AnandMishra_BLP027_Consulting

The first session on consulting skills has taken us through the roots of consulting and purpose of consulting. If I would explain in simple terms then it is nothing but taking up responsibility without authority. It is not just the professional’s cup of tea, even we as individuals do a lot of consulting in our daily life. We do so by helping strangers, family and friends. Consultant has to find out possible obstacles and providing options as solution to the problem, now it depends on the clients whether they are taking these suggestions into consideration or not.

          While doing consulting you would find a number of resistances coming your way, Peter Block says, “Resistance doesn’t always happen, but when it does, it is puzzling and frustrating”. As per Peter Block, followings are the skills required to deal with resistance…

1.   Be able to identify when resistance is taking place

2.   View resistance as a natural process and a sign that you are on target

3.   Support the client in expressing the resistance directly

4.   Not take the expression of the resistance personally or as an attack on you or your competence

A consultant has to be smart enough to smell resistance in advance and he should be well equipped with alternate strategy so that he can overcome these resistances. As per Block, “The most blatant form of resistance is when the client attacks us. Angry words, a red face, fist pounding on the desk, finger pointing in your face, punctuating the end of every sentence. It leaves the consultant feeling like a bumbling child who not only has done poor work but has somehow violated a line of morality that should never be crossed. Our response to attack is often either to withdraw or to respond in kind. Both responses mean that we are beginning to take the attack personally and not seeing it as one other form that the resistance is taking. A consultant should not take any form of resistance personally.

AnandMishra_Self_Leadership

The word self leadership has always sensitized my inner soul, and when class has to happened with Anil Sir, it always gives a immense pleasure and anxiety about, what we are going to learn today. The way Anil sir teaches and allows us to introspect about our past and present, it gives us a direction for our future. Being born and brought up in a small village, lived all my life with limited resources, I know value of money and other resources. While doing immunity x-ray, a powerful tool to help us understand the critical aspects in life which can be changed. I realized my potential in rural development or social service. I want to set up a venture wherein I can generate employment in rural areas. Having seen the kind of life poor people live in cities is really painful. We were asked to devise a self improvement plan to know the purpose of life which we wish to achieve in life. There were six questions we were asked to answer and post on the blogspot.

1.   How can you use your strength to overcome your weakness?

I would like to use my strength of self confidence, risk taking, resilience and abstract reasoning to overcome my weakness of time management and sometimes being less professional and more personal. My self confidence has always helped me to overcome the fear of failure and I never looked back on failures to demoralize myself. And yes, the high level of resiliency has helped me come back on track and reschedule the future. After graduating from SOIL, I would like to keep my enthusiasm high.

2.   Imagine yourself from now when you have fully leverages your positives and when you have moved in the direction that matters to you most.

The direction that matters to me most is to work for underprivileged and providing them employment. Considering I have successfully leveraged my all positives, I see myself as social entrepreneur. My passion for higher purpose will help me to be successful in my way.

3.   What will you start in terms of new activities?

I will start mingling more with entrepreneurs and likeminded people, who can help me and guide me through out. Also, I would start spending some more time with myself, analyzing what has happened? And how it could have done in a better way? Earlier I was spending approx 30 minutes in washroom (as I feel that is the only place where nobody can disturb) whenever I had to take a critical decision or had to plan some official tasks. Now I would try to continue this on regular basis. And I hope this will help me.

4.   What will you stop doing?

I would stop delaying and try to act immediately so that the task is completed in time.

5.   What will you do more off?

I would spend more time with likeminded people and will improve on my time management.

6.   What will you do less off?

I would not spend my time on unproductive things which gives result unaligned to my future goal. 

Suchitra Ravichander _BLP030_Self Leadership_10Jan’12

Today’s self leadership class focused on getting more clarity on the goals, identifying  & honoring the strengths within us and the ways of leveraging strengths to overcome our weaknesses. We began this exercise by doing an in depth analysis of self by using the immunity X-ray tool. Immunity X-ray tool is a very powerful tool which helps us to unravel the critical aspects which we wish to change, alternative actions, the hidden competing commitments and the assumptions or mental models that reinforces the commitments. Based on the insights we got from the immunity X-ray tool, we were asked to devise a self improvement plan.

The whole objective of this exercise was to get clarity on the purpose or goals that we wish to achieve. As a part of this exercise, we were asked to come up with answers to the below 6 questions.

“How can you use your strengths to overcome your weaknesses?”

I would like to deploy my strengths like deep commitment, resilience and mindfulness towards overcoming my weakness of poor time management and urgency to act. I feel that by having a deep sense of commitment towards my personal improvement and through resilient action, I will be able to successfully overcome my weakness.

“Imagine yourself a year from now when you have fully leverages your positives and when you have moved in the direction that matters to you the most.”

One year down the line, I would like to visualize myself as a more responsible person who has progressed a kilometer, if a not a mile in the journey of self improvement. I am sure that by leveraging my strengths completely I will be able to overcome if not all, at least one of my weaknesses of time management and urgency levels. I believe that working on my weaknesses will help me to become a better individual.

What will you start doing in terms of new activities?

To achieve my development targets, I would like to start new habits like reading regularly, spending some quality time with myself reflecting on the higher purpose of life, practicing yoga & daily walk along with a selected set of friends with whom I enjoy learning and spending time, having regular mentoring sessions or casual conversations with few people whom I have identified as role models in life.

What will you stop doing?

I would stop procrastinating things till the last moment. I will organize my tasks in such a way that timely completion is ensured.

What will you do more off?

Analyzing my Caliper score I found that my strength lies in execution. I intend to focus on improving this strength of mine by becoming more committed and passionate towards any task undertaken. I also would like to spend more time on self reflection as I knowledge about oneself is the most profound knowledge one could ever get.

What will you do less off?

I would like to spend less of my time on unproductive activities. When I use the term unproductive I mean the time which I spend on personal comfort and pleasure which does not add any value to me in terms of learning & experience.

 

Suchitra Ravichander_BLP030_About Me_Oct’11

Yet another exciting day, on the path to self discovery, as the captain of our ship Anil sir was leading us through the wonderful voyage of self leadership. We started our journey by first reviewing our previous class learning’s. Soon after that we went on a conference call with Prasad Kaipa, one of Steve jobs close associates (Ex Head of Marketing, Europe Apple). The entire conversation unfolded the other side of the great legends Mr.Steve Jobs. We got astounded to know how Mr.Jobs has been focused on to his vision and how determined he has been in chasing his dreams.  It was so evident from the conversation that it was his focus and determination of which has turned Apple to be what it is right now-the most innovative companies of the world.

As we moved on the path of self discovery, our next port of destination was to identify the uniqueness within ourselves and the sense of purpose and direction in our life.   We were asked to make a presentation to the entire class sharing our vision and purpose in life, by providing answers to the below 5 questions.

Though it was in initially difficult to find out answers for these questions, as I moved on I realized that the answer to these questions evolved much easily with a bit of self reflection and introspection. The most challenging question, was –“ Who am I?” | It took a while for me to answer this question as I pondered over my bigger purpose in life. I discovered that I am an ambitious person with enthusiasm & quest for continuous learning. I am a person who believes in living life with values reflected through my strength of character.

The next 2 question which I was supposed to answer was “Why am I here” & “Where was I going”. These were relatively easier to answer. I am here to chase my dream of becoming a true inspired leader in all dimensions of life, to shape my personality & character by reinforcing the values which I possess in every moment of my life. I am moving upward in this journey of chasing my dreams and goals. I am currently travelling in a direction which is giving me plenty of experiences unveiling the true strengths residing within me.

The answers to the question 2 & 3 made it simple, to answer the next subsequent question on “Why it is important to know the purpose of my life?” It is important because preserves my values & character in an unblemished way. The purpose and direction is also important as it brings within me, the self realization as to where I am currently and what I need to do to reach the next level.

The last question about - “how I can leverage my strengths to reach my goal?“ made me to think about my strengths of passion, commitment, resilience that could help me to succeed further in achieving my goal.

Mohitkakar_BLP014

How to deal resistance from your Client?

The three step process of dealing with the resistance as stated by Peter Block:-

1.) Pick up cues for resistance

2.) Name the resistance

3.) Be quite and seek response

“Flawless Consulting” details out how consultants find it difficult to talk to their clients because of resistance and the associated feelings and how did they overcome that.

The best way is to let the client talk and share the details as much as possible.

Build trust with the client and allow him to speak about his problem without any hesitation. A consultant should not take resistance from client personally.

When the contract is clear and the consultants are ready to deal with resistance the next phase is the discovery phase.

There are two processes for discovery phase:

1. Problem based discovery process (here the focus is on problems)

2. Future and Strength based discovery process (here the focus is on possibilities)

One can choose any method from the above 2 but the focus on relationships will be o highest importance. It is also very important that the client is part of this overall discovery to implementation phase and takes ownership of the actions that are to be taken.

The consultant should ask the following questions to address the real problem of the client which will help in providing a solution according to it:

·         Ask questions about the client’s personal role in causing or maintaining

·         the presenting or target problem.

·         Ask questions about what others in the organization are doing to

·         cause or maintain the presenting or target problem.

·         Involve your client in interpreting the data collected.

·         Recognize the similarity between how the client manages you and

·         how they manage their own organization.

·         Condense the data into a limited number of issues.

·         Use language that people outside your area of expertise will

·         understand.

·         Distinguish between the presenting problem and the underlying

·         problem.

·         Elicit and describe both the technical problem and how it is being managed

These valuable inputs combined with Anil sir's inputs provided a holistic view about Consulting.

Its do’s and don’ts and the most effective ways of doing it.

Mohit kakar_BLP014

Consulting is the journey from confusion to clarity. This I have realized while attending the course on Consulting Skills. After the session I understood clearly the role of consulting and importance of a consultant. Consultants are not the implementers they are the suggestion providers with the expertise they have and it is on the company to decide whether to accept consultant’s advice or not.

The initial meeting plays a vital role in understanding the need of a company and in providing solutions as per their needs. A good consultant

·         Patiently listens and understands client’s problem

·         Structures content in an impressive manner

·         Communicates effectively

·         Has done research about the Client before attending the meeting

The set of 5 questions a good consultant will ask to the client are:

1.       What are we trying to do?

2.       How will we know that we are successful?

3.       What would go wrong?

4.       What counter measure do we take responsibility for?

5.       Who, how often, when, where is the review process?

These questions will help the Consultant and the Client to share the same wavelength and work in coordination. It also helps in relationship building with the Client.

Consultant can perform any one of the below roles:-

·         He can work as an expert

·         He can work as a pairoff hands

·         He can work as a partner i.e. in collaboration

An integral part of Consulting is to ask client for feedback so as to analyse the strengths and the areas of improvement.

Prashant Agarwal_Consulting_Oct'11

Consulting can simply be described as, ‘Responsibility without Authority.’

Consulting is not merely for business professionals. Every single time in our daily lives when we either give or take advice we are practicing it.

One of the most important steps in getting a Consulting assignment is Contract Meeting.  A contract meeting is all about understanding the problem in and out by asking deeper questions.

5 favorite questions for a consultant:

• What are we trying to do?
• How will we know that we are successful?
• What could go wrong?
• What countermeasures do we take responsibility for with respect to 3 questions?
• Who, how often, when and where is the review process?

Building a good rapport with the client is equally important. Competencies like good analytical skills and being a good problem solver are of no use if his client does not trust the consultant and is not able to open with his problem. Some do’s that can help a Consultant are:

• Enjoying people
• Being curious
• Listening with attention
• Asking open ended questions

A good consultant must have the courage to say “No” to the client and also should learn how to say “no” in a right way without offending the client.

Also a consultant must be upfront in stating the areas for which client holds the accountability because a consultant only proposes solutions/suggestions. But implementation is client’s responsibility.

Prashant Agarwal_BLP056_SelfLeadership_Oct'11

Who Am I?

• Hail from Sahibabad, UP
• Family- strong value system – PROUD
• B.Tech (IT) – chance
• 3 yr exp. with Infosys & Pitney Bowes
• BLP at SOIL – choice
• Going Forward

What am I here for?

To understand my own gifts and then to use them for a higher purpose – benefit myself & others.

Where I am going?

• Continuous introspection, evaluation, and hence improvement of self.
• SOIL has given me a risk-free environment to practice my own convictions of self & my learning’s so far and see the results.
• Going forward I want to experiment with self and see how I respond to challenges and changing environment. 

Why is it important?

• It will define me - I must know what I did and what difference I was able to make.
• “The purpose of life is to live a life of purpose.” Purpose can never be a destination, it is always a journey. So it is important for me to take this journey and traverse as much as possible in the pursuit of my purpose wholeheartedly.
• Happiness!

How can I leverage who I am to reach where I am going?

• Committing to deliver the best I can
• Constant striving to learn from others and from my own failures
• Asking more and more questions
• Developing  genuine relationships
• Helping others

Yash Dogra_BLP054_SelfLeadership_Oct'11

Tell me about yourself?

When we hear this question we start with our plain vanilla introduction as we know ourselves but to give a correct answer to this question we need to introspect ourselves. We need to understand who we are, what are we here for, why is it important and how can we? I would like to give answers to these questions in this way:

Who am i?

My name is Yash Dogra. I am born and brought up in a family where love, affection and values are of utmost importance. I am a well-balanced person with vast experience in life as well as in my profession. I am very much hard working and goal oriented who loves to live life in all its fullness. I am always concerned about well-being of the society and the people around me. I always want people around me to be happy and I am always ready to support people who are in real need.

What am I here for?

I want to start my own venture and subsequently an organization that helps the children who are in need to fund their studies. I really feel it’s our responsibility to uplift the society and people around us.

Where am I going?

It is really a transformational journey for me being in SOIL both in my personal and professional life. It has taught me to stretch my goals and strive for professional excellence and stay focused on my goals. It has pushed me out of my comfort zone and has awakened the courage within me to face the world of business with boldness and ethics. I have assimilated the values of SOIL in me and this has made me a better human being. I feel all these values will take me far in realization of my dreams.

Why is it important?

It is important for me because I am very passionate about the things whatever I do. I feel we deserve realization of our rights but we have to fulfil our responsibilities also. After starting a successful venture, I would like to divert a decent amount for the betterment of the society. So it’s important to take the values along with me and to fulfil other’s dreams also.

How can I?

I can leverage my strengths to achieve my goals. SOIL has been instrumental in connecting us to various industry leaders who are of great repute through mentor-mentee program and leadership series. They always motivated us and inspired us to achieve professional growth by staying focused and being passionate about our goals. I learnt that we must have an intense passion and vision towards the growth of our company and our country. I am sure all these learning along with my industry experience of three and half years will support my dreams to get fulfilled. 

Yash Dogra_Consulting_Oct'11

Consulting is a process to give advice to someone and whoever gives advice is a consultant like physician, lawyer, teacher etc. One important aspect of a consultant is to be authoritative without having authority. The job of a consultant is to provide solutions and it is client’s responsibility to implement the solution.  Client knows what the departure and arrival pint for a problem is and a consultant’s job is to help client to navigate to the destination. I learnt the following main aspects of consulting:

• First meeting with the client is very important as it makes or breaks the contract.
• Our body language like posture, gesture, dressing etc. should be good as it makes our first impression in from of the client.

The consultant should show a genuine interest in the client’s problem and should step in his shoes. He should ask open ended questions with an intention to understand the main pain area of his organization. A consultant must possess these qualities - understanding the problem of client and what he is saying, a structured approach, listening with patience, good communication and articulating skills, a good homework of the organization

A consultant should use these 5 questions to understand the problem:

1)      What are you trying to do?

2)      What are the outcomes that will testify whether we are successful or not?

3)      What would go wrong?

4)      What countermeasures do we take responsibility for?

5)      What and how often is the review process?

We should make sure that these questions are answered correctly and we have all the information related to these questions. We should be at a binding terms with the client to solve the problem collaboratively.  If there is any confusion we can play role reversal in which client and consultant changes the role. Another important thing for a consultant is to maintain a good relationship with the clients. We should break the ice by enjoying the people around us and the environment, being curious to what people says, being attentive and respectful to the person and always asking open ended questions. After a relationship is developed with the client, a consultant needs to add value to the work. A consultant should fill the gap between value creation and value realization by using an authentic behaviour. A consultant should learn how to say no and should show the right picture to the client. A consultant should understand the problem by having answers to these question like  what the problem appears to be, what is others contribution and clients contribution to the problem. Consulting can be in three ways:

1.       As an expert

2.       For client

3.       With client

The best is working with client in which accountability of both is equal. Feedback is also very important as we can reflect back and can understand which areas are needed more attention.

Nitin Bhardwaj_Consulting_Oct'11

Consulting is a process of giving advice to someone. And in professional terms, consultants navigate client from departure situation to the desired result. Consulting is not just for professionals but all of us practice consulting in our day to day life while helping our friends and family.

During the class Sir emphasized that first meeting with client is very important because it makes or breaks a contract. Anil Sir explained  how to behave during first client interview to make right impressions.  Also consultant should ask probing questions and show genuine interest in client problems. I also got to know five favorite questions for a consultant:

1)      What are you trying to do?

2)      What are the outcomes that will testify whether we are successful or not?

3)      What could go wrong?

4)      What countermeasures we will take with respect to 3 prior questions?

5)      What is the review process?

These questions help both client and consultant have clear understanding of the situation and future path to be followed. A good consultant should always be ready to invest time on client.

To understand the problem in better way the consultant should always practice role reversal. We all were divided into groups and  Anil Sir gave us a case which he encountered during his professional career. Using this case we practiced the concept of role reversal.

I Also learned that relationship building is very important part of consulting and achieve best results. At the end of consulting assignment the consultant should present recommendation to the client. The implementation phase is the responsibility of client. However as per me the consultant should also work during implementation phase to ensure the desired results are achieved by client. This approach will help in building strong relationship with client and building reputation within the industry.

Nitin_bhardwaj_SelfLeadership_10Jan

Based on my past experience, I have recognized  networking, resilience and assertive as my strengths. I also realized that skepticism is one my major weakness. To overcome skepticism I need to start working in different teams within my class. This will help me in expressing myself in a better way and improve my participation within teams. After few years from now, I  see myself in position wherein I would be interacting with teams from different functions so I should continuously work towards improving my weakness.

I think that is why SOIL is different from other B-schools wherein it helps individual to realize what strengths one has and what are his weaknesses and how an individual can leverage his strengths to overcome his weakness.

Nitin Bhardwaj_BLP059_Consultingskills_Jan03

The day was full of excitement as HR consulting firm Mercer was visiting our campus. As I was part of the recruitment process so I could not attend first half of the session.

During the recruitment process Mercer asked each of the applicant to prepare 3 questions which I feel each individual must have on their tips:

1)      Which event had a significant impact on your life?

2)    A regret/failure in life, from which you got to learn.

3)    The 2 attributes a person being interviewed for a position in your team should possess

Post the one-on-one discussion with company officials, Mercer applicants were divided into groups and each group was suppose to come up with 'strategy to survive after a plane crash'.

During the second half I was part of session where SOIL’s financial department shared future plans of SOIL.  Practicing such transparency level  is what makes me proud being part of SOIL family.

Later during the day I interacted with my batch mates to understand what was covered during the class. During the class Sir explained the process of proposal writing  which is the most important part of consulting assignment. Sir emphasized  the fact that consultant should have in depth knowledge of the subject they are dealing with and then he shared real life examples/ case study which he encountered.

On the whole it was a great learning experience for all of us.