Triggering Epiphanies

Have you ever had those moments when you suddenly and completely out of the blue decided something which has had a long-lasting impact, which has changed your life? Those are "epiphany moments". One has to cherish them, as they don't come often in life, but once they are there, we need to grasp them and just go for whatever there is to do! Epiphanies should always result in actions. That's why coaches and consultants like me like them so much. 

There is always a way out!

I have had a few in my life, they tend to appear very sporadically, unexpectedly, some are stronger, some are weaker, and of course, the stronger the better. They can reach levels of excitement to an orgasmic scale.

I had one recently:

It happened on 30 June 2015: I got up, had a coffee, decided to go to the local gym and sign up for membership, went to my wardrobe, packed a bag, went down the hill to the new local health and leisure centre, signed up without having seen what the place looks like, and started to exercise. I did it as if I had been remote controlled. I walked down the hill like a zombie that has smelled fresh human flesh.

Me on day 1! 

I am still amazed about it, as for the last 15 years I avoided the gym and any kind of physical exhaustion like the plague. Suddenly this! Now, 4 weeks after, I am quite happy about it and I like going there. I don't overdo it, I don't think I ever will; looking like Arnold has never been on my to do list, but a little bit of exercise is actually quite nice. 

Some of those epiphanies can be triggered, some probably come completely out of the blue. It must be similar to dreams; many stem from activities and occurrences that took place in our active lives, others come from deep within our subconsciousness. 

Epiphany moments in a business context are rare. I can imagine entrepreneurs probably have them when coming up with an idea and then take action. The role of a coach is to pave the way for them to happen. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. It's like with dreams, you can't force anyone to dream something specific. 

Epiphany in Bulgaria, where on 6 January every year men throw themselves into ice-cold water to fetch a cross that has been thrown in by the local priest. My coaching method isn't that drastic...  ;-) 

I have an example where I managed to trigger such an epiphany moment: 

Imagine a factory, break time for the workers is at 11:00 and there is no canteen on site, just a vending machine with sandwiches, chocolates, and the like; and then there is this little van from a local bakery that drives from factory to factory selling warm food, no meals, just warm sandwiches and rolls. For our German speakers, they sold Leberkässemmeln, but I am refraining from explaining this in English. 

Anyway, whenever I walked around the shop floor I heard a siren at 10:15 and most workers left their work place and went to that van to buy their "Leberkässemmeln". Those were kept in aluminium foil to keep them warm in order to bridge over till 11:00. What happened though, in most cases, break started at 10:15 because people wanted to eat their rolls straight away. Production figures plummeted daily during that hour. 

I went to the plant manager and just enquired about that sandwich van and he proudly told me about managing to finally have the van stop at 3 different locations inside the factory so that his workers would not have to leave their work place too early in order to walk all the way to the main gate where the van used to stop in order to be able to buy their "well deserved rolls". 

One morning after sitting over the project goals, which was to raise output by a certain percentage and we were far from the target line, I said to him a little bit after 10:00, "I need a break, why don't we take a stroll to the coffee machine in the factory and I get us a coffee...?". We went and of course at 10:20 the factory was empty, as everyone was queuing up at the van outside. I said, "It must be break time, nobody is here anymore, the machines are all switched off..."

The sandwich van does not exist anymore and break time starts at 11:00 again. We discussed this issue with the workers' council and came up with a good solution. The plant manager told me after a while: "Roland, I was so embarrassed when you showed me what happened down there without rubbing it in. It was the moment when I knew we really needed to sort the business out and start pushing mountains". 

We did and managed the turnaround and hit the target line. Happy Epiphany! 

That's an epiphany gone wrong!

Feed your Monster - How to conduct successful client meetings

Currently, I am tasked to work on 14 projects within a PMO environment within my client´s organisation. And it reminds me again that there are a few things which are vital for any consultant – be structured, prepare your meetings, and work on your tasks efficiently and effectively.

The use of “we” and “us”

First of all, whenever a consultant speaks he should speak in “pluralis majestatis” – the “we”. “We have created..., we have achieved..., we have worked on..., we have managed...!” It should emphasise that consultants work as a team and we do things together. Ramobs are no consultants!

Client Meetings or “How to feed your Monster”

Whenever you meet your client you need to “feed him”; this is mainly with information and to help him with decisions he has to make. Apart from the odd morning tour where a simple “How are you?” suffices, usually one should never go empty handed or without any reason to the client. Never!

So, before seeing him, prepare your meetings:
- What do you want to get out of the meeting?
- What information do you want to give him?
- What decisions do you want to be made?
- In case you need a decision, what options do you give him from which he can make a decision (do not come empty, always give him options to choose from!)?
- How do you respond to any of his potential objections?

Once the meeting has started, shut up and listen, listen, listen. Oh yes, and listen! You should not talk, the client should. Always listen to what he says. Successful consultants have good listening skills. Do not talk too much, do not always repeat what you said, and do not fall into the trap to try and educate your client. If he wants coaching he will say so. Otherwise, treat him with respect and the way you want to be treated. Look at your client´s body language and read it. You will see when he gets bored, impatient, relaxed, excited, agitated, etc, and manage it. Never forget, opposite you is your monster and you need to feed it. Your client is your tamagochi. You are in control. 

When you attend a client meeting with a colleague the golden rule is – if you talk your colleague shuts up, and when your colleague talks you shut up. Give feedback afterwards, but do not correct your colleague during a meeting (unless he makes the worst ever blunder!) and always act as a team. When the consultant asks a question to the client the other consultant should not answer! Often, questions are of a sheer tactical nature. Oh yes, and do no forget the pluralis majestatis even if you alone did something.

When the meeting comes to an end, summarise! Tell the client what decisions have been made during the meeting and which actions are coming out of it. After the meeting, either do those actions straight away or write them down on an action plan and work on them systematically.

And that is it! Sounds simple, is sometimes not so simple, but it is the only way forward!

Salad Processing

One of my skills projects which I took part in as a trainer was the salad processing one. This company had 2 sites, one in Magdeburg and one in Stuttgart and they produced ready-made salads which one can buy in plastic bags in the supermarket or any of the fast-food chains.

After an analysis of their business processes it was clear that they wasted salad in the cleaning and "production" process. So, in a project we defined a cucumber as mascot, and developed posters where it was taught how to cut lettuce, cucumbers, carrots, etc. In the aftermath I find it amazing what kind of projects one can have.

So, basically, we trained them how to clean different kind of salads and lettuce. We measured the outcome, but I must admit, I have no idea anymore how successful the project was. I think it went well though.

I did mainly deliver the management training and coaching, especially in the east German site. Main problem in that site was the lack of any management skills and I had to train them from the very beginning. On the west German site the main problems was that nobody understood anyone because too many foreigners were working there speaking all sorts of languages. So, I gave training and coaching in German, English, and French. That was fun!

I got a video camera for Christmas and I used it mainly to record the role-plays when I trained confrontation skills. I loved it, so did they. It was a very powerful tool.

Management Training

Management Training goes along with the operational installation. The main responsibility of training is to ensure "behaviour change" and that all installed new systems and tools are being used properly and that management does not fall back into old behaviours. Training is never ever there just for the sake of delivering training!

There are a few topics which are mostly on the training schedule (more detail in a later entry):
- What are management systems,
- Openness to change and the "curve of change",
- Efficient meetings,
- Confrontation skills,
- Effective Communication, and a few more.

Other topics are very specific and need to be tailor-made for the client. They would normally be in line with the area development.

Between training sessions are always coaching sessions where trainer and client work on the client's personal progress throughout the project installation phase and his behaviour change.

After my first project, the ice-cream one, I decided to go into training and was sent off to the corporate headquarters in Florida on a 3 weeks intensive course.