Greg Baker, on October 19, 2021
I’d like to tell you a little story about two consultants. It’s based on a situation I’ve seen several times in my career where management and organizational problems are unfortunately misdiagnosed. This is not a little thing. It happens often and, when it does, it hurts the business and the people involved. What makes this situation so common and how can you make sure you aren’t contributing to the problem? Read on to find out and decide which kind of consultant you want to be.
Two consultants from different companies walk into a Restaurant. They had been summoned there at the same time by a potential client. As they scanned the room they spotted the vice president with whom they would meet sipping her club soda. The consultants made their way to the client’s table and sat down. After brief introductions the client said to them, “I’m having trouble with two of my department managers. They seem to be at odds constantly, always picking at each other. I’ve talked with them both but to no avail. I don’t know what to do.” She went on to say that she wanted to give both consultants a chance to win her business. “You each have 24 hours, she said, to evaluate the problem and tell me the solution.” Both consultants eagerly accepted the challenge and all agreed to meet back in the restaurant the next day.
Greg Baker, on June 29, 2021
Consulgetics is our latest achievement in the advance of consulting skills development for both internal and external consultants. Born of our many years of consultant development for companies and agencies across the globe, Consulgetics combines the best of our traditional consulting skills training with the power and insight of managing energy to get things done.
Consulgetics is based on the recognition that at the heart of everything we do as consultants is energy. As consultants, we harness and align energy to optimize the impact and outcome of our work – whether we recognize it or not. So to give this reality a name we combined the words consulting and energetics to create Consulgetics, the practice of using energy to inform and power consulting.
Greg Baker, on September 4, 2015
You may remember the nature vs. nurture issue in regard to where positive human traits (such as strong abilities) and negative human traits (such as diseases) come from. Those who land on the nature side of the argument profess that it is all predestined and based on our DNA. Those who favor the nurture side believe that how we are raised and what we experience is the primary driver.
Greg Baker, on May 18, 2015
On the field of battle we once heard Ready, Aim, Fire! Similarly, in today’s business environment, where working effectively is the name of the game, people must Engage, Align and Execute! If you want to be good at what you do, whether it is systems engineering, finance, HR, management consulting or some other discipline, here is your prescriptive advice:
Greg Baker, on June 14, 2012
While the genesis of unintentional conflict is often obscured, the costly disruption and dysfunction that result from it are usually quite visible. Such was the case with our story about Jane and her client Sandy in our last Advance Update, Managing Unintentional Conflict in Business. Let’s revisit the story and then discuss how to resolve the issue, or in this case avoid it by acquiring the skills to manage unintentional conflict.
Jane is meeting with her new client, Sandy, to make some recommendations for how to address some pressing problems on their project. Jane loves to engage in small talk and storytelling with people, including clients, to build relationships. (more…)