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Consulting School Is Over, Time For Consulting Education

By alik levin

March 23rd, 2009 | Career, Consulting


The School is over for Consultant. Time for Education. Any Consultant can walk but good Consultant hits the ground running. He runs and get educated on the run. How does the consultant know he runs on the right track? Consultant Runs Fast
by Giango Lunghibarbe
To clearly answer this question he needs to answer another simple question - “What do I give?”

In their book First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman suggest asking this question to make sure you made progress advancing from the Base Camp to the next level of your career, Camp 1.


Camp 1 – “What do I give?”

The authors of the book break this generic question into more specific questions that you can easily answer either Yes or No. Answering No should alert you.

  • At work, do I have the opportunity to do my work best every day?
  • In the last 7 days, have I received recognition or praise for good work?
  • Does my supervisor or someone at work seem to care of me as a person?
  • Is there someone who encourages my development?

Opportunity To Do My Best

Am I given the opportunity? What’s your answer?

  • No. Go back to your manager, customer, supervisor, yourself. Correct the course of action that way so that you are given the opportunity to do what you are best at. Ask more questions. What I am best at? Is it what I am doing daily? I am not? Why? How can change it? What stops me doing my best?
  • Yes. Great! Move on.

Recognition And Praise

Is my work valued? What’s your answer?

  • No. May be you are doing what are not best at. If so, go back to the previous paragraph. May be you think you are doing your best but in fact you are only doing but not achieving any results. Ask yourself: “What I have achieved? Can I touch it? Can I count it? Can I sense it? Does it add value?”. If the answer is Yes, ask this: “Who knows about it? How can I surface my achievement up the chain?”. The last step is just asking your manager/customer for direct feedback - “Can you give me your honest opinion on my latest achievement? What can I do better? What do I need to stop doing? What do I need start doing? What do I need to do differently?”
  • Yes. Great! Move on.

    I Robot (No You Are Not!)

    Have you seen What Women Want movie? Remember that girl walking around the office unnoticed? Remember how it all ends?… Does your manager or your customer seem to care for you?

    • No. May be you need to show you care for your manager/customer? May be you need to show some signs of humanity? Win the Heart the Mind Follows. It is that simple.
    • Yes. Great! Move on.

    I Grow

    Do you want to move to the next level of your career? Do you want to move to Camp 2?

    Practice This - Get Results

    • Do what you are best at - show tangible results.
    • Surface your achievements - collect feedback, correct your course according to the feedback.
    • Master what you are best at - create more room for your future growth.

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    7 comments ↓

    #1 Liara Covert on 03.23.09 at 10:19 pm

    Whenever you choose to give of yourself, whatever that is, its meaningful. Being results-oriented sometimes causes people to forget different levels of results exist and deserve attention and apprecaition. In essence, everyone has lots to be grateful for in the now.

    #2 Giovanna Garcia on 03.24.09 at 5:45 am

    I love the “I Rebot”. That is a great term to use. And yes, I do remember that girl from the movie ‘What Women Want.’ We should always leave an impression (hopefully good one), to go through life and never made any impact is very sad to me.
    Thank you,
    Giovanna Garcia
    Imperfect Action is better than No Action

    #3 tom on 03.24.09 at 2:15 pm

    You know what
    In the last 7 days, have I received recognition or praise for good work?

    That question could alone tell you if that work you do now is for you or not, and this is for everyone.

    I mean if you answer no, then why are you still there?

    Of course, most will say because of the money so its almost a lost cause with that.

    #4 Gennaro on 03.24.09 at 4:14 pm

    It’s important to be in a workplace or career that gives you opportunity to grow in the field and as a person. Part of happiness is tied to that. And your focus on going to the supervisor (if it’s not you) is essential too. Communication can solve a lot of these problems. Lack of it will cause most of them.

    #5 Mark Salinas on 03.24.09 at 5:27 pm

    I think through repetitiveness we can install habit into our actions. I enjoyed this. Thanks!

    #6 J.D. Meier on 03.25.09 at 1:47 am

    I like how you staged the tests for success … it’s a great set of incremental hurdles, onward and upward.

    The question about is your work valued is a crucial one, since value is always in the eye of the beholder.

    #7 alik levin on 03.25.09 at 6:23 am

    Liara,
    I am results oriented, yet sometimes i feel i become results-obsessed. Fortunately I think i am able to step back and revise the course of actions.

    Giovanna,
    Happy to hear you like it!
    I made too many mistakes that hurt interpersonal communications. I am paying much more attention to it.

    tom,
    I see this one resonated w/you. Money is essential, the way of getting it is essential either ;)

    Genarro,
    Good point! Many folks just sit and wait for their superior come down from the Olympus. It never worked for me. I try to push essential stuff up the chain. Sometimes I overdo it though which hurts either. There must be way to pushing up enough stuff but not lots of it. What’s sure is not sitting and waiting. Waiting never helps.

    Mark,
    Yeah! Train you muscles, train your emotions, train you spirit, train your brain.
    Training (repetitiveness) is key ;)

    J.D.,
    “value is always in the eye of the beholder” sounds too trivial but for me the bell rang only recently. Man! What a difference in the approach and results are much better too!

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