Every new adventure or growth opportunity sparks fear. If you travel to a new country and don't speak the language you may experience fear for your safety. If you are writing a book for the first time, you may fear what others may think of you.

When it comes to making a major career transition such as leaving the comfort of a steady paycheck for up's and down's of running your own business, the question is not IF you will deal with money fears but rather WHEN you will and more importantly HOW you handle it.

Money fears are those nagging voices in your head that say things like:

• "I know you want to start your own business, but who are you kidding? The kids are in college, you don't have enough money in the bank. It's best to wait..."
• "Sure the life of an entreprenuer sounds exciting and boy wouldn't we love the flexible lifestyle. But seriously, we got bills. How in the world will this business EVER earn as much as what you are making now?"
• "Make money doing what you love?...

Back in 2012, I went to Nantucket for a well-deserved personal and business retreat. My consulting business was growing by leaps and bounds and I was working with clients all around the world. As I pondered what it would look like to take my business to the next level, I swear I audibly heard the words from higher guidance, the universe, God "Write what you know." And my response was, "Well...I know a lot about consulting" and I set out to find a way to capture what I knew about consulting into a format that was accessible and applicable to others who were seeking the same type of consulting success that I had.

And five years later, I am super-excited to announce the launch of my new business "The Consultant's Institute." Yes, you heard me...FIVE YEARS LATER!! While I would love to share with all of the amazing value I have for new and seasoned consultants, I would be remiss if I did not share more about my journey to get here and what I learned about business re-inventions so you...

If you have visions to start or grow your own consulting business, you have first hand experience with those annoying and debilitating money fears. Money fears are those voices in your head that sound reasonable but are actually sabotaging your future success. The money fears say things like:

• "I know you want to start your own business, but who are you kidding? The kids are in college, you don't have enough money in the bank. It's best to wait..."
• "Sure the life of an entrepreneur sounds exciting and boy wouldn't we love the flexible lifestyle. But seriously, we got bills. How in the world will this business EVER earn as much as what you are making now?"
• "Make money doing what you love? Really? Let's live in the real world, okay?"

Your money concerns are not crazy. They make sense because when you run your own business you give up a steady paycheck for the variable income that comes with entrepreneuership. They make sense when there are too many people who give...

If you have a new consulting client, it is likely that they are antsy. If they have gone to the trouble to find and hire you, then they are more than ready for you to start solving their challenges. However, as tempting as it is, it is in YOUR best interest and more importantly your client’s for you to go slow to go fast and do an organizational assessment up front.

Consultants need to do an organizational assessment for several reasons:

• To form an independent point of view – Data is your ally in discovering the absolute details of the client’s issues and challenges. Your independent point of view is your most valuable asset you provide your client.
• To gain clarity on root causes – Data helps reveal the true causes behind clients’ issues and challenges. Your client doesn’t know why they are experiencing the symptoms that they have because they are too close to the situation and can’t see the forest from...

When your clients start complaining the right and left hands don't know that they are doing and they can't prioritize or focus - they are likely to have a strategy problem.

But the question is what kind?

Strategy is more than a game plan for winning. It ultimately is lived out in the tough daily decisions and tradeoffs that everyone in the organization is making. Strategic intentions are realized or not realized NOT in a strategy retreat BUT in the trenches on a daily basis when decisions are made on head count, resourcing, product offerings, service standards, etc.

Effective strategy has three major components: It is well-grounded, articulated and used as a decision-making filter for leaders and employees throughout the organization.

• A well-grounded strategy that is also articulated but not used as a decision-making filter is inconsequential. These are strategies or, better yet, strategic intentions that make good wall hangings in the employee break rooms. Inspirational...

Like an architect’s blueprint, an organization design determines the nature and flow of work, as well as the ways in which employees interact with one another. When an organization design is working well, it creates alignment throughout the broader organization, facilitates effective workflow, enhances partnership and synergy, and enables better individual performance.

Structure plays an important role in an organization’s ability to deliver results, because it determines:

• The way work is divided
• With whom employees will interact and build relationships
• The nature and extent of required supervision
• Simply put, a well-designed organizational structure enhances the coordination of activities, accelerates the speed of producing goods/delivering service and reduces operating costs

Organization redesign is a highly valuable performance improvement initiative that enables your clients to optimize its people, processes and profits. It is also the single most strategic...

An effective organization design is a lot more than what you might find on an org chart. It is the way in which an organization coordinates activities towards product and service quality and delivery effectiveness and efficiency. 

FOUR INDICATORS OF EFFECTIVE ORGANIZATION DESIGN:

• Aligns with broader organization: The organization strategy brings together the business and people strategies so that what the organization wants to deliver on…it can deliver on. Sub-units also connect with the rest of the broader organization.
• Facilitates effective workflow: Processes for creating and delivering products/services to customers/clients are maximized.
• Enhances partnership and synergy: Work is linked horizontally across departmental and geographic boundaries (which is especially important in today’s global world).
• Enables individual performance: Employees at every level are empowered and motivated to do their jobs effectively and efficiently.

Another way to think about an...

One of the most strategic and transformative consulting projects you can offer your clients is organization redesign. Not only does organization design enable you to help your clients optimize their business performance and reshape their culture but also it positions you to land a six-figure consulting contract.

To get you started, let me share with you an overview of how to go about delivering an organization redesign project. First, there are four phases: determine design direction, develop the design, plan the implementation, and implement and evaluate.

Second, as you guide your clients through each phase, they need to address both hardware-related issues (e.g., processes, reporting relationships, spans of control, etc.) and software-related issues (e.g., leader and employee behavior and performance patterns) You, as a consultant, add value by helping them address both simultaneously. 

Third, the following are some suggestions of what you can offer your...

When I first joined Walt Disney World as an internal Organizational Development Consultant, I was assigned to Disney's Animal Kingdom. The park had just opened and while there were many things that were going well, one of their biggest challenges was to unravel some of the missteps that took place at opening. You see, the creative team at Walt Disney Imagineer had an amazing vision for the theme park and what it could become. However, the Imagineers did not report to the same leader as the operators who would eventually manage the park and the lack of coordination cost the company millions. Little things like including ample stroller parking at the park's signature attraction Kilimanjaro Safaris would have been caught if there was better communication between the creative and operating teams. It was for this reason that the team kicked of an initiative dedicated to enhancing the strategic partnering not just for the Animal Kingdom for the company overall. 

Since then,...

I have two children. When they were small, they used to go to daycare. What this meant in practicality to me was: two kids + daycare = many fevers and visits to the doctor’s office. As the parent, I was able detect and even treat the fever. However, in order to get rid of the fever, I had to rely on my doctor to discern whether the fever was caused by a bacteria or a virus and, if so, what part of the body the bacteria or virus was infecting. Then the doctor, using her knowledge of how the body functions, was able to prescribe the solution to dealing with the root cause of the fever.

You may be thinking right now, “What does this have to do with consulting?” Well, the difference between a parent and a doctor is the doctor is better able to understand the human body as a system, as well as better able to discern root causes of illnesses and to prescribe long-term cures for those illnesses. Similarly, the difference between a good consultant and a great consultant is...