People Strategies: Consultants keep businesses in proper balance

Linda Bower is a speaker, executive coach and human performance improvement consultant in Rogersville.

This Mother's Day my mom confessed she wished I were a pilot or musician or anything she didn't have to explain to people. For more than 20 years her friends have been asking what I do for a living, and she hasn't been able to answer them in a way that makes sense.

This problem isn't unique to my mom. Many people don't understand why they might need a human-performance consultant.

Human-performance consultants help people discover how to build on their current knowledge and talents to achieve their visions. A bicycle is a useful analogy to explain this concept.

The back wheel of a bicycle powers its motion. This includes people's knowledge of their employer, products, services, trades, industry, literacy and technical skills required to accomplish goals.

The front wheel of a bicycle directs its motion. Front-wheel skills include negotiating, leading, managing, dealing with stress, collaborating, problem-solving, presenting, decision-making and resolving conflict.

The back wheel of a bicycle has no value without the front wheel that steers its power. Likewise, the front wheel has no value without locomotion from behind.

An example of a huge back wheel and a tiny front wheel is a doctor who is great at determining what is wrong, but can't communicate effectively with the patient.

On the other hand, a situation where there's a huge front wheel and a tiny back wheel is a retail store associate who is very friendly but knows nothing about what is on the shelves.

The goal is to have a balanced bicycle. Human-performance consultants specialize in helping companies, teams and individuals develop their front-wheel and, sometimes, their back-wheel skills. The need for this kind of external expertise has risen dramatically over the past 20 years as the context of business has changed.

In my mom's era, companies were managed in a "command and control" fashion, where all decisions were left to as few people as possible. Executives decided the actions their company should take and everyone followed. Companies had a greater need for employees with back-wheel skills than front-wheel skills because most employees weren't expected to think for themselves.

Companies that continue to control their people, including entrepreneurs, will have a much tougher time trying to succeed. There is no room in this competitive global environment to wait for decisions from above. The companies that will thrive into the future are populated with people who have appropriate balance between their front- and back-wheel skills.

The big corporations have been leading the charge to shift their way of doing business by developing employee skills. That's why human-performance consultants often work with Fortune 500 companies.

However, for human-performance consultants to stay in this arena is a mistake.

There are two things keeping smaller companies from getting the benefit of front- and back-wheel consulting expertise. First, companies, teams and individuals must recognize that they have a need and be prepared to invest in a solution. Second, consultants should be willing to adjust their fees to smaller budgets, less complex solutions and shorter time frames.

To determine if you, your company or team need a human-performance consultant, think about the bicycle analogy. How well would you perform if you, your company or team were a bicycle? What are the implications if the bicycle is unbalanced? If the implications are disconcerting, call a human-performance consultant.

Finding the right consultant for your situation is another story. Before calling anyone, ask yourself a few questions. If you can't answer any one of these questions, call a consultant.

What goals do you, your team or company want to accomplish that will drive your future vision?

Given the goals and future vision, where is the most development needed front- or back-wheel skills?

What specific front- or back-wheel skills would enable you to accomplish the goals and achieve the vision?

Then look for a consultant that has professional experience in the area you need attention. Be sure you can comfortably converse with your consultant. He or she will need to know a great deal of information about you, your team or company.

In essence, human-performance consultants help people make their dreams come true.