Here's how I love to spend my time--
Consulting:
My consulting projects come in many different flavors (with the exception of vanilla).
Before I take on a new project, I want to be certain that I am the right consultant to do the work. "Right" means that I can clearly see how my previous career experience relates to the consulting project. I want to bring a unique understanding of the client's issues so that we can get relatively quickly to tangible, actionable recommendations. If I am not the best person for the project, I have many relationships with other consultants and am more than happy to refer them into situations where their skill set is better suited for the client's needs.
Here's where I think I'm particularly effective:
For-Profit Businesses:
Start-up logistics
Strategic direction setting
New product or service launches (consideration and execution)
Addressing operational issues or leveraging opportunities
Management and leadership assessments
Leadership mentoring
Establishing internal policies and procedures
Culture assessments; culture work
Evaluating merger or acquisition opportunities
Nonprofit Businesses:
Strategic direction setting
New product or service launches (consideration and execution)
Sustainability assessments
Optimizing earned income opportunities for nonprofits
Addressing operational issues or leveraging opportunities
Management and leadership assessments
Leadership mentoring
Considering partnership or merger opportunities
Brainstorming:
Maybe it seems odd to think of Brainstorming as a "Service," but it is one of the ways I think I can add meaningful value in a relatively short period of time.
Sometimes, all a client needs to overcome a barrier or a problem is to spend a couple of hours brainstorming with someone with a fresh perspective. It is often easier for someone who has NOT been mired in a situation for weeks or months to think differently about potential paths forward. Sometimes just a few well placed questions can create insights and ah-ha moments. But the questions have to be the right ones--intuitive, insightful and on point. Because I have personally managed through a number of challenging situations in my own career, as well as worked with clients as they have encountered obstacles, I am able to get to the right questions fairly quickly and begin creating alternative ideas for consideration.
Workshops/Teaching/One-On-One Leadership Work:
Over the past several years, I have taught a number of classes on Nonprofit Finance, Financial Leadership, and Budgeting. I also have worked with many nonprofit organizations who want to establish best practices in operations and management, with a particular focus on ethics and accountability. While this work has been primarily with nonprofit organizations, many of the subject areas are relevant in the for-profit sector as well.
I have also often found myself being asked to work with leaders in a one-on-one setting to help them improve an aspect of their leadership or break through a barrier that is creating professional challenges. If I have (or can develop) the right kind of relationship with the executive and if we go into one of these assignments with a clear understanding of what success looks like, these projects can be very mutually rewarding. Whether I am called upon to act as a confidant, a co-problem solver, a mirror holder, or a pattern disrupter, assisting leaders as they push through obstacles is a joy.