Amandeep Singh_BLP045_Consulting_03Jan’12

Today’s consulting class was very interesting. Topics like dealing with resistance and stage of discovery were being discussed in the class. These topics could have helped you very well clear an interview for the role of consultant. However while these topics were being discussed in class we were busy being interviewed by Mercer, for the role of a consultant.

Chapters in discussion were Chapter 9 and Chapter 10 of Flawless Consulting by Peter Block.

Chapter 9 teaches us the way that how should a consultant deals with resistance from its clients. One of the fundamental aspects to deal with resistance is to never take it head on and try not to fight with it, until you completely listen to the client’s authentic perspective. This will help the storm to pass and also help you have a better understanding of the problem being faced by the client. This chapter teaches us 3 steps to handle resistance:

1.       Always pick up the cues from the manager and then describe to yourself that what is happening.

2.       Always state in a non-punishing way the form of resistance you see. And say in a neutral language to your client.

3.       After expressing yourself, keep quiet and listen to the client. Being an effective listener is the key to deal with resistance.

This chapter teaches us to follow some rules while consulting which will increase the overall effectiveness of the work. Here are few to be listed:

1.       Don’t look for emotional support, approval or affection from the client.

2.       Don’t expect to share a 50/50 responsibility with your client.

3.       Expect arguments and criticism.

4.       Don’t ask client for understanding and don’t ask for agreements.

5.       Don’t take the responses as directed personally.

So following some of them makes consulting more effective and helps to ease resistance between the client and the consultant, which ensures smooth result driven consulting and lays the foundation of a strong relationship.

Chapter 10 helps us to move from diagnosis stage to discovery stage of the assignment. It teaches us different approaches to take this journey from diagnosis to discovery. One being the traditional approach where you find the problem and see for possible remedies which can be given and hence prescribe the best solution.

The other approach this chapter talks about is the asset based approach or the strength based approach. This approach gives more emphasis giving more attention towards strengths rather than the weakness and provokes us to use our strengths in a more effective way to solve our existing problems.

To summarize this chapter, we need to remember the below points:

1.       Ask questions about the client’s personal role in causing or maintaining the presenting or target problem.

2.       Ask questions about what others in the organization are doing to cause or maintain the presenting or target problem.

3.        Involve your client in interpreting the data collected.

4.       Recognize the similarity between how the client manages you and how they manage their own organization.

5.       Condense the data into a limited number of issues.

6.       Use language that people outside your area of expertise will understand.

Amandeep Singh_BLP045_Self Leadership_Sep'11

“Leadership is practiced not so much in words as in attitude and in actions” Harold S. Geneen

“Without initiative, leaders are simply workers in leadership positions” Bo Bennett

Our Self Leadership journey started with Anil Sir during our very first week at SOIL. The journey started with some beautiful exercises. We learnt some real new and interesting facts about empathy, unconditional love and above all self actualization. Knowing about the 6 layers that define an individual and how a better understanding of these layers can help one to live a better life, not just for himself but also for the people around him/her. Knowing about the 5 pillars of SOIL: Mindfulness, Diversity, Ethics, Compassion and Sustainability and there relevance in our lives was indeed a thought to inspire. We learned about Empathy by doing a very simple exercise in which we were taught that to get into someone else’s shoes we 1^st have to get out of our own shoes.

Followed by the exercise on empathy we were asked about the one most important person in our life and to write a letter appreciating the person we love the most. We wrote the letter in the class and then Anil Sir asked us to read the letter to the person later that day. I had written about my father and initially was very apprehensive on reading it out to him. I have never done such a thing in my life before. I and my father share a very good bond and we acknowledge that as well, but writing on a piece of paper was something new. To add to it I was in two minds about reading it out to him. I called father in the evening and re-grouped what all I had written in the class. Suddenly I felt I do not need the paper, perhaps even 100 pages would not be sufficient to write about my father or even 1 was too much. My father picked up the phone and the only thing I could say was “Love you dad, will come home soon and we’ll have a drink” I have always appreciated the man but that day it was a bit different. Some things are beyond explanations.

The next exercise was something very unpredictable. We were asked to bring in candles and the whole day we were wondering what are we supposed to do with them. The session started and Anil Sir asked us to close our eyes and remember an event from the past that gave us a feeling of guilt and offer it to fire. We offered our disappointments to the fire and felt very relieved after that. We also learnt that the joy lies more in giving than receiving.

In our last self leadership class we learnt a lot of new good things, like how to conquer our fears, how not to let our ego drive our actions, and the opposite for fear is not courage but unconditional love. We also learnt about the fire walk and how difficult things can be achieved if you have love in your mind. Leadership is the ability to manage mind, heart and emotions and having all these qualities in oneself before asking others to follow. Unconditional love and no ego are the traits of a good leader. Self actualization is the foundation to a strong leader.