A Year in the Life
By Bret Shaw
I have chosen to record my thoughts of the past year through the prism of Quest Worldwide’s values….
Committed
When I was considering joining Quest Worldwide over eight years ago, one of the attributes that most attracted me was the long-term nature of many of Quest’s client relationships. I am very happy, and proud, that this year marked the start of the eighth year of my association with one particular client.
What is even more pleasing is that it is not a ‘dependency’ relationship. Through our partnership the client organisation has really embraced the principles, processes and practices that Quest introduced – and made them their own. We have helped them throughout the journey and continue to offer guidance, support, challenge and fresh ideas, to ensure that the change journey that they commenced in 1999 continues to flourish … and to deliver results.
One of the quirks of such a long-standing relationship is that there are occasions where I can add to the “corporate memory” because I have been involved with the business and transformation over such a sustained period, whereas many of the current ‘crop’ of executives and leaders have been appointed relatively recently.
In addition to this long-standing client, I am also delighted to continue to work with two other clients for the fifth year.
I think such mutually rewarding partnerships are only sustainable by always keeping the client’s interests at heart. By offering principled advice and guidance - even when (sometimes) that advice is not what the client wants to hear! – we demonstrate that we are committed to the clients best interests and success.
Collaborative
My effectiveness as a consultant is greatly improved by establishing collaborative relationships with my clients, colleagues and business partners. Whilst I have the confidence to analyse a particular situation for a client, I also have the humility to recognise that working in a collaborative way inevitably leads to a better result.
There have been many times throughout the year where the germ of an idea has grown into a much better proposition by ‘bouncing it around’ with my colleagues – presenting it to a client – and further improving it based on the client’s reaction to the idea. One example is a high impact event that we are designing for a client - I won’t share the particular idea (because we are yet to stage the event, and I don’t want to spoil it!); what started out as a useful but fairly bland idea was improved by a brainstorming session with five of my colleagues. The client liked it – and further improved it! To make it a success will require great contributions from the joint client / consulting team as well as the Quest support team and our chosen business partners. True collaboration!
Challenging
Over the past year my Quest role has allowed me to work directly or indirectly with clients in FMCG, resources, and financial services. Some are business-to-consumer businesses, others are business-to-business, and some are not-for-profit organisations.
All of them want their Quest consultants to be challenging their thinking and business practices … to push them to be better and to build sustainable business improvement. I believe that the diversity of experience that is provided by working for a range of business sectors across many cultures, and from senior teams leading global mega-businesses, through to teams within business units and functions in a small country, provides breadth and depth of understanding about how businesses ‘tick’ from top to bottom. That helps me to offer challenging insights and advice about how to deliver great sustainable results.
Enthusiastic
Client demands have often necessitated very long travel times – from the time I leave my home to the time that I bed down in a far flung place e.g. Mumbai or Shanghai can be up to 20 hours. This year I have worked in Jakarta, Singapore, Bangkok, Shanghai, Mumbai, Taipei, Dubai, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Wollongong, Perth, Canberra – even Sydney, my ‘home base’! Whilst the travel schedule takes its toll on my personal fitness regime (or is that just my excuse?), I think that it is important to be willing, enthusiastic and flexible in responding to the needs of my clients.
Many of the teams that we work with – especially at executive level – are time poor people operating in pressure-cooker stressful circumstances. Many have travel schedules that rival mine and our shared jet-lag experiences certainly help to create mutual empathy! Having a genuine ‘make it happen’ attitude is very much appreciated by my clients. Being authentic in my efforts to be interested in their personal and business success I think contributes to the quality of the relationship and to our chances of success.
One upside of all the travel is that I use my travel time as an opportunity to think, reflect and plan. I, for one, won’t welcome the threatened cell phone coverage on aircraft that is expected soon! That would be the end of my sanity sanctuary … and would certainly dampen my enthusiasm for all that travel!
Delivering Results
I derive great personal satisfaction from seeing my clients – both individuals and businesses - grow and succeed. Delivering results includes, of course, at least meeting the clients expectations for a particular assignment. The best assignments, however, are those where you can witness the results of Quest’s work having short-term as well as sustainable impact - whether it is in successful strategy implementation, improved asset effectiveness, better people engagement, or improved capability. This past year has been rewarding for our clients, and also for me, because client success through Quest delivering results really gives me a ‘buzz’!