Flawless Consulting, 4th Edition

CHAPTER 15Discovering Gifts, Capacities, and Acting on What We Know

WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU GET. An essential element of change is the choice whether to focus on what is missing or on what is present. I once thought that my service as a consultant was to identify problems, and so I dedicated myself to figuring out what was missing. After capitalizing on weaknesses for years, I changed my focus to seeing what gifts are there and where capacities lie. If the value proposition is to help our clients and partners create a future distinct from the past, gifts and possibilities are a powerful and unique path to take us there.

There is a practical side to this choice. We can choose to accept that we have harvested the yield available in the deficiency field. Why pursue a path of diminishing marginal returns? As individuals, we are the product of a lifetime of working on deficiencies. A lot more effort will yield few more results. Same with the workplace.

In terms of strategic work with clients, John McKnight, leading light in the world of understanding the nature of community, has articulated a wonderful case that focusing on deficiencies or needs does not produce growth, it only reinforces the power of the expert at the expense of the client or employee. In his language, it turns citizens, people with rights and power, into consumers, people with weaknesses and needs. He believes that in this shift from citizen to consumer, the one who benefits is the service provider—in our case, ...