Driving Powerful changes

I played golf for the first time in ten years last week and since then I have felt better about what I do in my role as a Consultant… 

This, on the surface may seem like either a strange thing to say; an excuse to bore you about my swing mechanics; or both. You’ll be relieved to hear that it is neither! 

My father-in-law asked me to go for a round with him and due to my long-standing hiatus away from the course, I was both nervous, but also strangely, just looking forward to seeing what would happen out there. 

I used to play regularly and alarmingly to the point where my handicap was on the rise due to my over-thinking of my swing; where should the ball should be in the stance? Should I let my hips lead through… anyway what I’m saying is, I overthought everything and there were so many “tasks” I had to complete before that little white ball started (hopefully) flying through the air that my head was scrambled and I had no clarity. 

I often find that clients can be in a similar space when it comes to the projects they are trying to complete. “Do I need a new LMS? What if we changed the digital learning we have to face to face? Maybe, that face- to- face training we converted from digital could be changed back as a refresh?” By the time they finally arrive at the deadline to make a decision, they have so much up in the air between stakeholders and decision makers that the whole process doesn’t get off the ground until much later than it should,; just like that golf ball. 

We all like new things, whether it’s a shiny new digital experiences or in the case of my father- in- law, (another) new club, but ultimately we need to focus on two fundamental things when we are helping our clients:

1. What is the problem we are trying to solve? 
2. What is the clear process that will help us do that? 

We are currently working on a global customer transformation project with a client and the amount of moving parts within this reminds me on a nigh daily basis of me playing golf ten years or so back with regards to the overwhelming amount of factors that influence, but should not dictate, what we are doing.  

I became even more aware of how clear the approach we had taken together over the last year or so when I was on the golf course last week. Rather than thinking about how far the ball would go/ will the goal of the project change fundamentally? Would the ball be caught in the wind/will we be delayed by something we cannot yet see? Where was the run-off going to take the ball/ Will we ever meet this client face to face?! Where should the ball be in my stance/ do I need to propose something different to what we have already agreed upon? What I actually thought on the course was hit that ball and hit it straight and don’t think about anything else, slow everything down and focus only on what matters. 

That clarity of thought and approach worked on the course and it has so far worked with this project we are delivering on-time and below budget. Most satisfyingly, we are forging working relationships with the client across the globe that will be maintained both in and outside of the workplace for years to come, just maybe not all on the golf course!