When to Analyze and When to Just Do: A Checklist
Last week, my wife and I became concerned about a rash that had developed on the head and neck of our newborn baby. Worried that it was an allergic reaction, my wife called the after-hours nurses’ hotline to present the problem.
The nurse began by determining the urgency by asking life-or-death questions. Next, the nurse advocated a standard needs analysis by scheduling an appointment the next day with a doctor. She hoped we were receptive to this level of analysis. At the appointment, she told us, the doctor would conduct standard observations and inquiry to clarify the issue. If the doctor didn’t understand the issue fully, he or she would recommend further diagnostics and likely a visit to a specialist.
How often do your client and colleague relationships follow such a thoughtful process?
It seems like more often than not, we respond to presenting problems in our professional relationships with the immediacy of an emergency room doctor. We stitch, we bandage, we diagnose and we prescribe. It happens when we answer questions, respond to emails and just put our head down to get things done.
Much talk floats through corporate and consulting circles about elevating relationships to be more strategic. We know that being a “trusted advisor,” “business partner” or “consultant” means we have to: 1) ask thought-provoking questions, 2) offer alternative perspectives and 3) provide access to helpful resources and people. All of these take time and effort, slowing down the process of actually getting to the work. When does it make sense to take a relationship beyond transactional execution to a deeper level of professional interaction? Two organizations I’ve worked with recently are good examples of each end of the spectrum:
The first is a very successful accounting firm with a waiting list of clients and a reputation for doing excellent tax and audit work. They’ve intentionally rejected the movement in professional services firms to become sophisticated business consultants and have, for now, focused on excellence in execution. Their clients have clearly defined needs (tax and audit), the firm is very good at fulfilling this need, and their clients expect this service and nothing more.
The second is the shared services division at a global corporation that has documented evidence that some of their work goes wasted. Their internal customers come to them with strong viewpoints that are often so narrowly focused or short-sighted that they end up building solutions that don’t have lasting value. They’ve realized that to have more value, they have to move away from “getting ‘er done” toward “generating clarity of the situation.”
Before you tackle the latest “emergency,” follow the nurse’s lead and determine whether it makes sense to spend the time and resources to create a more strategic relationship, or whether the better path is to just jump in and do good work. Here’s a checklist to help you decide:
1. Is resolving the issue really urgent?
2. Is the client or colleague receptive to analyzing the issue?
3. Do we have clarity on what needs to be done?
4. Are there further diagnostics we could conduct to better understand the situation?
Use this simple decision tree to determine when and whether to position yourself as a great doer of work or a strategic advisor of work.
How do you position yourself and your organization? Does that align with the presenting problems of your clients and colleagues?
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