Office for Applied Project Sense · Chapter 12 of 12
An honest look at your next undertaking
Not a test that passes judgement, but a thinking tool with which you recognise for yourself what holds, what can still become better and which next step makes sense.
You have now read everything essential. Now it is not about us telling you where you stand. We cannot do that from a distance at all, and we do not think much of pretending to. Instead, we put a simple thinking tool in your hands with which you can form your own picture, alone or with your people. Interestingly, this tool mirrors exactly what good management consulting does, without our having designed it that way; it emerged from the subject itself.
It consists of two directions of looking. Everything else follows from them almost by itself.
First look: what is, and what is good about it?
First look at what exists, and do so appreciatively, before you name any problem. Four questions guide you:
- What goes well in how we handle the new and should definitely be preserved? Which people and habits carry us without our acknowledging it often enough?
- What is already good and has what it takes to become very good if we strengthen it a little?
- What is weak and deserves targeted strengthening without our looking down on it?
- What is really a hindrance and may go, or what is missing entirely and must be added?
This first look achieves two things. It gives you an honest assessment of your current situation. And because it begins with the good, it ensures that you can talk about potential without first having to construct a deficit. After this look you know your situation today and see more clearly where additional leverage is possible.
Second look: what would it look like if everything were good?
Now imagine that all the difficulties were solved. How would your handling of the new feel, what would a perfectly normal working day look like if things were going really well? The question is stronger than it sounds. For your answer produces your target picture – your own, not one we prescribe for you. You do not describe what is missing, but what the good state looks like that you want to reach.
What you now have in hand
Now the remarkable thing has happened, almost without your noticing. From the first look you have your current situation. From the second, your target picture. The difference between the two shows not only gaps but also potential. And because you have both, you can derive a rough, high-level plan yourself and prioritise what makes sense first and what afterwards.
Nothing more is needed to begin with. Take a quiet hour and go through the two looks honestly, alone or with the people who matter. Afterwards you will know what already holds, where more is possible and whether additional support would make sense at all.
If additional support can make a real difference, decide deliberately how you proceed: under your own steam, with us or with another specialist.
Good consulting does not automatically have to lead to more consulting.
An organisation capable of implementation is not one in which one person holds everything together. It is one in which nobody has to hold everything together any more.
A first conversation serves to get to know each other and to find orientation. It is not a free check and not an analysis of your organisation. If a situation needs to be clarified first, this clarification is a full, paid service.