Information about Presentations

In class we examined some ideas regarding presentations.

The first idea presented was that of simplicity.  This idea was actually a theme throughout everything that was presented today.  It was explained that sometimes, in an effort to keep things simple, the story is lost.  Basically the key to simplicity is to identify the story or idea that you want to present.  Then find a way to tell that story as simply as possible.  It was also explained that it is important, whenever possible not to use professional jargon.  You always want to speak in simple terms.

The second presentation was regarding making the best powerpoints.  The keys here were to not use Powerpoint for the sake of using it.  Design your presentation with no presentation technology in mind.  In the powerpoint try to use as little words as possible.  Each slide should be one point.  Use imagery, when possible, to get your point across instead of words on a slide.

Lastly, we learned about Guy Kawasaki's 10-20-30 rule.  Every business presentation should have no more than 10 slides.  They should be no more than 20 minutes in length.  They should use 30 point font.  The idea is that any longer than 10 slides or 20 minutes and you could lose the audience and you also do not have time to discuss and clarify.  Smaller than 30 point font is hard to read.

The purpose of all of these ideas is to make your presentations more effective.  The purpose, after all, is to make sure that you get your message across.

Kinvolved Discovery Meeting Questions

1. What are your current and former marketing strategies?
2. What marketing strategies are you or have you considered?
3. What are your considerations toward expanding the business?
4. What are your considerations toward expanding service offerings?
5. What are your company goals?
6. What is your company vision?
7. What are the stumbling blocks in your path toward your goals and vision?
8. What do you think is working well?
9. What do you think can be improved?
10. What client hesitations seem to prevent adoption?

Thoughts from Chapters 4 &5

I keep seeing the parallels between Project Management and Consulting.  Chapter 4 is about "contracting" or my colleagues may remember "project charter" from the PM class.  Chapter 5 is about the "contracting meeting" AKA the "kick off meeting" from PM. 

While I know that this statement is not 100% true it almost feels like Coke Vs Pepsi.

The book talks all about what you want to make sure happens at the beginning.  Things like what is included and what is not included and clearly stating these things in both written and verbal communication. 

The importance of a written contract is identified as making sure we are all on the same page more so then using it as an enforcement tool.  I think this is a good practice in professional life generally.  As we learned in our communication class, just because we think we communicated clearly, does not make it so.  The more modalities of communication implemented, the more likely that a successful communication will be made.  Whenever I have a meeting at work, I try to always send a follow up email to recap what was discussed in the meeting.  With my staff, in our ticketing system, I always tell them that if it is not in ticketing it never happened.  Documentation is critical!

Another critical idea that came up was the balance of power.  The keyword here is balance.  Neither the consultant or the client should hold too much power in the relationship otherwise it could be doomed to failure.  Both sides have needs and wants and these need to be clearly identified at the beginning. 

Balance of power needs to be made at the beginning otherwise it will be hard to adjust once started.  If the client has too much power, the consultant will be working with their hands tied behind their back and they will be much less effective, if effective at all.  If the client has too little power, they will likely resent the consultant and any change plans agreed upon will be done so without authenticity on the part of the client.  Once the consultant leaves, things will revert. Remember that the whole point of the consultant is to generate change.  If things revert back that spells failure for the consultant.

While chapter 4 focused on what should be in the contract and pitfalls to avoid, chapter 5 was all about how to approach the contracting meeting.  Validity was brought up going both ways.  Making sure the client is validated and make sure the consultant is being validated.  Making sure both parties are heard.  Making sure the problem is identified. 

The most interesting part of chapter 5 might be where Block identified what people truly mean when they say certain things.  This was critical as it helps the consultant identify when things are going bad.  He also mentions the importance of knowing when to give up.  It is probable that in your consulting career you will come across a bad match.  This is a scenario where you and your client just can not work together.  When this happens, don't take it personally and move on.

The First Follower....

This video demonstrates the importance of the First Follower in the creation of a Movement.  So basically the Leader needs to be easy to follow.  What does this mean?  This means that to be effective as a leader you need to be an excellent communicator.  You need to be able to effectively communicate instruction.

Also you need to get buy in.  You need to be able to convince people that you are worth following.  You need to be able to convince them that you will lead them to something worthwhile.

When you attract your first follower you need to nurture that relationship.  Help guide them through feedback.  When others observe that interaction, you need to make it seem attractive.

That's about it.  Do it right and the rest will follow.

Examining the "What is Consulting?" Video

This video presents a nice breakdown of focuses and types of consulting. The really nice thing about this is that it is calming. A go to thought when thinking about becoming a consultant is: "I have to be an expert in everything so that I can cover my bases regardless of what my client throws at me".  I now know better.

There are focuses such as Education, Healthcare, etc.  There are types of consulting such as strategy, operations, and IT.  Strategy speaks to a more top level big picture.  For the organization to do well identifying the target market would be an example.  Operations is regarding the day to day operations of the organization.  In Operations a consultant would examine business processes for efficiencies.  Regarding IT, a consultant would integrate a new system.  

As you may have already put together, you might have an Operations consultant work in conjunction with an IT consultant.  These are just examples.  The bottom line is that as a consultant you become a specialist in a narrow area, you do not need to be a jack of all trades.

Reflections on Chapters 1-3

Though it was not assigned, I took the time to read through "What's New".  I highly recommend others do as well.  Not that it is necessarily super related to Consulting, but it was interesting to read about how our social structure has changed.  He was talking about how most telephone conversations in 2000 were with machines.  My assumption is that he was talking about those automated customer service machines.  He then talked about how we now see people working from home more for serenity and to spend more time with family but in reality through working from home they lose more human interaction because they are not seeing their office colleagues.  He talked about how the social is all about social networking now and much less face to face.  It is interesting because the other day my colleague and friend was discussing on Facebook about a conversation he overheard at the mechanic while waiting for an oil change.  It was two older gentleman talking about how the kids these days and their facebook and their texting etc...

Back to consulting.  That is the point after all right?

Reading through chapters 1-3 I saw ideas from other classes regurgitated.  Authenticity came up in our first class with Cheryl Harrison and it has come up many times since.  The idea of getting buy in from the client came up before too, more so in regard to garnering it from your team as a good leader.  The beginning of chapter one the five phases of Consulting seemed eerily similar to the 5 stages of Project Management from our last class. 

PM 5 Stages

Initiating

Planning
Executing
Monitoring & Control
Closing

Consulting 5 Stages
Entry & Contracting
Discovery & Dialogue
Analysis & Decision to Act
Engagement & Implementation
Extension, Recycle, or Termination

While these stages do not match up perfectly.  I saw them as similar.  In a sense this should reiterate how tried and true these stages are.  

I also found it interesting, the distinction made between being a consultant and a "surrogate manager".  A true consultant is there to advise, not to do.  He later did go over different levels in this regard too though.  He made it OK to do sometimes.  He explained that a consultant can act in different roles.

Consulting Roles
Expert
Pair-of-Hands
Collaborative

The role that seemed most powerful to me was the Collaborative role.  In the book Block mentions how a consultant is a change agent.  Utilizing the collaborative role seems to me to be very powerful.  This is where you work hand in hand with the client.  While a consultant has their experience and expertise, they are likely not an expert in that organization's culture.  The client has that expertise.  Working collaboratively is the ideal in my opinion.  This is not to say that there is no room for the other two roles.  There will definitely be time when the other two roles will be the prescription for success.

Personal Stuff

Some insight into my personal life.  I am happily married for almost 6 years.  I am a Netflix addict.  My favorite genres are action, adventure, crime dramas, superhero and supernatural.  I enjoy skeet shooting, rock wall climbing, skiing, snowboarding, and biking.  Though most of the activities have been lacking as of late.  I am allergic to cats but have 5 anyway mostly because of my wife but I admit that the last one is my fault.  She was outside and too cute to leave on the curb.  I am a gadget junkie.  I usually end up buying a new phone every year and have bought two wearables so far this year.  I think I am going to stop for a while though.  I feel the need to justify these purchases and I find it hard to justify any new purchases at the moment.  :-)