Blog Archives

Going consulting? How can you develop your approaches?

13/9/2016

Twenty-five years ago I went consulting. Today I look back and cringe.

I had good experience from the organisations that I had worked in, but they were very limited and often did not translate to my new clients. It took many years of trial and lots of errors before I had developed successful approaches, ways of working and theoretical frameworks. Sometimes I let my clients down as I learned.

Some people go into large consulting companies to learn; but I wanted to do it differently; I wanted to get people out of ruts and silos, all pulling towards what’s important; and the consulting companies employed by the companies where I had worked didn’t do this well.

What options do you have to develop your approaches with less risk and less time?

Options

0 Comments

Going Consulting? Need more confidence?

1/9/2016

0 Comments

Just yesterday I ran a workshop for 50 people in a medium sized manufacturer using a combination of two of my Modules: Confidence, Influence & Personal Power, and The Power of the Subconscious. The messages in these modules are really important for you as a consultant and for your business clients.

First, lets look at you as a consultant. You may think your client is buying your superior knowledge and experience and certainly this is important; but it’s minor compared with the confidence and feelings they have about you. If you radiate confidence they will be drawn towards you, without knowing why, like metal to a magnet. Also, it can be scary being a consultant. Imagine yourself in my position yesterday: a group of 50, most you don’t know, potential for all sorts of things to go wrong; only you and your confidence between success and failure. Obviously, you have your knowledge and your conscious mind to help; but, these are minnows compared with your subconscious mind, that controls 90% of your experience in the form of your ability to sense (without knowing) that something needs attention; also your body language that communicates far more than any words. These are determined by your subconscious mind; including your habits, your rituals, your self-talk and the pictures you have of yourself that determine your self-image.

Your confidence and influence are determined by your subconscious mind. If you have a picture in your mind of being confident, caring, wanting the best for your client no matter what the outcome means to you; they will pick this up and trust you as a result.

Second, lets look at your business clients. Most of them think the source of their power is their conscious mind; especially their ability to think logically and rationally through a problem. Certainly, this is what our society values. You can see it in the subjects schools and universities teach. And obviously, this is important; but, their subconscious mind is what really matters. It controls 90% of their behaviour and success.

So, if the subconscious is that important to you and your client; can we influence it? In my experience, if people think of it at all, they think, “Bruce was born that way; but, there’s nothing I can do to overcome my fear and self-consciousness”. They are wrong! As the Modules show; confidence, influence and personal power can be directly impacted either through the conscious mind or through the body.

I demonstrated this yesterday using kinesiological muscle strength. I had a senior manager stand in front of the 50 participants in a low-power position with his body: head down, eyes diverted, legs crossed, chest sunken, shallow breathing, while I asked him to adopt the following self-talk: “Why am I so stupid?” “Why do things always go wrong?” “I’m not good enough!” “What’s wrong with me?” After no more than one minute in this position I asked him to put out his right arm at right-angles to his body and to try to resist the force as I tried to push his arm down. He was so weak his arm dropped with almost no resistance to my pushing.

Then immediately after, I asked him to adopt a high-power position with his body: head upright, strong eye contact, hands on hips, legs apart, chest expanded, deep breaths, while I asked him to adopt the following self-talk: “Today’s a great day for me!” “I feel strong and powerful today!” “I can do anything I put my mind to!” “Yes! Yes! Yes!” After no more than one minute in this position I asked him to put out his right arm at right-angles to his body and to try to resist the force as I tried to push his arm down. He was so strong, no matter how hard I tried to push, I could not push his arm down. All this happened within two minutes. He was not pre-warned, nor had any knowledge of what would happen or what I expected would happen.

Maybe you are saying: “So what?” As a consultant, there will be many times when you need to access your subconscious mind to give you more confidence. Maybe when you are discussing an important assignment with your client and you want to leave them thinking the best about you . Maybe when you have a scary facilitation with 50 people. Or maybe when something has happened to shake your confidence.

The lessons and approaches in these two Modules will make a significant difference to your success. They show, people are NOT born confident. It is NOT in their DNA. Confidence is a set of behaviours that you and your clients can learn. First, they will show you how to become more confident by accessing your subconscious at will; but, even more importantly they will make your client stronger and they will show their appreciation by giving you repeat business and telling their peers.

These Modules are just two of 23 modules available for your consultants tool-box. Check them out!

Bruce Holland
The Consultant’s Consultant
CrackingGreatLeaders.com

0 Comments

Going consulting? How can you develop your approaches?

Going Consulting? Need more confidence?

Author

Archives

Categories