deep transformational change to occur. For individuals, it is up to each person to be his or her own leader and take the initiative in pursuing needed and/or desired change.

I have come to believe that within most individuals is undeveloped leadership capacity. I have witnessed its emergence both in times of crisis and overtime if there is a sufficient balance between the elements of challenge and support. Furthermore, I believe that most individuals will face their own leadership challenge/opportunity when they realize that they are alone and on their own, whether or not they are inside an organization. It is at this point, that the individual determines whether or not to take leadership over his/her own circumstance(s), personally and/or organizationally. It is because of these dynamics that I see leadership and adulthood as being quite synonymous in nature since at the heart of both being a leader and an adult is individual initiative, responsibility, and aloneness.

As I was writing these reflections, I thought of the lines of a poem by the Irish poet, Donovan Leitch which I am dedicating to the emerging leader within all of us, especially at those times when we face that leadership opportunity most often disguised as a challenge or problem:

Do what you’re never done before,

See what you’ve never seen,

Feel what you’ve never felt before,

Say what you’ve never said,

Bear what you’ve never born before,

Hear what you’ve never heard,

All is not what it would seem;

Nothing ever remains the same.

Change is life’s characteristic;

Bend the flow and play the game…

So many times I was the one

Who stopped myself from doing things;

So many times I was the one

Who grounded myself and clipped my wings.

So I say do what you’ve never done before.

You must go where you have never been…

​

Two Questions for Consideration:

    1. What kind of challenge and/or support might you benefit from in order to take the next step in your own leadership development story?​
      ​
    2. What other leader(s) might you consider partnering within some joint cause or endeavor?

This is another episode from the archives!

​Listen to the full Episode on The Questions of Intuition here.

The Questions of Intuition Show Notes

  • How do we deal with the unknown?
  • What do we do and how do we think about where we are at?

3 Levels of Intuition

Levels that people with intuition as a preference or strength use almost exclusively.

  • Intuition through doing-when you make the right choice.
  • Intuition through feeling– when you have a hunch to do something; decide based on a feeling.

Most people aren’t aware of the third level:

  • Intuition through thinking: Asking yourself two questions.

When you are in an unknown situation ask two questions:

  • What do I know about where I am at? (WAIT and see what emerges)
  • What do I need to do with this information? (The majority of the time the answer is to get more information.

​BOOK MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

OTHER RESOURCES:

Categories
Consultant Notes

Build A Priority Culture

Consultant Notes

Build a Priority Culture

By Amy Hoppock

February 2021

Build a Priority Culture

Words and the use of words are endlessly fascinating to me. I sat down to start writing and my daughter came in to discuss the definition of overwhelming. Does overwhelming mean huge or confusing, or some of both? We talked about how usage often determines the meaning. Sometimes the way we learn to define words, isn’t really what the word means.

Priority is one of those words. It’s not unusual to hear people say, “the priorities are A, B & C.” We live in a world that measures our value by our outcomes. Our contribution is measured by our busyness. A few years ago I read the popular book Essentialism by Greg McKeown. (I recommend it!) McKeown invites his readers to look at a commonly misused word in light of history. 

“The word priority came into the English language in the 1400s. It was singular. It meant the very first or prior thing. It stayed singular for the next five hundred years. Only in the 1900s did we pluralize the term and start talking about priorities. Illogically, we reasoned that by changing the word we could bend reality.”
Greg McKeown
Essentialism

Essentialism is a small but powerful read. One of my favorite ideas from Essentialism, that many others have picked up on too, is our misuse of the work priority. Priority by definition is one thing. The priority is the very first thing. When we hold more than one priority, we have no priority. The idea of focusing on one thing sort of rubs against the more is more culture that we live in. Yet, in truth, we can only, ever focus on one thing at a time. When we use priority as it is defined we can do more.

I work with a team that is very invested in creating a priority culture. Every six to nine weeks the team meets to identity THE priority, the one thing, that if everyone focuses on the business can make significant and meaningful progress. Each smaller group thinks about how their area can support the priority. The team sets two or three goals for each smaller working group (marketing, tech, business development, etc.) This is a surprisingly effective way to work. With each new priority, there is urgency and focus that directs the actions of the team. This team gets stuff done and consistently moves the business forward. Sometimes a priority is set for one month, other times the priority is for three months. The leader is always watching to see when one priority has been met and looking for factors inside and outside of the business that would indicate it is time for a new priority.

Everything changes when we give ourselves permission to be more selective in what we choose to do. At once, we hold the key to unlock the next level of achievement in our lives. There is tremendous freedom in learning that we can eliminate the nonessentials, that we are no longer controlled by other people’s agendas, and that we get to choose. With that invincible power, we can discover our highest point of contribution, not just to our lives or careers, but to the world.”
Greg McKeown
Essentialism

Questions:

  • What is your priority?
  • How can you order your life to better support your current priority? (Remember, you can shift your priority as often as you need!)
  • How can you create a priority culture in your workplace?

Amy Hoppock is a Genysys Consultant. She is the author is Be More Journal and writes at The Art of Powering Down.

This is another episode from The Consultant School archives. In this episode Ray and Amy talk about dealing with Resistance. Check out the episode and notes for step by step ways to deal with resistance in organizations!

Listen to the full episode of How to Deal with Resistance here.

How To Deal With Resistance

What is resistance:

Resistance= any kind of inaction. Not wanting to do something. Not wanting to change, the opposite of movement. The movement that does happen is a movement against.

  • Recognize the feelings (and actions of resistance)
  • Acknowledge that resistance is part of the process
  • Know that resistance is normal
  • Remember that resistance can be beneficial

Resistance can indicate something is really important.

If there is a proposed change initiative that does not have resistance, it might indicate that the process, etc. isn’t actually that important.

Resistance can be a CLUE to what is really important in an organization.

The change will great disequilibrium and humans are not wired to be in a disequilibrium state.

80% of resistance is personal

The operative question people are asking is: How will this change affect me?

3 Principles to Deal With Resistance:

  • Empathy

Identify who is most likely to be affected by the change. Try to understand how they are likely to be impacted. When people or group believes their needs have been taken into consideration they are more likely to engage in the change process. Empathy is the bridge that comes before communication

  • Communication

Listen to where people are, what their concerns are. Must be able to communicate why and what the benefits will be.

  • Participation

Involve the people who are going to be affected by the change, ask them questions, incorporate as many of their suggestions as you can and address those things that you can’t use. Some good questions to use are:

  • What questions do you have?
  • What questions do you have?
  • What question do you have about the process?

Make sure to incorporate some of the ideas in the change process.

Go two rounds of this process. People feel like they gain ownership in the change process.

Dealing with resistance is best done one on one.

Don’t exclude the people who ask hard questions.

  • Thank them for their questions
  • Ask them for ideas
  • Help them to find a stake in the process so they have ownership

To the extent that one believes in the change, they can afford to be patient to draw people in and give the change initiative the time it takes for people to gain buy-in.

​

Resources Mentioned:

​Managing Change Effectively

Categories
Consultant Notes

The Work of Building Healthy Organizations

Consultant Notes

The Work Of Building Healthy Organizations

By Laurie Reinhart

January 2021

As I write this article, I am teaching a graduate-level consulting skills course at a university business school. I designed and have taught this course before, but this time I am experiencing the course content differently, as I believe are my students as well. It is a deeply unsettling time in our country and our culture. Months into a pandemic, we are deeply divided along racial and political lines, our most pressing societal needs are seemingly intractable, and perhaps most disturbingly, we cannot even agree upon what reality is, let alone reach consensus on solutions to our problems! Any sense that reality is controllable or predictable has disappeared as completely as a missing sock in the dryer, inexplicably sucked up into some alternate and otherworldly oblivion. It feels as though the only thing that is certain is that the future is a very unpredictable, uncontrollable, and even unsafe place.​

In the midst of this chaos, organizations are still trying to make organizational life work, businesses are trying to stay afloat, and consultants are still trying to help them meet these challenges. Now more than ever we need healthy organizations that provide people with a solid and supportive place to work and earn a living for their families. Unemployment, underemployment, and toxic employment are three great evils of our time, taking an unimaginable toll on human beings. Given the impacts upon very real people, the work of building healthy organizations that can succeed is more urgent than ever.

Organizations need skillful, empathetic help in navigating both the crises and the opportunities presented by our current reality. But good consulting work – work that enables leaders and their organizations to move forward, into their best future – is not easy or fast in the best of times. How can we join our clients to help build healthy and successful organizations now?​

Author Max De Pree states, “The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality” (Leadership is an Art), and if this is so, then the first responsibility of a consultant has always been to help the leader to define reality. This truth has not changed. We have done so by asking really good questions. And the need for good questions has not changed either. Especially now, clients need to engage questions of meaning and purpose rather than practical questions that invite prescribed, “expert” answers. Asking “How?” too quickly, notes Peter Block in his book The Answer to How Is Yes, shuts down possibilities and blunts our awareness of what matters most.

I tell my students that if we get the questions right, the answers will become clear. In light of our current reality, I believe that there are three critically important questions for organizations to consider:

  • What is the most important thing that our organization exists to do? In other words, what is our “organizational calling”? This question reconnects us with the meaning and purpose of our organization and our unique place in the world.
  • Do we believe that our people want to contribute to the success of the organization? If the answer to whether our people want to contribute to our success is yes, then we have something to build upon. We have hope.
  • In light of our organizational calling, what can we create together with our people? In our time of great disconnection and chaos, we recognize our capacity to recreate both connection and meaning together to begin to navigate our future. We can begin to envision a desired future where the organization may look quite different but can find deeper connection with its purpose and a more meaningful contribution to make.

From here, anything is possible.

This month we are focusing on the podcast archives.

Ray did a series on Organizational Health. Ray shared the most important elements of Organizational Health from Ray’s unique and thought provoking perspective. If you haven’t listened to these older episodes, you might want to add them to your list. Find the first episode in the Organizational Health series here.

Episode Notes:

Clients often don’t want to change as much as they thought they did when they engage an organizational consultant. One tool that consultants can use to help clients overcome their resistance to change is an organizational health framework.

How To Address Resistance to Change.

What is the source of the resistance?

  • There is a natural resistance to change that happens. Change creates disequilibrium and we naturally don’t like to be out of balance.

Another explanation in organizational context

  • Organizational dysfunction: The organization isn’t able to change because of the problems that are at the heart of how the organization function.

​

Organizations operate by the same principles that humans do in their development.

Ray uses the book The Living Company by Ari De Geus as a guide for organizational health.

De Geus studied companies that lasted over 100 years. He found that organizations that lasted over 100 years viewed themselves as a living organism, which embraced change.

​

Where organizations are effective, they are healthy.

When organizations are not effective, there is dysfunction somewhere.

​Reframing Organizations by Lee Bolman & Terrence Deal provided an outline for thinking about the elements of organizational health.

Frames outlined in Reframing Organizations

  • Structure (how an organization is organized)
  • People (human resource)
  • Organizational Politics (decision making)
  • Symbolic (meaning symbols, stories, rituals, activities, logos, etc.)
  • Process (how things are done)
  • Soul (mission, purpose, values, vision=essences of organization)

Each frame can be functional or dysfunctional. It’s the role of a consultant to help the organization identify where health and dysfunction is in these frames.

Organizational Health must look at each one of these frames. Status of health will have a direct impact on the success (or lack there off) of any consulting work.

What do we need to pay attention to?

Intuitive Questions that a consultant would ask about an organization:

  • Are they clear about their identity?
  • Are there issues about how they are doing things?

Organizational Decision Making (Clue to Organizational Health)

  • To what extent is the way the organization makes a decision congruent with organizational values?
  • Most organization decision making is personality centered rather than organizational centered which results in no accountability.
  • Most organizations practice the golden rule: who has the most gold, rules.

Organizational Framework is an important tool for consultants to help create better results.

The guiding question for consultants:

  • What is the status of their health? (However, you define that)
  • If I engaged with them, to what extent can I help them to increase their health, rather than enabling their disfunction.

Intuition Questions:

  • What do I know?
  • What am I going to do about it?

The most dangerous thing for a consultant is to be in denial about the health of the organization.

Categories
Consultant Notes

Questions for Leaders and Consultants to Ask

Consultant Notes

Questions for Leaders and Consultants to Ask

By The Genysys Group

December 2020

We asked our Genysys Consultants to share one question they felt was most important for leaders to ask as we leave 2020 behind and move into a new year.

Our hope is these questions can be a tool to help you and your team start 2021 with clarity and vision. Choose one question to focus on or set aside a few minutes to reflect on each of the questions. Reach out to any of the consultants for clarification or brainstorming on the questions. They are happy to help.

​

  • How can I create a culture where people want to work given that some are here and some are there?

​Dr. Jann E. Freed​

Author of Leading With Wisdom: Sage Advice from 100 Experts

​www.JannFreed.com​

 

  • What change needs to be made in my sphere of influence
  • What can I do to initiate and sustain the needed change?

​Ray Rood​

​www.thegenysysgroup.com​

​

  • How can I best support my team as we adapt to uncertainty and change becoming standard operating procedure?

​Andrea Nunez ​

​

  • What has your leadership team learned from the pandemic and the protests as a portal of change?
  • How is your organization faring with all these changes?
  • Have you been able to adapt and change and continue to thrive?

​Rachel Rudo Munyaradzi​

​www.rachelrudo.com​

 

  • How can I help the leadership of our organization to ask the right questions about moving into our future, so that we will not waste the opportunities created by the disruptions of 2020?

​Laurie Reinhart​

 

  • How do I recognize and fulfill my God-given purpose?

​Ralph Plumb​

​drralphplumb.com​

​

  • How do we help people and organizations set goals and vision in highly uncertain times?

​ Dr. Art Gray

The Consultant School podcast has a NEW online home. If you missed an episode, want to listen to an older episode, or would like to download show notes you can find all of that here. If you missed an episode this month we have the round up below. If you listen, make sure and leave a review, it really helps the podcast reach the right audience.

​Episode 30: How to Find Your Ideal Consulting Niche

In this episode, Genysys consultant Rachel Munaradzi, who works with people experiencing corporate burnout and with organizations on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives, talks with Andrea about finding her niche.

Highlights from their conversation include:

Two different approaches to finding your niche:

  1. Get yourself and out there and allow the questions people ask you to guide you. OR
  2. Ask yourself some defining questions before you begin, such as:
    • What are you interested in?
    • What are you good at?
    • What areas do you already have experience in?
    • What areas are most of your network in?
"Finding and creating your niche is branding. You’re branding yourself for success"
​​Rachel Munyaradzi
The Genysys Group

As Rachel points out, determining your niche is one of the most critical first steps in starting your consulting business. It ensures you’re talking to the right people in your marketing and allows potential clients to determine if you can help them.

You can find Rachel at: www.rachelrudo.com. Or on LinkedIn @rachelrudomunyaradzi and Instagram @rachelrudo.​

​Read the full show notes here.

Do you have a question you would like to hear discussed on the podcast? Use this form to send your question!

​The Consultant School Membership is a community where professionals learn how to start, grow, and scale thriving consulting businesses.

Looking for more information on how to start, build, and grow your consulting business?

Join our FREE TRAINING for new and aspiring consultants on The Successful Consultant Profile from The Consultant School Bootcamp: How to Become a Consultant.

In this training, you will learn:

  • What a consultant is and what are the characteristics, attributes, preferences, skills, and conditions essential for a successful consulting career
  • The definition of each of these and, importantly, why they are so critical to your success as a consultant
  • How to determine to what extent these attributes match who you are

Plus! Identify your strengths and challenge areas with the Successful Consultant Profile Self-Assessment included in your downloadable guidebook.

​Click here to get your free training and begin your journey towards success!

Categories
Consultant Notes

A Path Through Polarization

Consultant Notes

A Path Through Polarization

By Ray Rood

December 2020

Recently I was approached by an HR professional who was curious about how the vision work that we do in Genysys might address the polarization of relationships in the workplace. The environment of polarization continues to escalate in today’s world. His question reminded me of a comment of a participant in an envisioning workshop that I facilitated almost ten years ago. This workshop was for members of a historical society that was deeply divided over what to do with a very unique asset. They had been given a castle in the middle of the local community. A majority of the society members didn’t want to have anything to do with the castle.

​

After the workshop one of the participants, who represented the majority of those who wanted nothing to do with the castle, came up to me and after thanking me for being willing to facilitate this workshop in such a contentious environment, made the following comment: “The common vision that we were able to develop today about the future of the castle has brought needed healing to our society.”​
​

Upon reflection, I believe that the key to developing some healing and common ground was first to identify the common questions that all of the participants had about the future of the castle beyond the present reality. As they thought beyond five years, which is where we in Genysys begin, it was amazing the common ground in interests, hopes, and concerns that began to emerge. When the results of the visioning exercise around the questions of the long-term future of the castle began to be shared the participants began to see that they often had much more in common about the future than they ever thought possible. As one participant indicated, “Eighty percent of what we shared today is common and/or complementary, our problem was that we had, up to now, no forum or way to discover our common ground.”

​

Here are two questions that might help in discovering common ground in an environment of polarized differences:

​

  1. What common questions do we, in any group of which we are a part (work, family, community, church, etc.), have about our future beyond five years?
  2. How does each participant answer these questions as they look to that year of focus beyond five years?

​

The common and complementary responses to those answers can provide a bridge of hope for a common and positive future for those involved as it was for the historical society and its castle.

​The Consultant School Membership is a community where professionals learn how to start, grow, and scale thriving consulting businesses.

Looking for more information on how to start, build, and grow your consulting business?

Join our FREE TRAINING for new and aspiring consultants on The Successful Consultant Profile from The Consultant School Bootcamp: How to Become a Consultant.

In this training, you will learn:

  • What a consultant is and what are the characteristics, attributes, preferences, skills, and conditions essential for a successful consulting career
  • The definition of each of these and, importantly, why they are so critical to your success as a consultant
  • How to determine to what extent these attributes match who you are

Plus! Identify your strengths and challenge areas with the Successful Consultant Profile Self-Assessment included in your downloadable guidebook.

​Click here to get your free training and begin your journey towards success!