The Red Phone – Management Consulting in 30 Seconds or Less
Modern business faces complex problems; management often calls upon highly-specialized consultants to help them address these difficult problems. If you’re ever called to help identify these most pressing issues, one of the easiest and quickest ways to start is to talk about the Red Phone.
You know which phone I’m talking about — it’s the red phone that sits on it’s own special corner of the desk. Lights flash when it rings; when you answer it, the person on the other end isn’t in a good mood, he’s not pleased, he thinks everything is your problem and he wants you to fix it! (And … he’s right! It is your problem and you do need to fix it!)
What I want to know is — when this phone rings, 1) Who is it on the other end, and 2) what are they upset about
This spotlights a manager’s hot spots, his points of pain. These are the frustrating tribulations that vex his day. If you can identify who’s on the red phone and what they’re calling about, you’ve identified the most pressing problems a manager deals with.
Related posts
Why Use a Change Management Consultant
Why use a change management consultant This is a very good question because unless you are very clear about exactly what sort of help you need I would just simply say don’t!
Key factors
There are a number of factors that will have a bearing on how you approach using a change management consultant – or in determining whether you even should do so.
~ Your objective – the deliverable you are seeking. [See comment below re 3 fundamental motivations]. What do really want An answer or solution that (a) you can implement or (b) someone else can implement for you A solution and the knowledge and means to be able to replicate it yourself in future
~ Your company’s size. The smaller you are the more you need to maximise the leverage of your budget. The difficulty you have is that you need the knowledge and expertise but you can’t generally afford to pay someone else to do it.