What Can You Do for Me that I Can’t Do for Myself?

Did you see your calendar this morning? It’s November – really, it is. I know this is a cliché, but it seems to me that this year has flown by faster than those of the past, and yet, I find it amazing that January 2013 seems so far in the distance. From a business perspective, I am content with where I am today, but I definitely want more for 2014.

Recently I sat down to begin planning for the New Year, and as I reviewed my strategic plan, I found myself asking these questions:

• Have I reached all of the objectives set for 2013?
• If not, how close am I to reaching them, or do they need to be revised because of changing market conditions or other factors?
• If I have reached one or more, how do these successes help set new objectives? 
• What resources outside my business could be helpful in setting or reaching new goals?

As a successful business owner yourself, I am sure you have a plan for your business, and you are confident that what you have done in the past will continue to work for you in the future, as long as you keep your eye on the marketplace. After all, you've been in business for 10 years (more or less), and the number of new clients coming in each year is acceptable, if not better.

As a management consultant, I am often asked, “What can you do for me that I can’t do for myself?”

To begin, management consultants can conduct a review of your organizational culture and operational practices to identify any gaps or areas of needed improvement, without the cultural - albeit unintentional - bias of someone within your organization.

Outside consultants can also evaluate how well you gather, and then use, data based on metrics which focus on the Voice of the Customer (VOC), to further enhance the value of your products or services within your target market. Moreover, a consultant is less likely to be surprised or dismiss VOC data as incidental or "a one-time issue already resolved."

Although you can certainly do all of this yourself, consulting firms are uniquely positioned to take a fresh look at their clients businesses from an unbiased, open-minded perspective, which by its very nature stimulates innovative thinking and generates new ideas.

This is where firms like Dawn Gannon Consulting can be truly valuable. Supplementing your own efforts with the expertise of a management consulting firm offers a tremendous opportunity for growth based objects set as a result of an outside review of your company’s current situation, efforts and future plans.

As you begin to plan, or continue planning, for 2014, consider taking advantage of resources outside your organization, which could not only take you where you want to go, but beyond as well.

Before founding her own consulting firm, Dawn Gannon served as a respected management professional in the nonprofit military, higher education, and healthcare fields for 25 years. Dawn’s commitment and personal mission to improve the lives of others through service to the community focuses on providing administrative and volunteer management, consumer education, public outreach, event planning, relationship-building efforts,and strategic planning. She is also a published author on the topic of childfree living.