Scribbles

Sitting here at the client site for the 7th day, all of the data that I’ve been exposed to suddenly congregates into a cohesive form.  80 hours of total immersion for it all to make sense.  The light bulb is finally lit.

Just a quick recap about the project: our client’s margins (what they take home after paying for the costs of providing products and services) are unsatisfactory and need to be raised.  A previous team had come in for the first phase, helping with the brainstorm of ideas to achieve this.  I’m here for the second phasae, where we get things started, and put in place a process that will keep things going long after we leave.

Without any previous knowledge of the client’s industry or business model, it’s difficult making any sense of the lingo or how the proposed actions translate into more earnings.  Other than nod and take mental notes, I haven’t been offering any insightful advice.  But in the process of gathering all the information, asking stupid questions, and just not giving in to feeling like an idiot, everything sinks in all of a sudden.

For the past few days I’ve been walking between buildings, watching gekkos and cranes hang around the pond, draped by a blanket of Floridian humidity.  The purpose, other than nature gazing, is to convince 8 different groups to deliver something on top of their normal workload.  In the process of selling them more work, I’ve grown closer to what I’m tasked to accomplish.  Each visit revealed to me the humanity behind the spreadsheets, powerpoints, and grandiose goals.  Seeing their honest frustrations, joys, irritations, and flashes of friendliness has given me a clearer picture of “my client.”  It also reminded me of back in the day when I dealt with initiatives passed down, usually with a healty dose of skepticism and cynicism.  And by putting myself in their shoes, it made my work more palpable and gave me more motivation to do something for them.  You jaded consultants out there are probably thinking just give it more time before I just don’t care.  If I ever reach that point, I would likely lose all interest in the profession altogether.

Back in b-school OB (MBA-lingo for Organizational Behavior, think psychology and human interaction) profs always mentioned that previous students would return and tell them that it’s the single course they think about most in terms of importance for their work, because getting things done isn’t about having the right numbers or theory, but rather the ability to drive people to action.  Unfortunately you don’t become good at it in the classroom.