Press

Trust the Process: My Moment of Truth

Some people would think it stuffy and dull to focus on process and systems. And it could
certainly appear to be at odds with my interest in the very human art of influence*, but
I have seen first-hand how process can save a career.

Picture a professional struggling to make sense of her client’s complex environment,
with no feel for how she could bring order to it and help her client deliver significant and
important change. This was her first important client-facing role and one that could set the tone of her whole career with our firm.

My role as her manager was to help her find a way to succeed and
my solution was a two-hour coffee break. Amid the detritus of empty coffee cup and
Danish pastry crumbs emerged diagrams, pictures and acronyms summing up a few simple
project management consulting processes. Simple in concept perhaps; but encapsulating
a lot of powerful methods and careful thinking.

I have a passion for making the complex seem simple.

A month later, and a checkpoint meeting revealed a wholly new picture. Order had
emerged as the consultant was able to ask a few vital questions and start to structure
the answers she found. Step-by-step, when we choose the right process, we get the
right result. But more than that, the process gave her the confidence to be herself and
apply her own knowledge, skills, and insights to the problem, free of a sense of being
overwhelmed by the problem.

The world of business is full of buzz words and jargon, but process has real meaning.
I learned three things in my consulting career:

I enjoy helping people to learn, as much as I enjoy doing things myself,
I have a talent for clearing the fog around complex situations and ideas,
… and always trust the process.

Learn about my working practices…

… in an interview I did with Let’s Make Chutney blog.

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* If you are wondering how I reconcile the art of influence with the power of process,
read Brilliant Influence to learn numerous simple processes that can give powerful results.