What Have You Done For Me Lately?

Esther Orioli, M.S., author of EQ Map®, and President and CEO of Essi Systems, Inc., helps consultants answer the questions that make or break their projects. No matter how well your consulting work is going today, some day soon the client will ask for proof.

One of the most dreaded questions for me as a consultant comes when the client for whom you have worked long and diligently, asks his own version of “What have you done for me lately?” Sometimes it comes in the form of: “Can you prove the effectiveness of your work?” or “What evidence can you show that your work has made any difference here?”

Many times your client is really making a statement. They are declaring that they don’t believe the work has made any difference, a possible reflection of their buyer’s remorse or even a lack of understanding of service delivery models. Seldom can the consultant point unabashedly to hard-core data as the scientific validation that would quiet their inquirer’s objections and assist them in confidently defending the effort to those hierarchically above them. That is, after all, what they truly seek. They ask you the tough questions before their bosses ask them.

One sure-fire method for addressing these questions starts at the very beginning of the work by including data-driven assessment.

Find out what the client really wants. Ask what and how questions, not why.

Often potential clients call our offices asking how much it would cost for Q-Metrics to come on-site and “do our thing” on emotional intelligence with them. While budget is essential and it is helpful to know that both the client and consultant are on the same financial page, it is the least important of all the issues at hand.

Ask: What do you hope will happen as a result of bringing me in? Ask: what would change around here, if the program or effort were wildly successful? Ask: What do people do now that you hope they will do differently at the end? Keep asking questions in different ways until you know exactly what behaviors or actions would be impacted by the work.

Know the difference between awareness and behavior-change programs.

While everyone knows that satisfied, healthy employees directly correlate with higher productivity and greater client satisfaction, it is essential that you know exactly what behaviors the sponsor thinks will change as a result of your effort. Will people communicate more frequently or more directly, will they smile more often, will they offer more or better product ideas, and will they call in sick less often? What will change that you can measure or track?

An awareness program aims to stimulate thought, bring new ideas, information updates or the latest discoveries to the fore. Behavior change programs aim to teach new ways of doing things and to visibly demonstrate active usage of these skills or competencies by anyone looking in. When one teaches a new computer program, for example, the client will not be satisfied simply with an employee’s ability to explain the concept behind the program. They want their people to be able to use it successfully.

Simply put – awareness programs focus on thinking; behavior-change programs focus on doing. If your client wants their staff to know more information or to have their thinking stimulated, it is an awareness program. If they want people to act, interact or behave differently like being pleasant with customers on the phone, then it requires a behavior-change program.

Determine the impact of your efforts on those things that matter most to the client.

Business leaders told us they want help delivering exceptional client services, building trusting relationships, inventing new product ideas, keeping your best people. Tie your work to these factors at the front-end of your engagement. Work diligently to facilitate an understanding of the connections between improving employee satisfaction, for example, and keeping their best customers. Delve, ponder, explore with your sponsor until you can see the relationship that your work will ultimately exert on the bottom line.

Craft your behavior-change programs to reflect the desired outcomes.

When designing your programs or efforts, start with the goals and work backwards. Resist the temptation to do the familiar, the usual or the most comfortable presentations or trainings just because it’s what you are used to doing.

Use established emotional intelligence measures.

Find an instrument or tool that will work well for your population. Consider their management status, the length of time you will be working with them, their level of readiness and their ability to read at an 8th grade reading level or better.

Q-Metrics’ EQ Map® was specifically designed for teaching, training, coaching and professional development. This is a map – not a test – and as such helps to profile the individual’s EQ landscape on 20 different EQ variables, plotting their respective strengths and vulnerabilities. Other measures including the MSCEIT or EQ-i can provide computer generated reports of EQ competencies and provide a numeric score as a composite measure.

Mission Impossible?

In these tough economic times, a consultant requires more than a good program. Consultants must come with a comprehensive understanding of the challenges that client companies and organizations face. Today’s businesses are struggling to maintain their workforces and to develop them for the future. Our mission demands that we craft our efforts around a bottom line that we can measure, manage, and pass back to the sponsors who will reap the rewards.

For more information on the EQ Map® and Esther Orioli, visit www.QmetricsEQ.com. In the fall, they will be featuring “Front and Center Consulting” with more tips and information on using metrics and creating behavior change programs that really work.

© 2002. Esther M. Orioli, Essi Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 1-415-252-8224. www.essisystems.com. EQ Map is the registered trademark of Essi Systems, Inc. and AIT .