Approach

July 6th, 2017

How I work

What’s it like to work with Stuart Reid?
Here I’ll tell you the kind of results my clients achieve, and I’ll also give you a sense of my guiding beliefs, my approach to working with clients, and how I’m different to most organisation change consultants.

 The results you can expect from working with me

We develop a strategy together that drives your business forward. This is a strategy that cuts through the noise, and gets right to the heart of your business. You get the right people involved in the process, so it’s based on solid information. Crucially, it is a strategy that all of your people can remember – not a document that gathers dust on a shelf. So it guides every decision in your business – big or small.

You have a leadership team that works like a team. Team members participate more actively, conflict is more productive and results come with a lot less struggle and effort. Team meetings are focused and lead to clear decisions – and team members follow through on them. Your key leaders share resources and collaborate across their functions, instead of acting like independent barons.

You transform how your leaders lead change and engage their teams. Your leaders now feel confident and skilled in influencing others. They know how to listen and they are confident in holding difficult conversations. Your people understand why your business is changing, and their part in it. And they get involved, and make the change work by contributing their unique knowledge and their energy.

You finally make progress on those business problems that just wouldn’t go away. Your customer service team and your sales team are suddenly working together instead of complaining about each other, and sales take off. You find new ways to cut costs in the business without harming quality. Your workplace starts to feel like a good place to be, instead of a place you dread going to on a Monday morning. Things just start to click into place.

You road-test your thinking and your ideas before exposing them to others. You sharpen up your thinking by talking things through. You gain new insights by thinking out loud. And you can rehearse and strengthen your arguments before you take them into a high-stakes meeting. You feel safe because you’re working with someone whose only interest is to help you develop your very best thinking.

You find out what’s really going on in your business – before it’s too late. You no longer find yourself blind-sided by problems that ‘come from nowhere’. Now you see them coming: your people warn you about them while you still have time to act. So you spend less time fire-fighting and more time on your strategic role as a leader. Your Board members have more confidence in you, and you feel less stressed and more in control.

My guiding beliefs and values

I am always working to develop my knowledge and skills. I am constantly reading books and blog posts on business, psychology, communication, organisation change and innovation. I set up a ‘Business Book Club’ in my home town just so I could find other people to talk to about the books I was reading! The benefit for my clients is that I read all these books – so they don’t have to.

It’s important to me to have autonomy, and to make informed choices about the things that matter to me. I extend the same courtesy to those I work with. I will provide you and your colleagues with my views, my knowledge and my experience, but I will never forget that the choice about what action you will take lies with you. No one can be forced to change.

I believe that everyone has something of value to share and that most people genuinely want to make a contribution. So in my work on organisational change, I involve as many people as possible who will be directly affected: they all have knowledge and views that matter. This includes employees at all levels in the organisation, and often includes partners, suppliers and customers.

Organisations can and should be great places to work. Your organisation exists in order to make a profit, or to provide a public service. But if your employees dread coming to work every day because of the way the business is managed, you’re going to have serious productivity problems. Most of us spend a large part of our lives at work. A workplace should be a fulfilling and satisfying place, where human beings can bring the best of themselves to work, and develop as people.

 My approach

I’ll really get to know you and your business. When I work with any new client, I will invest time up front in getting to know your business and your people. I will typically have one-to-one conversations with a range of different employees at different levels in the organisation. You will always find me well prepared for any meeting or event that I attend.

My work is tailored to your specific needs. No two organisations are exactly the same, and one size does not fit all. So I will develop a plan that meets your unique needs.

I help you have more honest conversations. Failing to address workplace conflict, poor performance or other issues creates a dishonest culture that blocks change. Crucial conversations are avoided. The elephants in the room just pile up. These issues are avoided for a reason – they are difficult to talk about, and can make people anxious and embarrassed. I create the conditions where an honest conversation can happen – sometimes for the first time ever. That’s when change can suddenly be unlocked. And the sense of relief is palpable.

I will be there when you need me – and only when you need me. It’s important to me to work with a small number of different clients each year – typically around 3 or 4. And I normally work part-time with no more than one or two clients at any one time. I enjoy the variety, and I learn more this way: so I can bring my learning to bear with more clients. I will be there when you need me to keep a project moving forward, but I won’t be a full-time permanent fixture in your business.

What makes me different

I work with the reality of change, not an abstract model. Many consultants who work in organisation change will offer you a simple five-step or seven-step process for changing your organisation. I don’t do that, because in my experience it doesn’t work. You don’t change how people think and behave by following a flow chart.

I support you through the messy business of real change in a busy organisation. Sometimes you take two steps forward and one step back. You try things out (some of which will work and some won’t). You often realise that the change you really need is different to the one you thought you needed. This is normal – and I help you to accept that, and keep going.

I believe that organisations change one conversation at a time. This is a key feature of how I work. Fundamental change comes about because of a series of conversations over time, which lead to changes in mindsets, beliefs and behaviours. When enough people change how they behave, the culture starts to shift. These conversations for change can be one-to-one, they can happen in small teams, or in company-wide meetings. If you want to change your organisation, you need to change the quality and content of the conversations that are taking place there.

 

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