Immersive Consulting

Standard Operating Procedures, Efficiences & Respecting the body you are trying to heal

In my work, I have been around all different types of people in the business world, at all different stages. I would often make assumptions that they knew a particular thing and brushed over it in the process of providing insight. One of those things was SOP.

In this example, I was speaking about a process I had learned was inefficient. That’s when I explained how a new SOP could change that and deliver the same outcome more efficiently.

Before I went on to the details, my client stopped me and asked me what an SOP was. I was surprised but also encouraged by the learning opportunity that question had for both of us. Here was someone who definitely knew what a standard operating procedure was because they had hundreds of them within their organization; they just hadn’t referred to them in what I thought was the preferred nomenclature.

An important thing to note is how I always approached these types of insights with clients. I believe it’s worth mentioning because it relates to a principle I adopted through the years, which is to “respect the body you are trying to heal.” Far too often, it seems that people want to tell you what to do without taking the time to understand everything about the particular thing they aim to solve. Even if that person is technically right and is providing valuable insight, it won’t matter because of the way it was brought to the table. This is what I believe to be the beauty of being properly put in your place early in your career. I consider these gifts but understand why that’s not always the initial response for those on the receiving end of a client (or boss) that just “doesn’t get it.”

I was lucky enough to discover early on that people had reasons for processes they developed, and connections to them that meant something. These relationships revealed very similar experiences with past consultants that they felt didn’t quite get them where they wanted to go. This became the type of client I began to connect with because of the problem I identified that I knew how to solve.

It would seem that many of these consultants didn’t stick around long enough or get too involved in the client’s business to see their recommendations through. To be fair, many of the greatest experts do this with purpose and when it’s the right client for them, it works beautifully. This is actually where I saw an opening for my particular set of skills and what led me to a more immersive approach in the years that followed.

This immersion led to deep understanding of the client’s organization. Naturally, the kind of capacity that’s required for this means there’s only a set number of clients that can be served in this way. While the immersive approach isn’t always necessary in the process of producing results, it has many benefits and some clients that align with our vision may even be a perfect fit for such a relationship.

If it wasn’t for this approach, I might have not been able to dig deep enough into client organizations to make the discoveries that I had. I realized that other consultants were missing out, even though I didn’t know why necessarily. The thing is, that was a lesson in itself because they have their reasons and now I not only understand why but I respect it even more. If I meet new clients and there is something bad they have to say about a past relationship, it’s always great to understand why they feel it didn’t work. In these early stages, particularly that first conversation where we discover if an opportunity exists, it’s great to unpack what exactly happened in the “failed” relationship and what they ultimately want to have happen that would make it successful.

I always have empathy for the person that’s no longer there because that early work that could have been done to prevent an unsuccessful relationship wasn’t quite done properly.

So having had the chance to dig as deep as I have, it allows me to present SOPs in a way that can not only be used to create efficiencies, but the strategies for implementing them in a way that’s unique to their situation. This is why it’s so important to meet clients where they’re at.

Truth be told, I have had many of my own inefficiencies which give this perspective real meaning for me. Some of these client recommendations took years to uncover.

Now I’m able to do that much faster. So while I may have thought I was not a consultant in the traditional sense, I was actually navigating my own way through a role I believe needed to exist.

Luckily in this process, I’ve found people within the client organization that have been able to successfully lead and maintain the changes we worked together to implement.

My last point is for any key decision-maker who finds themselves in one of these relationships where things aren’t working as expected, or have since moved on. If you’re still in it and you value the relationship enough and think they just need to be doing better, see if they’ll openly admit where they feel they’re falling short. When you realize you have someone on your side that will be honest with you in this way, it might be worth considering the investment in what could strengthen what’s not quite working as expected.

For the market we serve, that’s a dynamic we hang our hats on.