Consultants are engaged to make impactful change where it would otherwise be difficult to achieve from within. This is usually due to limited expertise or operational constraints, but sometimes we provide a liability shield and escape clause for when things go awry. Consultants can be a disruptive force without worrying about longer-term working relationships or corporate politics. As the saying goes, “we aren’t here to make friends”. Or are we?
I’m engaged with a company in the Philippines to help scope and drive digital transformation initiatives. With full executive backing and stakeholder buy-in, I’ve been asked to instil a degree of ‘North American’ discipline to program management and execution. Milestones and deadlines are foreign concepts here (pun intended); dates shift without consequence. After a month in-country, I deployed some lightweight task management frameworks to help enable progress and foster team collaboration.
I’ve learned that transparency and candour produce the best results. This is largely a personality style, and not a prescriptive approach for everyone, but bad news doesn’t improve with time. When the data showed commitments weren’t being met, I shared my disappointment and asked for other ways the team would prefer to work. Later, I was pulled aside by an executive and told that my was a little abrasive. While I politely countered recalled that my job is to make changes happen, I realized that this environment requires a different approach. While it’s anathema to a traditional consulting mindset, here I need to play the long-game.
Having grown up in Indonesia, I’m no stranger to cultural and lifestyle norms that that are carried over into the workplace. Filipinos are among the nicest, kindest, and friendliest humans on the planet – often to a fault. Confrontation is avoided, and flexibility and forgiveness are deep in their DNA. Unfortunately, when competing on the global stage, this is disadvantageous. Project success, thus, requires a shift in operating model: both mine and theirs.
Strategic influence is the ability to guide outcomes without triggering unnecessary resistance. We don’t need brute force; we need inevitability. As in martial arts, rather than meeting force with force, we must redirect energy in way that serve our goals while making it feel natural for others to go along. If we push too hard, we trigger resistance; if we guide subtly, we create momentum that others willingly follow. How do we achieve this?
Some tactics to consider:
- Make them think it was their idea – Present options in ways that nudge people toward the conclusion we want, but that let them feel they arrived there independently. Instead of saying “we need more structure”, instead pose the question “would it help if we had a clearer way to track progress so everyone feels more in control?”
- Leverage cultural norms – In a hierarchical culture like the Philippines, direct confrontation can create resistance. We need to align our messages with respected values, such as professionalism, accountability, and group harmony. Instead of “we need to adhere to deadlines,” I could have said “when we hit deadlines, it reflects well on the whole team and makes leadership take notice.”
- Subtle social proof – People generally follow perceived norms, so providing anecdotes that illustrate how similar companies or other internal teams have found success will go a long way to getting results.
- Slow escalation – Instead of making big shifts all at once, be mindful that what seems trivial to you could be monumental to others. Introduce changes in phases and give people time to adjust. Once they are comfortable with the first level of discipline, we can take another step.
Sometimes it’s hard to take a measured approach, particularly when we know from experience precisely how to get the results we are hired to deliver. On the shoulders of giants we stand, so let’s learn from leaders who’ve figured out how to be impactful in spite of resistance.
- Steve Jobs – The perfectionist who learned to inspire
- Peter Drucker – The quiet architect of management thinking
- Ray Dalio – The hedge fund visionary who mastered transparency
- Edward Deming – The man who reshaped Japan’s work ethic