Ask these 3 questions to be a better strategic partner

Tired of being treated like a glorified "order taker?" Start acting like the strategic partner you want to be by asking these 3 questions…

Consultants, HR peeps, communications & marketing, IT… the list goes on. There are a lot of us out there whose job it is to guide and help other people (and organizations) get things done.

Next time someone comes to you, increase your impact as a true strategic partner and start doing more *fun* work by asking these 3 questions:

1. "Tell me more about (that thing)"

2. "Where is this request coming from?"

3. "What are your intended outcomes?"

Your customers/clients are likely grabbing for one of few tools they know... it's your job to understand their need enough to provide the tool that actually solves their problem :)

• Transcript

  [00:00:00] How to be a better strategic partner with three questions. I've been doing some coaching with a couple individuals who are internal partners. So think people like organizational development, human resources, internal communications, IT, and the same thing keeps coming up about how to be a strategic partner rather than an order taker.

  This also applies if you are a consultant or you want to be a consultant. If you are in a role where it is your job to bring expertise and help someone accomplish something outside of their area of expertise, this one's for you.

  The example I gave when I was coaching someone who works in organizational development recently was that the worst thing you can do as an organizational development professional is when someone says, Hey, make me a training on that thing. Or, go find training on that thing. And you go, sure, here it is.

  Here's the three questions you can ask.

  "Tell me more about that thing." "Tell me where this request is coming from" and also "what are your intended outcomes?"

  There's [00:01:00] tons of follow-up questions you can and should ask in addition, but let me talk about those three. So first of all, just asking, "tell me more about that". You're likely going to get tons of information about why somebody has asked you to create that solution.

   The reality is they're coming to you because you are the expert in the thing that they want made. Now it's time to use your expertise to figure out, that's really the tool that should be used here. So next is asking "where is this request coming from?"

  That might help you understand more about what the root cause of this thing is. So for example, if someone's looking for training, they might say, I need change management training because we have a huge initiative rolling out.

  Now we know more about where that request is coming from, and I might give you an indication that maybe they need change management training or maybe they need a change plan for that rollout.

  But the last question is my favorite. It's "what's your intended outcome?". In the example I just gave, the intended outcome is probably a really successful rollout of whatever this change is. People have adopted it. It's likely not [00:02:00] that half the company is trained in something. So next time someone comes to you for a request, rather than saying, "sure, you got it, buddy!", I want you to ask those three questions. Ask some follow up questions and see if there is a different tool from your own expertise and your experience that you think is a better fit to achieve the outcome they're looking for.