blog.Accomplish The Impossible.com

2013-06-06T10:01:00.001-07:00

The Growing Demand for Business Consultants

Outsourcing as the New Solution

Starting and growing a business has always been a complex and demanding job. The new world of technology, increasing regulations and laws, and human resource issues make this an even more challenging environment for business owners.

The simple fact is that it is virtually impossible for today’s entrepreneur to keep apace of the rapid changes that demand attention and management. This means that more and more business owners are turning to business consultants and outsourcing many of their more specialized functions.

Tapping into the Market

For the savvy business consultant, this growth in opportunity means that a well-delivered message and credible positioning will add new clientele. The harried small business owner wants to know that a solution is being provided at an affordable price.

That expectation requires that you clearly communicate the problem that you are solving. It also requires that the business owner sees you as someone that relates to their specific situation and environment.

Five Essential Traits

While there are many elements that go into being a successful business consultant, there are five fundamental elements that must be cultivated and marketed. These include:

1. Expertise. Entrepreneurs turn to outsourcing for specific solutions. They want to quickly understand that an individual or firm is going to provide that solution based on their specialized knowledge and experience.

2. Credibility. A strong referral base with satisfied customers is the quickest route to gaining a potential client’s confidence. This is the concept of building a business one satisfied customer at a time.

3. Approachability. Being an expert is an asset only if a client believes you can relate your expertise to them on a personal basis. This is often a balancing act that requires careful consideration of each client’s environment. For example, some situations demand a suit and others will best be served with working casual attire.

4. Dependability. Entrepreneurs are used to meeting impossible deadlines. When they outsource a task, the more responsive and reliable the consultant, the more the situation is a solution rather than just another problem to be managed.

5. Affordability. Most business owners like bite-sized solutions. This doesn’t mean that a client won’t produce substantial revenues. The key is to approach the situation with a menu of options that allow confidence to be built. Provide a menu of services that get the relationship started and build the business on successful performance.

Increasing complexity in the business market means increased opportunity for consultants if the situation is approached properly. Design your marketing programs to project an understanding of the small business owner’s unique needs. Project the basic traits of a successful consultant and you will find that entrepreneurs will turn to you for their outsourcing needs.

This has been a guest post from Naked Business Consultants in Australia. They are a group of business consultants who are doing some very interesting things down under.

how to think, feel, move and act through the sales process in such an intuitive, whole systems, manner that...

2012-09-03T13:37:00.004-07:00

A client just sent me an email. Her website is elegant and high class. Her day spa appears to be top notch. She says she is "looking for a motivational workshop. I would like to get an email about what kind of service you can provide to a small but growing company. Our interests are in developing leaders, improving bottom line results, keeping and restoring passion and most importantly meeting sales goals by being proactive vs reactive! Hope you have what we are looking for."

So I replied, "Your website is great and it's obvious you can only have the best employees and co-workers. For them to match your website's look and feel, they'd have to be professional but very accessible and smart. Thanks for finding me, and I think we do have a match here.

"First of all I begin by blowing everyone's mind with an amazing demonstration of magic. Your team will not be the same as they watch astonishing impossibilities unfold right before their eyes. I am a professional magician, and the only way to do that successfully for over 20 years, big time, is to continuously renew my passion and courage. So this part of the program is very high energy.

"But there is more to being a magician. Anyone in the performing arts business (show business) must be efficient if they are going to make it and last as a service company. This is why I am forever thankful for the Whole Systems approach I will share with you.

After the astounding visual and group-interactive magic, there is no ice left in the room, and I share the six secrets to accomplishing the impossible:

You've got to Anticipate, Communicate and Visualize...

You've got to Actualize, Present and Restore (where restoring is getting ready to do it again, often with improvements).

"Sounds right, but there is much to these six 'secrets'. I will show your sales group how to think, feel, move and act through the sales process in such an intuitive, whole systems, manner that they will always know what qualities they must bring into the present moment. I will leave them with the master pattern that you and I have previously co-created or, at least, discussed.

"I have a great program for events like this, and I would be able to meet with you when you are back in the Northwest if you feel this might work."

I post this here so I can refer to it and also because I think it really does offer an incredible program for your teams out there.

Without having met them and with a basic understanding of that type of business, I am sure we will begin with the Customer Experience NTS or Enneagram mentioned on page 89 of Accomplish The Impossible (the book).

Here it is:

And the process has been detailed at the ATI-Website here. Remember, you can search the entire ATI-Website to find people's symbols that are relevant for your own use or process. There are not that many yet, but it's growing.

Bullying - Assertiveness Training

2012-09-01T15:02:00.001-07:00

Hover=expand view. Click=view.

Here is the experience of becoming pro-active in response to bullying as seen on the enneagram or the NTS. (A Nine Term Symbol, an "NTS", is also referred to as an enneagram.)

Responding assertively to an incident of bullying or unacceptable behaviour requires the student to be respectful towards themselves and others equally. Central to responding assertively is the student having confidence in themselves and their abilities and knowing their basic human rights. Teachers can help students to practice these behaviours though classroom-based role-plays, where the students identify assertive, aggressive and passive behaviors.

Assertiveness training is necessary in order to train the Attention to act according to Human Rights Values (point-four) and the Golden Rule (point-eight). Without training, we assume people can simply do what they are shown through words (basically what they are told) and what they are shown through other media. But, people can not act until all of these points and inner lines of the Compass (the six labeled lines inside the circle) are working together. Well, people can try, we can pretend, we can do something, but our actions will not be effective until all of these parts come together into one whole system.

The important factor at point-six is Will Power, but it may be in the form of Help or Assistance from Bystanders. Here is a diagram from education.com which shows the bullying cycle.

Now, if through role playing and attention building exercises, we teach, instruct, impart and transfer the knowledge and understanding from the enneagram above to our selves and our students, we can expect to reverse the bullying cycle.

Using the NTS (Nine Term Symbol or Enneagram) it is possible to see exactly which part of the process are lacking and need training for any given student or situation.

Point-six is also about Conscience. Will Power, Conscience and Help can all be understood as aspects of what enters the process at point-six. What comes in at point-six and how we define it depends on the situation and on the people involved.

Point-three, which is The Self, has to do with the real human being and not their acquired personality. Self Confidence is a buzz word, and the closer a person comes to essence, the more true self confidence they attain naturally. But this requires reinforcement from the adults around the growing being, the student. Adults must assist with the arising in the student of self confidence. Again, role playing as a means of assertivness training can help the student and the adults with this action of aiding the development of self confidence.

What ever level of understanding of the Golden Rule or level of Self Confidence or degree of Help (and so on for every point around the NTS) will determine the outcome of the situation and how intentionally a person can act given the forces from the bully.

Enneagram of Tennis (Nine Term Symbol)

2012-08-30T18:09:00.002-07:00

Here is the experience of a tennis game as seen on the enneagram or the NTS. (A Nine Term Symbol, an "NTS", is also referred to as an enneagram.)

I find this approach to be startling and unique. I have never seen an enneagram of a process that repeats in practically no time at all, the time it takes for a ball to travel to the opponent* and back!
So this NTS repeats over and over. This is one of the great things about having a site where users can build their own enneagram symbols and share them with other users.

This NTS was created by Accomplish The Impossible user Jaime Hernandez. For a dialogue with Jaime, just log in and visit his symbol. He cam to one of my workshops on the enneagram, read the book and mapped out his expertise; and his expertise in the symbol really shows.

For anyone familiar with the language (actually an ancient language) of the enneagram, and for anyone who has read the book, this NTS quickly makes perfect sense. If you have played tennis and understand the NTS, it might take you a few seconds to a few minutes to get the picture from Jaime's symbol here. Perhaps this can be applied to other sports!

*The opponent is the other player who is part of the Context Triangle at point 3. I see this as body, mind and others all coming together (in sports) for a game of tennis.

Cesareo Pelaez

2012-03-24T13:39:00.000-07:00

Our dear friend Cesareo has left us with lasting examples and inspiration to accomplish always more than what we might have considered logically possible.

Cesareo lived intentionally and by the time we met, was a teacher in everything he did and said, always and in everything. I will miss him while he is always with us.

The last time I watched their incredible show in Beverly, Massachusetts, Cesareo performed with super human effort. He showed all performers what it means to go out on stage with essence while intentionally using personality. In fact he showed more than this, but it is impossible to put into words. So here is another picture....

Photo by Leslie.D. Bartlett

Here is an important message from our sponsor.

Co-Creation Wheel of Twelve

2012-02-26T00:27:00.001-08:00

We have seen this Wheel of Co-Creation, and now we can look for it in the patterns shown by Foster Gamble in his documentary called THRIVE.

Here he links to the sectors showing problems, challenges and opportunities for us to act, to engage in change or transformation.

And here he shows us about the code:

They say:

"The code may be our most powerful key to thriving.
It is a pattern in nature that exists everywhere from atoms to galaxies. It's called a "torus." You can see it in a seed, a fruit, a hurricane, even the electromagnetic field around a person or the earth. It's how life sustains and evolves itself, and it serves as a universal template for sustainability in all our systems.
Among other things, the code shows us how to access clean, abundant energy, expand our consciousness, restore health and balance to the planet and live sustainably."

This entire code idea begins with the triangle of the NTS (the enneagram) and expands out from there as Gurdjieff, Bennett and Buzzell have demonstrated. (Actually it begins in the center of the triangle.) I am very encouraged by this movie and the work Mr. Gamble has taken on. The enneagram can be useful for clarifying the triads and the trans-formative process work involved in the twelve term system of co-creation and synergy. I am sure we will be in contact with this movement as the need for sustainable models of perception, thinking and sharing- understanding continues to rise in relevance.

Art of Choosing with too many choices

2012-02-14T23:29:00.000-08:00

Have you seen Sheena Iyengar on Ted.com? She has a great talk called "How to make choosing easier." At this date there are over 402,000 views of her TED-talk.

She concludes, "...four techniques for mitigating the problem of choice overload -- cut -- get rid of the extraneous alternatives; concretize -- make it real; categorize -- we can handle more categories, less choices; condition for complexity. All of these techniques... are designed to help you manage your choices -- better for you, you can use them on yourself, better for the people that you are serving. Because I believe that the key to getting the most from choice is to be choosy about choosing. And the more we're able to be choosy about choosing the better we will be able to practice the art of choosing."

Her research is applicable to the NTS (Nine Term Symbol, enneagram) because it demonstrates that people need to visualize in order to actualize choices. Her research shows that the "choice maker" may understand the products he or she is offering but that the chooser likely does not. The choice maker must give the chooser a chance to see the big picture.

When you listen to her speak, keep the enneagram in mind. You may see that the critical aspects of Visualization and Actualization are tied closely to success during the process of choice. This can be applied when you understand the Nine Term Symbol and use it in your business. Those trained in NTS Thinking can see deeply into the interconnectedness within an expert's research or presentation and can quickly root out the core, universal factors.

There are complexities and difficulties involved in everything we do these days. The NTS provides a simple way to connect the essential parts of what makes things work and let go of the distractions. In this case, Sheena Iyengar found repeatedly that people, or rather laymen, need a more simple path to selecting a choice and that this simple path must include the time and space for the chooser to visualize, to picture the outcome. Only then would the actualization phase move the process forward with more successful results.

Mountain Climb mapped on the NTS (enneagram of process)

2012-02-14T21:44:00.001-08:00

mountain photos: cannedswank.com

Here is the start of a mountain climb as seen on the enneagram or the NTS. (A Nine Term Symbol, an "NTS", is also referred to as an enneagram.)

This comes from a discussion with one of our avid readers, Eric Plantenberg (@deliverfreedom.com), who is an amazing mountain climber and leader of the best abundance & freedom seminars we have ever seen.

For those who already know this language, this symbol is a great starting point to dialogue about the process.

Enneagram of the ascent process -- up a mountain

Creative Energy Needed

2012-01-09T16:02:00.000-08:00

Consider the creative energy needed for all of our activities today. The communications coming at us for each project are immense and everything takes time, money and something else.... Creativity.

Do you have it? How much? How often? Does it need replenishing like every other energy?

Well if you are like me, it helps to have "a way of seeing things" such that you can instantly know what forces are contributing to your aims, which ones need resisting, when to let go and how to let an action pass by without any attachment. And there are a bundle of other factors.

So what's my secret?
I don't have one; I have six. It doesn't stop at six really because the six secrets are interconnected into an intricate whole.

Sound mysterious? It is a bit, especially in that this "way of seeing things" brings the mystery of creativity into manageable wholes. Manageable parts, each a whole in itself yet each contributing to the larger picture.

We find that a simple language--complex enough to describe every important process yet easy enough for a high school educated person to incorporate--helps bring a team of individuals into a successful, creative pattern more than the complexities of six sigma, even when it is lean.

Successful creative patterns are what we need right now in many fields and endeavors. Look at the banking business. The vanishing money from the American homeowner is the tip of an iceberg. Magicians could not have done a better job of deceit. But if the ordinary people in the mortgage and paper shuffling offices had had a common language with which to describe their patterns, they could have stopped that illusion from fooling so many of us, even the heads of State.

Illusions break down when those who see them can describe their experiences using a common language.
The language must be simple, direct and inclusive (not leave anything out), and we are not talking about English or Spanish. We are talking about a mathematical language with intuitive insight into creative processes. It is a universal language for all business people, artists, scientists and life experts of any kind.

Since I have taken great care to explain the whole idea in my book, Accomplish The Impossible, I point you to this source now. But wouldn't it be nice to have a creative energy help us with our efforts more often? It is possible! Check out this video to see a few examples of the system I am talking about.

Room for Third Force

2011-09-17T11:23:00.000-07:00

Technically there are three forces that involve or evolve within every situation. Technically this can be shown, studied and used for transformation. You can practically get a degree in it for sustainable business or even psychology. But what if you just want to believe it and move on into bringing this third, the reconciling, the harmonizing, the equilibrating force into your life and work?

YOU CAN!

Here are some options.

See the whole picture: the larger process in which you are involved.
Remember that in every part of your smaller process, there are elements of the whole and there are qualities that need to be realized by you for the process to become complete, more whole, more affected by this third force.
Withstand the difference between where we are now and where we want to be.

What does it mean to withstand the difference? Love yourself and others for this gap, and experience the gap quietly with gratitude - if not for the reality it shows to you, then for your own fluctuating attention that you have the power to observe. You have the power of attention. You can connect consciously with your own attention and bring it to the present moment.

It's true that these three options need practice to even be slightly possible. Repetition is the key but not by a machine. You must be attentive, mindful and open to the mystery of not knowing in order to allow for a new order to emerge that includes you and your outer work efforts, your process—all of which can dramatically increase in quality.

The inner and outer quality of our worlds can and does change as we bring our attention consciously into the equation. Third force has to be generated otherwise we end up with OPPOSING FORCE in everything we do.

Look at the news and the "dialogue" in the media. Even on the most conversant shows like our favorite Charlie Rose or Strombo in Canada, you see the tendency to oppose one idea or one thing with another. Reconciliation is boring for those who can not see its QUALITIES. The reason folks do not see the qualities is because they are invisible like feelings are compared to thoughts.

In any event, you steer the quality of your process and events. We all need to dig in deeper to change ourselves and allow the world to find greater levels of harmonic synergy. We can not do it alone, so here is this blog.... My book shows this in greater detail using the sacred geometry of the enneagram or the Nine Term Symbol which you can find here. Writing that book and creating the website has certainly made these ideas come front and center to my everyday life.

I welcome your comments and replies. Here's to SYNERGY!

Elan Sicroff and Katharina Paul Fall 2011 Tour Information

2011-09-14T13:05:00.000-07:00

Pianist Elan Sicroff and violinist Katharina Paul will perform the music of Thomas de Hartmann, including works from his collaboration with Georges Ivanovich Gurdjieff. Together they have presented this program through venues in London, Dublin, Prague, Tuscany, and Madrid.

More Than A Remarkable Collaboration

On the evening of Saturday, October 8th, pianist Elan Sicroff and violinist Katharina Paul will perform the music of Thomas de Hartmann, including works from his collaboration with Georges Ivanovich Gurdjieff. Together they have presented this program through venues in London, Dublin, Prague, Tuscany, and Madrid.

De Hartmann occupies a unique position in the classical music world. His early Russian Romanticism was blended with the Eastern music he heard and transcribed with Gurdjieff in the 1920s. His later output, from the 1930s until his death in 1956, is filled with both Eastern and Romantic elements. These are combined with the modern idiom, making use of dissonance and bitonality. All of these styles serve to illuminate the underlying message about Man's potential, which he learned from his years with Gurdjieff.

Saturday, October 8 at 7:30pm
David Friend Recital Hall
Berklee College of Music
921 Boylston Street
Boston, MA 02116

Tickets can be purchased online or in person at the Berklee Box Office. Ticket prices are $20, with a $5 discount for Berklee students with a valid student ID. Tickets are $25 at the door on the day of the show.

VIP tickets are available for $100 and include premium seating, a signed copy of Elan Sicroff's latest album 'Laudamus' and a reception with the artists after the concert. Please contact dehartmannproject@gmail.com for more information about VIP tickets.

**

Other Upcoming Performances

Wed October 5th: Studzinski Recital Hall - Brunswick ME
7:30pm Campus of Bowdoin College (207) 373-1400
Generously offered by Bowdoin Music Department.

Thu October 6th: The Chapel at State Street Church - Portland ME
7pm 159 State Street Portland, ME 04101
Suggested donation: $20 / adult - $10 / student or child
http://www.gurdjieffsocietymaine.org/second-issue

Fri October 7th: South Church - Portsmouth, NH
7pm 292 State Street Portsmouth, NH 03801
Suggested Donation: $20 / adult - $10 / student
http://www.gurdjieffsocietymaine.org/second-issue

Fri, Sat October 14th & 15th
Fremont Abbey Arts Center - Seattle WA
8pm 4272 Fremont Ave N Seattle, WA 98103
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/187900

For updates and information about Elan Sicroff and the Thomas de Hartmann Project, connect with us on Facebook.
To listen to an interview with Elan conducted by Robin Young of NPR, click here.

Event for Creating a Sustainable World

2011-09-02T16:06:00.001-07:00

I think this event is worth connecting with; it is all about creating a sustainable world.

Turn your volume down first as they have it hot! The live event stream was here and now it is mixed into highlights!

...in this frame:

What are the Results?

2011-09-02T13:09:00.001-07:00

Accomplish The Impossible seeks to give teams quick and efficient solutions for perfecting the parts and pieces of their process while understanding and supporting the whole. We offer a mind-bending, perspective-changing, straight-to-the-point presentation and engaging materials for getting your team to new levels of productivity.

In the first 20 minutes of interacting with our map for working with process improvement, your people will take the bull by the horns and begin to guide your whole system toward a more profitable state. These methods bring meaning out of the processes your teams already do and provide a common language for everyone in different specialties to describe the exact work that needs our attention. When people find meaning in their work and have clear communication, anything is possible.

Two videos at www.AccomplishTheImpossible.com outline basic ideas that cause sustainable change and improve any organized structure. The book “Accomplish The Impossible” provides the entire, easy to follow system. The time for efficiency is now, and this material will set you up with the master pattern for sustainability and process improvement. Our program entertains with powerful ideas, gets results quickly and lasts as long as you have a process that needs your attention. The lead proponent, Steffan Soule, who discovered the power of the Nine Term Symbol, just happens to be a professional magician, so every program is as fun as it is informative.

Explore our on-line content and consider arranging an affordable session for your teams with Steffan Soule, author of Accomplish The Impossible, master magician and expert at sustainable process improvement.

Getting to Work while forming New Structures

2011-05-16T14:32:00.000-07:00

My business background is in the Performing Arts, Education & Consulting with an emphasis on understanding structures that help us keep sight of the big picture while we integrate and improve the parts of a process. Basically that’s process improvement, but it’s actually more than that.

When studying Knowles' Process Enneagram*, one can see -- at point 8 -- the Structures surrounding our Work or Job at point 5 have a dramatic influence over our effectiveness.

Note: To read this along with the symbol, especially if you are new to this way of "NTS Thinking", it helps to have the symbol printed and in front of you or to arrange two browser windows to see the NTS and the text here simultaneously. (A Nine Term Symbol, an "NTS", is also referred to as an enneagram.)

Our Relationships at point 3 can be tuned in order to serve the activity and to process the information (6) efficiently.

When Knowles speaks of Information (6), he means all of the data, facts and ongoing torrent of information about anything at all related to our work.

Some companies control this flow and restrict it to the point where it slows down the productivity while others may not restrict it enough to keep precious information from the competition. There is a need for everyone to have access to the pertinent information to perform their role and for the Relationships (3) to utilize the Information such that line 5-7 can serve to combine the Job and the Information in the most effective way. (Naturally, the LINE does not do it, people do. This is "NTS language".)

Hover to view or Click to open the NTS in full.

To make a living as a magician (as I have for nearly 30 years), or in any arts business where you’re selling something that is not like food or shelter, you not only have to love what you do, but you have to be efficient.

By listening to the needs of my business, I ended up paying attention to the structures that contribute to and support: efficiency, sustainability, and choosing effective actions within a whole system. This is point 8 in the Knowles Nine Term Symbol. What he shows through hands on experience is that groups can use this to become Self Organizing very quickly. Why? Because at point 8, where the Organizational Structures support the Job (point 5), we can create the best structures for our business. We can form these structures together! But we need to be able to move through our work flow using the inner lines (The Compass) in addition to everything else.

In any case, as a bi-product of working like this, I wound up with a tangible tool for sustainable change and process improvement. It is called the NTS, and I share it in my book called Accomplish The Impossible. Anyone who has studied this can quickly see that the one above works wonders in a consulting scenario. I demonstrate it through Workshops. And the NTS in general has turned into an online web tool that enables users to create, share and store their ideas while they look at problems, come up with solutions, and share understanding across disciplines.

The primary benefit of using a specific structure for clarifying aims and ideas is that when the structure matches the needs of the activities, it enables people—individuals and teams—to become self organizing and to gather the emotional commitment and will to carry a process to completion. And this can happen very quickly when working with the NTS featured here.

Too often people move forward on a plan without a way to collectively organize their ideas and without a common language so they can communicate about ongoing results. Now this works when a company has momentum and big bucks are flying in the door. But when an effort is new or when it’s geared up to reform an old system, what’s needed then is a new pattern. A new pattern that’s inclusive and more consciously organized (than the old ones) so that people can stay ahead of the game instead of just reacting to circumstances.

That’s what we do in addition to providing shows. We create whole systems technologies that are results oriented and range from very simple to complex enough to deal with large projects. My experience with structures has given me the insight to recognize that Richard Knowles, in his book The Leadership Dance, has pin pointed one of the most useful Nine Term Symbols for restoring and transforming corporate activity from uncertainty into action toward values and aims. There is no doubt after reading his work (available here) that his many years of experience and direct application at DuPont and other companies have advanced the practical uses of what he calls "the Process Enneagram".

(*The Process Enneagram © by Richard Knowles is used here with permission from the author. The labels on the six Inner Lines are from the book Accomplish The Impossible by Steffan Soule.)