Nothing is Impossible for the People Who Don’t Have to Do it…

Truer words were never spoken. Especially in this day of mobile projects. You can promise anything if you are not the one delivering the goods. The sky’s the limit since you will be long gone when the delivery commences. But is this how you want to be remembered? Really?

Quite a long time ago I worked with a guy who had an attitude that he would do absolutely anything to close a deal. When I asked him if he would blatantly lie he replied that a lie is just a creative sales tool. He didn’t last very long and for all I know he’s probably doing time somewhere. I know he is not indicative of the average professional out there but it does pose a vexing question. How far can you push the envelope before you are making things worse for everyone?

In a world where information is at everybody’s fingertips it stands to reason that folks that operate with this kind of philosophy will inevitably (and figuratively) be tarred and feathered on some web site designed to share just this sort of information. It seems like Al Gore’s Internet invention has really taken off. Who knew?

Ok, back to the issue at hand. I’m a firm believer that it is never too late to set proper expectations. This is a philosophy you usually don’t find too much resistance to. I’d rather tell someone no than tell them yes and have them find out I knew better. Hell hath no fury like a customer scorned. But even though we practice this philosophy throughout most of our adult interactions we sometimes seem reluctant to do it in business. It’s not like the Emperor’s New Clothes or anything, it’s just that most people don’t like to be the bearers of bad news. But is it truly bad news?

Automation…or more bodies?

I did some business process work with a customer that had suffered the terrible injustice of steady, high level growth. They performed their services with impeccable skill and their execution was flawless. As a result, they were growing at a rate of 30% per year with no outbound sales or marketing to speak of. This was true word-of-mouth growth. And they were struggling due the continuous growth rate. The core team was working harder than humans should have to work and still they were barely keeping their collective noses above the water line. Some businesses would kill for such problems.

The company’s management team knew they needed to automate their field workers but had little experience with major automation projects and zero mobility experience. Facing the great unknown, they did what all companies in their position do…they threw more bodies on the fire while they attempted to keep up with the growth rather than take on an automation project. But they were fighting a losing battle and something had to give.

Of course, that’s where I came in. I was asked to help them by telling them what to do. Instead of the show up and throw up approach, I took some time to analyze their business – a little long term focused planning goes a long way – and figure out where to start the migration from stone age to space age. It was easy for me since I was the outsider and had no history – or baggage, but the difficult part was seeing the entire picture. In an attempt to survive, they had created silos for most business functions and spent their days with their heads down focused on their tasks. There was nobody looking up or across to see where they were headed or if they were making the right moves. They felt they were headed in the right direction but without the perspective of the rest of the silos they really couldn’t be sure. I had that luxury and took full advantage of it. Experience-based professional services have a place in today’s mobile world.

After a few days of observation the company scheduled a meeting to review progress with the ‘consultant.’ I don’t really consider myself a consultant (more like an ‘insultant’) but they were paying the bills so they got to choose my title. I made my initial findings report to the team after which the head or their IT/Finance group got up to speak. He was a great guy and one of the few who had an eye on the big picture (as many IT/Finance folks tend to do). He gave a little speech about where he thought we should focus our efforts and without thinking about the consequences…and it was right then that I blurted out, ‘No!’

The Hard Things Need to be Said

The room went silent. I realized just how shocking that was to most of the people in the room, but that was my job. I was hired to say the hard things and No was the only correct answer at that particular moment. I then proceeded to explain why.

I come from a long line of folks who will give you the answer and then show their work. The nuns taught me well. I gave my explanation and then we engaged in a productive discussion with all the participants in the room about the ‘Why’ behind the No. The IT/Finance king waited until we were done and agreed with everything the rest of the group came up with as a solution.

After all, they were the ones that were going to have to do the work so it only made sense that they should help us understand the problem at their level and how best to fix the entire problem, not just one or two silos. IT King said, “At first I was shocked at your statement since you are the first consultant that has ever told us No. After this discussion it was clear that you were right and it all makes sense.”

Now I was the one who was shocked. He had never heard a consultant tell them no? Seriously?

I had no reason to doubt him since he was a straight shooter but I was having difficulty comprehending the entire situation. Why would someone not tell them No? Was the company talking to new-age parent types that think saying no will damage their customer’s psyche? Were they just being polite? Did they misunderstand the question? What gives?

After that meeting I pulled the IT King aside and grilled him on what he had said. It was the God’s honest truth. They had hired consultants before and in several cases lack of saying no (another way of looking at it was a lack of properly pushing back – but it’s a major mistake to invoke the ‘customer is always right’ here!) caused the customer to go down a terrible path that resulted in failed projects and the consultants eventually being fired.

As a selfish matter of self preservation, the consultants were apt to just agree with anything the customer said and push it forward. How is that ‘consulting’ exactly? Isn’t that more accurately described as ‘agreeing?’ If they wanted a yes-man (or yes-person to be politically correct) they could have hired one for minimum wage and saved a ton of money and wasted effort. This was the ultimate disservice to the customer: taking their money to not help them and doing harm in the process.

While the consultant had initially secured a longer engagement in functioning as a yes man, he had made the lives of his customer’s employees a living hell. Thus the adage we started with at the beginning of this post. But he had actually made things worse – and that was inexcusable.

Do you think the consultant would have functioned as a yes man right out the gate if he was the one who actually had to live with the consequences of his decisions? If he had to work 20 hours of overtime the last week of every quarter due to lack of automation? If he was the one who had to collate paper forms (paper!) from the field in giant plastic bins daily just to keep up with the inflow? Or is it possible he would have said no if his feet were held to the fire? I don’t stay up at night wondering but I’d sure feel guilty taking my customer’s money and not adding any perceivable value, and I don’t think I could live with myself if  I made things worse. That’s the kind of behavior I’d expect out of the Government.

Meanwhile, if you are ready to put that big mobile project in play, hire the company with the experienced mobile profession services folks who will tell it to you straight.

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Tags: Brian Philbin, Business Process, Field Automation, Field Service, Mobile Futures Today