Why did I build a business around the most nebulous of things…
Just last week I had the pleasure of meeting a member of British royalty at a charity event where she (as the charity’s patron) was cutting the ribbon on an impressive new building at a school for disabled young people.
I’ve never been a person that’s had particularly strong views on the monarchy (that’s a different blog I feel) and wasn’t expecting much from such a person but was amazed to see the deftness with which they interacted with everybody at the event. It didn’t matter whether they were speaking to someone old or young, staff or student, trustee or donor, the Princess (yes, she genuinely is a princess) demonstrated a remarkable ability to know what to say at the right time and to win everyone round.
At one point she was on stage performing a song with the children, the next she gave an official speech about the importance of providing opportunities for young people and then later still she was deep in conversation for 10 minutes with a distressed young girl who was all emotional at meeting her.
When she finally finished meeting everyone and drove herself off in her car (I definitely wasn’t expecting that!), you could sense the positivity in the air and everyone was talking about what had just happened.
“Hang on a minute Faris, what’s that got to do with this blog and your business? It feels like you’re just boasting that you met some royalty”
Well, I’m getting to the point (and perhaps I was boasting a little). What the Princess demonstrated was an incredible ability to read the room and to flex her style to suit what each individual there needed. This is what I call amazing Emotional Intelligence and it is something not to be taken for granted.
I realised several years ago that I could do something similar and that when I combined it with my experience from years off working in the world of strategy, I was deftly able to facilitate groups that were stuck in their decision making because of emotional-intelligence problems (be it that the group had differing opinions, or that the group had a lack of focus, or that the group had sub-groups that weren’t inclusive, or that there was a lack of understanding or sometimes even that there was just downright stubbornness and resistance to change).
It was amazing; by flexing to the groups needs, making the sessions interactive and engaging, we were able to make incredible progress. We reached a point that not only was everyone in the room bought into the same idea, they all understood it, felt like they owned it and left the room eulogising about the idea. Imagine how powerful that is for a business…
It certainly made for a refreshing change to the years of developing complex strategies that made for a nice, thick, final report but that never got actioned (expensive paperweight anyone? Oh, how many years of my life have I spent doing that kind of work?)
Once I realised that this was an actual skill that could help business (only took me 20 years) I decided to go about building a business around it. I designed a methodology for how to facilitate sessions and also to train others in these skills, decided how much to charge for these services, built a website, found people who are adept at it to join my team, took up some office space, hired an accountant and many more of the things sensible business people do…only to find there was one giant stumbling block…
It was that potential clients (especially senior leaders) didn’t realise it was a service they needed. Sure, they’d experienced bad meetings and worked in dysfunctional teams that didn’t make the progress they needed but they’d never thought that there might be a ready made solution to this. Even where they did recognise it, many didn’t have the self awareness to think that they might be part of the problem or that they personally might not have quite the right skills to sort it.
This could be very demoralising on my part but hey, ho, not to worry, for I like a challenge and actually this is all part of building a business. Because I believe so passionately about how my business, Shiageto Consulting, can help companies and individuals I duly pick up the gauntlet thrown down in my face. I will go about demystifying the services I offer through blogs like these, through videos and by explaining them to each individual that is open to hearing about it (heck someday I may even be able to afford tv, radio and print adverts…just watch this space).
So, after a long rambling story that linked royalty to my company Shiageto Consulting, hopefully that has made it all a little less nebulous [I’m sure a few of you are still scratching your heads though].
Ultimately, if I can leave you with one key message, it is :
“There’s nothing wrong with needing external emotionally-intelligence filled facilitation and training to help unlock the power of your team and of your strategy. Drop me a line to find out more!”
Faris is the CEO and Founder of Shiageto Consulting, an innovative consultancy that helps firms and individuals sharpen their effectiveness. Connect with him here
Success = IQ x EQ x FQ
