Organizational Need V. Interest Disconnect

City in mist. #mytransformationadventure, week 4.

Hi! Thanks for clicking in. the question in the air is how well did I do in my efforts to lead change over the last three decades, many of which were spent as a consultant (eek!). Many of these years were also as an employee, manager, follower, and leader, but I get the reaction—consultants can be a pain to employees. Being a consultant is a lonely, thankless job in many respects. It looks glamorous but it isn’t. And you know why. Who wants a consultant around when there is so much untapped potential right here? (employee view) who wants to spend that kind of money on something we don’t value—measure, think we need, want, are supposed to be doing ourselves? (management/leadership point of view)

But I did do it for a long time. I loved it until I didn’t. I succeeded but didn’t feel successful. Scope-creep and conflicting expectations are all manageable aspects of the job. A pain but not a problem. Budget? People seldom have one, but you can help folks find it somewhere if you’re creative. For me and my mission, those who are willing hardly have the need in contrast with those with deep need and a total lack of interest. Still, that’s not my big point. And, well, I have two of them.

1) “Unwilling” implies awareness. Blind spots are the real concern. Not the kind that information alone can solve. I’m talking about beliefs about people, including themselves.

2) Lack of individual agency, whether real or perceived. Spoiler alert—we all have more agency than we use.

How does this impact consultant efficacy? Follow-through and ownership are hard to engender when change isn’t organically introduced and supported by the organizational culture and climate—indicative of values and beliefs. But what do you do when there is a glaring need and vacuum of demand? Now we’re getting somewhere! Stay tuned.