Donny is a business owner, with ten employees and continuously scaling up to 30 by the end of the year. He has made a considerable amount but is experiencing a challenge when managing his people.
Morale is low; motivation and engagement are dropping; and his managers do not understand where they are headed.
In the meantime, Donny had other priorities, two in particular — an appointment with his dentist for tooth extraction and with his doctor for advice on his blood sugar levels.
After finishing all these medical concerns in the span of a week, Donny goes back to his “people problems” at hand.
Last week, a friend recommended that he meets with an organization development (OD) consultant about his concerns. The meeting indeed happened and the OD consultant recommended interventions to be done to alleviate the issues that were presented.
Donny is almost one hundred percent on board but was very eager to ask one last criterion — he got curious, “Do you own a business as well sir?”. In Donny’s head, this guy’s giving me people management and organization development advice — surely he has a business.
To Donny’s shock, the consultant replied, “Oh, no, none. I have a management consultancy firm — with 8 consultants on my team but not like your business. We focus more on helping our clients with their people management and OD problems.” It’s true, this consultant’s small firm is nothing compared to Donny’s growing business — Donny might even be earning twice more in a month than this consultant.
Donny began doubting if this consultant could help him at all. Thoughts raced in his head: “This must be the all-theory and no application guy..” — and other similar thoughts.
How can someone who does not have a business like me and who is not earning the same as me help me with my problem?
This was his main thought.
And this same thought that Donny has is running in the minds of hundreds of other business owners.
Only fellow business owners (preferably, those earning more than you) can help you in your business.
This is very problematic — and also flawed.
This is the mindset that might inhibit you to scale. Fighting these kinds of fires on your own and not opening up to help “outside” of your area of expertise will take up your time and energy and rob you of your real role as a business owner.
Business, as much as it is an art also has many science revolving around it. And just like the science behind Donny’s dental and medical issues — his issues in people management and organization development have a science to them too. (Organizational Psychology for example.)
This is why there have been experts in this field for quite a while now. Organization Development consultants are experts in the process of any (yes any) organizational change process — from creating alignment to the organizational identity (mission/vision/values); to organizational structure changes; to performance-management-related implementations and everything else in between.
But they’re just all theories, right?
Well, nope.
Consultants do study theories, of course. But a lot of these are grounded on empirical data as well — proven by observable data. Organizational Psychology, for example, is literally psychology applied in organizations — applied science.
Consultants need experience too, in order to perform their work well. OD and people development consultants have years of experience in diagnosing organizational and people problems; crafting interventions and then implementing and evaluating their impact. Consultants are not only subject-matter experts, they are also process experts — they facilitate the client into the process that would yield the desired results and adjust accordingly based on on-the-ground feedback (which they are trained to do as well).
But, business owners should learn from fellow business owners too? Absolutely. In the same way that business owners can share their health journeys with tips and tricks with one another. Learning from peers who are a little bit ahead of you is indeed very helpful, and the feeling that you are talking to someone who understands your journey as a business owner is very reassuring as well.
But this does not mean that there is a one-size-fits-all solution for all people management problems, isn’t it? Your peers can give you anecdotal advice sure. But because consultants can diagnose your organization properly they can recommend the solutions fit for your current capacity and context.
If you are a business owner — and you might be experiencing the same people management and organizational issues — ask your peers in the business, sure! But know that, like your dentist or your doctor, organization development is a science on its own. You might be wasting your time self-diagnosing and putting out fires but might not be targeting the root cause of the issue. Consider asking a process expert — a consultant.
What areas of your business are you asking for help from consultants? How did this help you focus on your role?