It is a while since you attended your skills workshop. Some parts of the process are deceptively important…
- The system diagram is not an org chart
The biggest thing I remind consultants about is to draw a system diagram for every project. It is to easy to assume that we know the people involved or just to draw a simplistic organisation chart. All our client’s problems are complex, however hard they try a present them as a simplistic solution “They need training”. We need to unravel who they is: people always work with others and work for someone and their outputs go somewhere. Your diagram should:
- Follow outputs through to real customers
- Include your client and yourself on the diagram
- Identify the business sponsor and buying chain that has to authority or sign off any solution
- Graphically represent where the problems are
- Engage the customer so they cannot “sit-back”
- Be your opportunity to build trust and rapport by demonstrating your active listening
So it’s more than just a “who’s involved diagram” or “org chart”. Have a look at yours, if you are not doing them you are missing out on a powerful part of the performance consulting process.