Infinite Shades of Grey

ver·sa·tile [ vúrssət’l ]

1. with many uses: able or meant to be used in many different ways

2. moving easily between tasks: able to move easily from one subject, task, or skill to another

Versatility in consulting does not connote breadth of skills versus depth of skills. It talks about the ability to leverage the skills you have in many different ways.

For example lets look at actor Michael Crawford.  Watch this video as he plays Frank Spencer in the BritCom “Some Mothers do ‘ave ‘em”

Some Mothers do ‘ave ’em  video clip

“Each episode saw the well-meaning and optimistic, but naïve, clueless, accident-prone tank top and beret-wearing character, Frank Spencer (Michael Crawford), and his very tolerant but often frustrated wife, Betty (Michele Dotrice), getting into situations that usually spiraled ridiculously out of control, frequently resulting in someone else’s nervous breakdown or some unlikely destructive catastrophe. … Episodes usually included stunt work performed by Crawford himself…“

Now let’s take another look at Michael Crawford. Perhaps best known as… The Phantom.. from the original Andrew Lloyd Webber production of the Phantom of the Opera…

Phantom Gala Video

Or for his Vegas Show…

Versatility. It is apparent from the above that Michael Crawford can apply his skills in many different areas illustrating versatility.

Now let’s apply the same connotation to consulting. What are your skills? Let’s borrow Microsoft’s definition of a consultant from a standard “consultant” job posting.

1. architect solutions by mapping common customer business problems to reusable services focused on operational effectiveness and business value.
2. manage the complete lifecycle of large and complex projects.
3. helps customer account teams identify, pursue, and close strategic business development opportunities while continually driving add-on business within existing projects.
4. help translate business requirements into technology requirements for inclusion in contracts and/or statements of work (SOW), and assist in contract negotiations
5. will work with Microsoft’s partners and Services colleagues
6. leveraging available IP and following defined delivery methodologies and service offerings.
7. capture of requirements.
8. design and development of an integrated solution using the latest Microsoft products and technologies
9. understanding the relevant application development, infrastructure and operations implications of the designed/developed solution
10. developing partners as part of the overall Microsoft services delivery model.
11. act as subject matter expert,
12. assisting service line management in the definition and development of service and/or solution offerings and intellectual property.
13. strong skills in focused Solution Delivery practices and IT Consulting.
14. solution design,
15. project envisioning,
16. project planning,
17. development and deployment.
18. vertical business process knowledge
19. project leadership skills
20. understanding of markets, customers and related technology;
21. technical leadership
22. effectiveness in consulting and client management.
23. deep understanding of customer IT environment,
24. skills architecting and deploying technology in area(s) of specialization to solve business problems.
25. industry leading depth knowledge of subject area,
26. demonstrated analysis and communication skills connecting technology and business problems.

Pre-Sales consultant –  if you apply skills 1,3, 7,11,15 and 16, you can respond to “requests for proposals” (RFP), where you are bidding on services to be provided.

Development consultants (Hands on) – if you apply skills 6,8,9,13,17 you can provide “build/test/deploy” services to your client.

Team Lead – if you apply skills 2,5, 13, 16, 19, 21, 22 and 26 you may lead a customer team through a project.

Architect – if you apply 1,4,6,8, 9,15,16, 18, 20, 24 and 26 you can provide architecture guidance to the project

Subject Matter Expert – if you apply skills 11, 22, 23 and 25 , you can provide specific advisory services to the client.

Evangelist – if you apply skills 1,3,5,8,10, 14,15, 18, 23,24, 25 and 26 you can be on the leading edge of moving customers to new technologies in your area.

Versatility does not mean that you need to program in ASP .NET and Java. It means that as an ASP .NET consultant that you leverage your range of skills in your area of expertise in a versatile manner. Your highest value is where your expertise is deepest and when you can apply those skills in multiple roles.

There was a shepherd looking after his sheep on the side of a deserted road. Suddenly a brand new Audi screeches to a halt. The driver, a man dressed in an Armani suit, Cerutti shoes, Ray-Ban sunglasses, TAG-Heuer wrist-watch  and a Pierre Cardin tie, gets out and asks the shepherd: "If I  can tell you how many sheep you have, will you give me one of  them?"
 
The shepherd looks at the young man, and then looks at the large flock of grazing sheep and replies: "Okay."
 
The young man parks the car, connects his laptop to the 3G network uploads the exact location data using his GPS, downloads live images from a NASA weather satellite,  opens a database and Excel tables filled with data mining algorithms and pivot tables, then prints out  a  report on his high-tech mini-printer. He turns to  the shepherd and says, "You have exactly 1,586 sheep here."
 
The shepherd cheers, "That’s correct, you can have your sheep."   The young man makes his pick and puts it in the passenger seat of his Audi.
 
The shepherd looks at him and asks: "If I guess your  profession, will you return my animal to me?"
 
The young man answers, "Yes, why not?"
 
The shepherd says, "You are an IT consultant."

"How did you know?" asks the young man shocked.
 
"Very simple," answers the shepherd. "First, you came here without being asked by me. Second, you charged me a fee to tell me something I already knew, and third, you don’t understand anything about my business… Now can I have my dog back?"

If we are not careful, it can happen all too easily.

You came here without being asked.

Well not really, we are always asked but the first person we meet day one may or may not have had our purpose, intent , expected outcomes communicated to them or communicated clearly enough. Often another person may be our client but our area of work may be somewhere different. (ie. Hired by the CIO but engaged to work with the Manager of Architecture). It’s a simple enough problem to avoid. Day 1 ensure that you always, always:

• communicate who you are
• why you are there
• get appropriate permissions from them for the area of engagement
• discuss the expected outcomes
• discuss the roles and expected participation of the team you are working with
• engage the sponsoring client to set the internal expectations and expected role.

You are telling me something I already know.

In some cases as consultants we are contracted to provide a second opinion and may very well be producing an analysis that corroborates the knowledge and findings of the internal team. The critical factor in engagements of that nature is to acknowledge it. Make sure that the internal team knows that you are respecting their findings and note it in your communication. I recently engaged with a major client where the client’s team was stellar. In most areas being investigated they had already thoroughly analyzed and put in place world-class best practices or had them in the plans. What I then did with the engagement was acknowledge that fact and broaden the engagement into other areas that were not as deeply covered. I made certain that the local team was acknowledged for their fine work and got their support in the other areas of investigation.

In cases where the client may think they know the answer, but actually do not, it requires more finesse on the part of the consultant. Our job in that case is to reframe and influence their thinking to a new viewpoint but also to not embarrass them or directly denigrate their position. Check out my blogs on Mastering the Art of Influence for some tips and techniques.

You don’t understand anything about my business.

This is a common and realistic complaint from clients. Too often the IT consultant brings technical skills only and has not done enough research to develop knowledge in the client’s domain. The excellent consultant will not only have technical expertise, but they will understand the client’s domain as well. Are you going to work in Healthcare? You need to understand privacy and security for Healthcare. Technical skills alone are not enough. Most decisions are more subtle than between a dog and a sheep but you don’t want to hear…

Can I have my dog back?

During implementation the project becomes visible for the first time to people beyond the immediate project team. Your client becomes more vulnerable to criticism from others. Clients usually start to feel exposed and uncomfortable at this stage. You may find their behavior unpredictable as the stress increases. They may be inclined to backtrack or go lighter on previous decisions. When a choice exists they will often prefer to take the safe rather than the correct option.

This stage is a major determinant of client satisfaction. The client is feeling vulnerable. Your job is to keep things cool, stay ahead on the time, the budget and keep the project moving forward.

The advantages of smooth implementation are quite simply:

• The payoff for all the previous work
• Survival for you and your client
• Reputation building

How Can You Ensure a Smooth(er) Implementation?

First: Do not assume everything will go smoothly because it will not! Plan ahead, think about what could go wrong and have contingency plans and resources in place.

Second: Communicate, Communicate, Communicate! If you don’t communicate, people will fear the worst.

Third: Build and Execute an Adoption Strategy

• Define the change in question
• Determine the implications
• Make certain you have found every end user
• Determine what aspects of their jobs will change and at which stage of implementation.
• Determine the most important improvements your client  is looking to achieve
• Target training initiatives to focus on these areas
• Start awareness communication early and increase the tempo nearing implementation.
• Be straightforward in communication, don’t “candy-coat” the issues that will be faced.
• Generate Interest early and find some champions. (ie. Brown-bag lunch sessions of early releases)
• Answer “what’s in it for me?” for people directly affected
• Answer “what will this do for me and to me?”
• Shape  positive attitudes
  • What are the features that people will like
  • Early Success stories
  • Benefit Management
  • Provide Trials and Demonstration opportunities

• Be Realistic about the rate of adoption and the client’s organizational ability to absorb the change. 

Change is inevitable during implementation and with change there will be resistance. The key advice is to be proactive about it and therefore minimizing its impact on your project. You will spend less effort and time if you manage adoption proactively instead of managing resistance reactively.

There are many reasons to write a book such as “Infinite Shades of Grey”; personal gain, notoriety, debunking other “Get Rich Quick” books but alas it is more simple than any of these. Seeing bad consulting drives me nuts! So this book is intended to accomplish the following two objectives:

• to make good consultants excellent and help them quickly achieve the best possible success in their field and
• to make bad consultants realize the folly of pursuing their fictional careers and to find honest work elsewhere.

However, I suspect I can only realistically accomplish one of the two objectives, as a bad consultant would never purchase my book anyway.  The scenarios used in the book are real. In places you will wonder, “Could that be true?” but it is.  I will illustrate examples of consulting excellence contributed by myself and many other venerated professional IT consultants and I will coach readers through the steps to acquire and apply the techniques used. The book is a compendium of the best ideas shared by professional consultants who have both “been-there-done-that” and  have reaped the rewards of doing it very well. All of the contributors have each made millions in consulting through demonstrated excellence. On the other hand, I will either amuse or horrify readers with stories of consulting frauds and incompetents and hopefully enable them to spot the tell-tale signs of a con and bad behavior.

Incorrigible Igor

The client was an IT outsourcer. They provided specialty applications to the insurance industry internationally. The nature of business, serving hundreds of different companies globally created a very complex infrastructure to connect with them. Few individuals had both the depth and breadth of knowledge to fully understand this environment but Igor did. Igor was a hard core technologist, undoubtedly one of the most highly skilled in the country. He understood every gateway, interface and protocol to the lowest level, each configuration requirement and every software requirement for each piece of infrastructure. In short, he was technically brilliant and one of the few people that could assist this client with all of their challenges maintaining and enhancing this environment. So after eagerly engaging Igor to assist them for a few days, the client promptly fired him.

On Igor’s first day he met with the client and asked for the documentation on the current configuration and a joint meeting. Igor reviewed the documentation and stated in the meeting “Well I see your challenge. It appears that this configuration was put together by school children from a Kindergarten class. Although I am not sure how many graduated into Grade 1…”

• Question for the reader? How many of the seven client personnel in the room participated in the design of the original configuration?
• Answer: Six of them and the seventh person was their new boss.

Clients hire IT consultants for their technical skills right? Yes, but technical skills are only a part of the equation. What you know and what you can do are important, but how you do it is even more important than both of those. If your client doesn’t enjoy working with you, your value diminishes. If they hate working with you, you are finished before you really start. Some project leads are savvy enough to recognize deficiencies  in team member’s soft skills and put them in a locked room and slide Pizza’s under the door to keep them fed and away from the client, but you can’t count on this method to always be practiced or effective.

Throughout the book I will introduce you to a cast of real-life consulting characters, some excellent  and some bad. (Buzzword Bianca, Hedgehog Harry, Surfer Sue and yes more from Incorrigible Igor) The scenarios gleaned from thousands of consulting engagements are all true but the names have been changed to protect both the innocent and unfortunately, the guilty.

Watch for it!

Most consulting organizations use a pyramid organization structure. Lots of consultants, fewer Principals and very few Partners and even fewer Managing Partners.

With a few exceptions, people tend to make Partner because they have earned it and proven their abilities.  Unless you are in a massive consulting organization, most Partner roles will require:

• excellence in skills in their area of knowledge
• business acumen
• business development acumen
• the ability to drive a profitable business
• excellent client relationship knowledge
• notable and acknowledged leadership qualities and
• rapport with the other Partners
• a portfolio of client relationships that represent incremental value to the partnership

not just technical knowledge. Whether you are a lawyer, an accountant or an IT consultant, the path the Partnership is quite similar. You are expected to have as an associate consultant:

• high billability
• excellent customer satisfaction
• excellent work and deliverables
• flexibility (the ability for the firm to use your skills for the highest leverage work, when they need it, where they need it)
• positive attitude to the client and to the firm
• visibility to the Partner and other management
• good profitability (ie. what you are billed out as versus what you are paid)

When you look at the attrition rate of most large scale IT consulting firms there are two points in the pyramid with very high attrition:

• Associate Consultant turn-over tends to be very high and the demands placed on the individual in terms of time, work-life balance and expectations of excellence can conflict with personal life goals and choices. ie. If you think you can join a firm as an associate consultant, work for 5 years, not put in overtime and become a Partner, you have an excellent imagination but no hope of Partnership.
• Associate Partner attrition is the other place in the pyramid where despite  years of ambition and excellence  they are challenged yet again to prove that they have the remaining qualities of a Partner, generally focused around the ability to bring in new business or extend existing business opportunities. Most people in this role fail to achieve the end-goal and leave for management roles elsewhere.

Do you want to be a Partner?

A Partner in a large firm can make excellent money.  Let’s do the math.  Assume your partnership agreement allows you 20% of the Gross Margin for your practice and 80% comes to the firm both to pay the non-labor bills. If you sell a $100M project it may execute over 4 years with the following annual profile.

You also have to remember that if you don’t have that project, the cost of warming the bench comes out of the Partner’s pocket also.

5 months without a project the Partner take-home amount goes to Zero.

As long at the practice is rocking, yes there is very good money in being a Partner.

How long will it take?

There are no hard and fast rules but I think you could assume the following as a minimum.

• Associate to Consultant –  18 month to 2 years given excellent on-project work                             
• Consultant to Senior – 1 Major project 1-2  years where the consultant has distinguished themselves.
• Senior to Managing – 2  major projects where the Senior has been in progressively Senior roles
• Managing to Senior Manager – 4-6 Major Projects
• Associate Partner – 4-6 major but has done successful business development with a win track record
• Associate Partner to Partner – 2-3 years to demonstrate keen and sustained  business development and client management expertise, at least 1 major “additional growth”  win (ie if you are not growing… you don’t need another partner)
• Total estimated time – 10 years.

How to be a Partner

The first thing to remember is that as an Associate Consultant you are unique and special, just like everybody else. So you do need to differentiate yourself.  Technical excellence is expected of you in your role, so becoming acknowledged for it is the differentiating factor.

• Be active in your technical community internally and externally
• Get published (few things make an easier sale to a client than putting a copy of your book or technical journal article on their desk)
• Make certain you understand the industry trends in your area and are briefed on all common and niche technologies in your area

Hey, but I am a world-class BizTalk developer, why should I need to know about TIBCO?

My answer is you don’t, as long as you would like to remain a world-class BizTalk developer and don’t want to go further. You are more valuable to your client when you are expert in your technical domain as well as a technical skill area. You are more valuable to your practice when you can provide informed advice to the client that will guide them to investing more deeply and confidently with your practice.

Make investments in your future…

Some projects are technically appealing, they use state-of-the-art tools and may in fact have other colleagues you have worked with before. It will be familiar, fun and perhaps even a “sure-thing” for delivery and customer satisfaction. Perfect right?

Likely not for the partner track.  In order to make it to the top, there are many other skill areas you will need to develop:

In my blog Problem Solving … The PHD course (part 1) we talked about the first step, getting your client’s permission to investigate and explore their problem space. Part 2 talked about understanding the problem space and now we can investigate what defines success for your client and your client’s “system” .

Defining Success – Does resolving the problem define success?

Can you help me get my cat down from the tree?…. Certainly! He says.

Problem Resolved.

What defines success? It obviously is not just the resolution of the problem but also:

• how it is resolved, the process and the remedies
• any negative or positive impacts to the client system associated with the resolution
• how fast it is resolved
• how much the resolution costs
• what risks are involved in the resolution
• etc.

So how do you find out what your client defines as success?

Allow me to suggest a technique.

Synectics

Synectics is a technique specifically designed to drive out a solution that the client and client system is committed to implement. In other words, a solution they “like”.

Step One: Have your client state the problem in their own words.

“I need to get my cat out of the tree.”

Step Two: Direct Analogies

Ask analogous situations to be described from the people involved.

• “Rescue a person from a burning building”
• “Find a lost pet”
• “Go on a scavenger hunt for something valuable”

Ask the client to pick one that they think represents facets of the problem. This is the “Springboard”

Step Three: Analysis of the Direct Analogy
Write down all of the facts and information about the analogy. It is important at this stage not to refer to the problem as given but just to concentrate on the characteristics of the analogy.

Let’s assume the client chose “Rescue a person from a burning building”

Facts

• safety of the victim
• emergency
• use of professionals and proper equipment
• speed of response – 911
• speed of resolution
• insurance
• water damage
• danger to rescuers by smoke or fire
• etc.

Your client has picked intuitively something that aligns with the problem and resolution. By driving out the facts, many of these will be attributes your client wants considered in the resolution.

Step Four: Force Fit and Viewpoint
Now think about the problem in terms of the characteristics of the analogy. Look for ideas or perspectives about the problem by applying the analogy to it.

Take the list of the characteristics, one by one, and see if there is a link, application or perspective for the problem.

For example:

Problem – Cat is in the tree

Attributes:

• safety of the victim (cat)
• use of professionals and proper equipment (ladder and competent person)
• speed of resolution (time to accomplish this is important)
• danger to rescuers (not putting the people involved in the resolution at high risk)

Now do a quick comparison of the options to get the cat out of the tree compared to this list attributes the client “likes”

The Synectics exercise need not be explicit. What I mean by that is that you don’t have to sit your client down and say “and now we’re going to do a synectics exercise”

Let me provide an IT style example instead of “Tigger the cat”. Remember we are not using Synectics to drive out the potential technical solutions to the problem, we are using it to drive out what your client will “like” about any potential solutions.

IT Problem: Bug counts are too high in development and take too long to fix resulting in delayed time to market for new applications

So if this wasn’t your industry how would you describe it?

• well if I owner of  a barber shop, there were too many bad haircuts given by my employees
• if I were NASA, all the little launch things that could go wrong would add up to 10 years between each shuttle flight
• if I were Toyota I’d be recalling millions of vehicles for a faulty gas pedal every few weeks.

Which one represents your problem the closest?

NASA

Attributes or Facets of this problem?

• very many people
• lots of processes
• complex processes
• complex technology
• fragile technology
• technology that has state “ready, not ready”
• lots of testing
• huge cost per mission
• delays are very costly
• people waiting to see it fly
• safety of astronauts and public is paramount
• superb training
• CMM level 5
• lots of contractors
• communication
• presidential oversight
• government and private industry funding

Pick out the attributes you think has some reflection in your environment and talk to me about it ?

• very many people – too many people on a single problem frustrates good communication, smaller teams are better
• lots of processes
• complex processes – processes are necessary but if they get to be too much will people comply?
• complex technology
• fragile technology
• technology that has state “ready, not ready” – we need to make sure that all the parts are in “ready-state” at the same time, coordinate components
• lots of testing – I don’t think its the volume of testing that is wrong, just the thoroughness
• huge cost per mission – we need to reduce the cost of each delivery
• delays are very costly
• people waiting to see it fly
• safety of astronauts and public is paramount – I believe in my people, they are good and smart and motivated but something else is wrong
• superb training – people don’t understand the processes or tools at a level they need
• CMM level 5
• lots of contractors – too many outsiders just make the internal communication worse
• communication
• presidential oversight – our people need to understand that these delays have big visibility
• government and private industry funding

….. Okay we gave garnered some important feedback about what the client is thinking about.

Let’s pre-test these with some hypothetical resolutions.

So what type of solution is your client most likely to support in implementation?

Synectics.

In my blog Problem Solving … The PHD course (part 1) we talked about the first step, getting your client’s permission to investigate and explore their problem space and the conditions by which they would be satisfied with the resolution.

Now we need to investigate the problem.  Some typical client problems?

• Inability to meet IT delivery schedules or keep pace with  business needs
• IT costs too high
• System instability or availability
• Business Process is ineffective, error prone or slow
• Customer Dissatisfaction
• End users can’t get the information they need fast enough
• Usable information is not available in a timely manner
• etc. etc. etc.

So where do you start in the problem resolution process?

1. understand the problem space
2. understand what defines success for your client and your client’s “system”
3. solve for resolution options
4. optimize options
5. decide between options
6. secure buy-in for the implementation of the desired option
7. implement the option
8. evaluate the success of the option
9. revise or improve option
10. repeat step 8

Understanding the Problem Space

The first thing to notice is that I did not call it the problem, but the problem space. Even in the simple example used in Problem Solving … The PHD course (part 1) of the flat tire, there are potentially many problems surrounding, interconnected to and related with the one stated by the client. (ie. You can call a tow truck, but if you make the client late for a meeting with his or her  CEO you may have created a bigger problem.) There are 2 steps to understanding the problem space:

• 2a – Getting  Perspective on the problem space
• 2b- Getting a good definition of the problem space

Getting  Perspective

First stand back and decide who will have views of the problem.

• Your client’s view
• Their Customer’s View
• The Operational View
• The Strategic View
• The Time View

Perspective is important in all 5 of these views. Arcturus is the 3rd brightest star in the sky and when you look up, a mere pinpoint in the sky.  In reality, Arcturus is 26 times larger than the Sun which is in turn is 110 times larger than earth. AKA really, really big. So depending on your perspective, Arcturus is really, really small or really, really big. Hence the importance of having perspective and knowing the perspective you are having. (I think I should trademark that saying…)

The only way you sort this out is to ask questions.

• If I were the client how I would I see this?
• If I were the client’s customer how would I see this?
• If I were the IT dept, the Development Manager etc. , how would I see this?
• If I were the CEO how who I see this?
• If this were not addressed for 1 month, 3 months, 1 year, 5 years what would happen?

Your client’s view is important but not definitive. What are the “customers” of the solution saying or needing? How is it or can it be operated? What are the expectations of maintenance, performance, usability etc? What are the first steps and nest steps? What is the big picture? The end game, The utopia? Now what are the timelines,  inferred, derived, expected and realistic and the delta between each?

Step 2b) Getting an good definition of the problem space

Instead of a subjective, opinionated debate, defining a problem can be an objective discussion. It is only a problem because it is stopping your client from achieving something. What is it? What is it that prevents your client  from reaching their goal?

Ask these questions.

• What have they tried before?
• Why didn’t it work?
• What does not work?
• What does?
• If you had a magic wand what would they fix first? Why?
• Who are the users?
• What do they think?
• Can we solve it? Is it worth solving?
• Is this the real problem, or merely a symptom of a larger one?
• If this is an old problem, what’s wrong with the previous solution?
• Can I risk ignoring it?  If not, why not?

Step 1 – Get Permission

Step 2 – Get Perspective  and get a definition of the problem space.

Windows Live Tags: Problem,client,permission,Some,problems,needs,System,error,Customer,Dissatisfaction,Usable,manner,implementation,option,Space,example,truck,steps,Perspective,definition,View,Operational,Strategic,Time,Arcturus,times,earth,importance,trademark,Development,Manager,customers,solution,expectations,maintenance,performance,nest,Step,Instead,discussion,goal,wand,worth,symptom,users,options

Every day we solve problems, some small and some large. As humans we are highly effective at problem solving as long as they are our problems. When we have a problem we implicitly understand the context, the definition of the problem and perhaps most importantly the outcome or resolution to the problem that we would find satisfactory. It’s easy, after all it’s our problem.

When the client is introduced as the problem owner, it is not so simple.

When the client has a problem, you do not immediately understand the context, the attributes of the problem, the definition of the problem nor the resolution or remediation that may satisfy the client. To be successful at solving the client’s problem you will need to discover and understand all of these factors.

The single most important thing I have ever learned in client problem solving is this:

You will only be successful at problem resolution with your client to the degree they give you permission to explore the problem area.

Let’s explore this.

Let’s assume you are standing in line at Starbucks for your morning coffee. The gentleman ahead of you orders a double espresso. You lean over and ask him:

“What is your annual salary?”

His reaction is likely:

• perturbed
• wary of you and your motives
• not going to answer your question under any circumstances

Now let’s change the scenario very slightly.

Let’s assume you are standing in line at Starbucks for your morning coffee. The gentleman ahead of you orders a double espresso. You lean over and ask him:

“Hi, I’m a PHD student doing research on high performers and the use of products with caffeine. Would you mind answering two simple questions about your coffee and demographics for me?”

“Uh…. okay”

Handing him a sheet of paper.

please select your income category

1. < $80K
2. $80K – $100K
3. $100K-$120K
4. > $120K

99.9% of people will  now answer the question. Why? Because you asked their permission.

Two things happen when you ask permission.

1. you provide your client a graceful way to decline
2. you gain their commitment in answering and disclosing the information because they are compelled to fulfill on their agreement to do so.

Let’s look at a simple problem.

You are a little late heading out the door this morning and you go to your car in the driveway. It has a flat tire. You have many solutions to this problem.

• call the auto club and have them fix it and call the office to say you will be delayed
• go inside, change into jeans, change the tire for the spare,  go back and change into your business clothes again and drive to the office
• defer the problem until later, call a cab and go to work

All three resolutions are possible, you can evaluate the impact on your job, your Armani suite or the financial impact of taking a taxi. Whatever you decide, you will be satisfied with the answer because it is your problem.

Now let’s change the parameters slightly.

You have gone out to lunch with your client. They have driven their own car and when you return from lunch, his or her car has a flat tire. You client says “I can’t deal with this right now, you need to fix it.” and hands you the keys.

What are the things you don’t know.

• Does you client have an auto club membership?
• Do they have a meeting with the CEO back at the office they cannot miss?
• Does the client expect you to change the tire in your Armani suit. Will they be upset with your attitude if you don’t.
• Will the client think a taxi is a waste of money or you are skipping out on the responsibility of fixing the problem by deferring it.
• If you did call a tow truck, will the delay mean they will miss a key meeting.
• If they needed to inform the office, do they have a cell phone, the right contact numbers etc.

The list of what you don’t know will keep growing and growing and the probability that you will select a resolution that client will be unsatisfied with is in direct proportion to your lack of knowledge around the problem space.

The only way to resolve this is to ask questions and  to emphasize again.

You will only be successful problem resolution with your client to the degree they give you permission to explore the problem area.

“Do you mind if I ask a couple of logistical questions?”

No problem.. sure

“Do you have an auto club membership?”

“Do you have time constraints for getting back to the office?”

etc.

Permission

coming up…. Part 2 – understanding the problem space