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by Jennifer Grant, Student Member
Crazy hats, magic tricks, and noisemakers livened up the first STC meeting of the season. After the usual networking dinner, Suzanne Saxe, author of The Consultative Approach: Partnering for Results, lectured on how to build effective business partnerships. Her 60-minute presentation was dotted with fun elements that kept the mood light and entertaining.
During the first half of the lecture, Saxe defined and described the roles that effective partners play when dealing with clients or co-workers. One could spew the cliché "you have to wear different hats at different times." However, Saxe took the cliché literally. She would describe a role such as "problem solver," then pull out a black pirate hat – complete with gold trim and floppy feather – and place it on the head of the self-proclaimed "problem solver" of the group. This process was repeated for the "coach" with a silk baseball cap, the "technician" with a bright yellow hard hat, the "administrator" with an Uncle Sam patriotic hat, and more. (See photo)
Saxe used magic tricks as visual metaphors for her lecture. She pulled scarves out of an empty hat and made the pages of a coloring book change right before our eyes. Saxe's stories were funny, yet relevant. One story was about a prominent dog psychologist that went to her house and told her that the family pooch was distraught over the prospect of having to sleep in a new doghouse. Yes, the story fit smoothly in the lecture – teaching the group a lesson about interacting professionally with clients.
Saxe even made everyone get out of his or her chair and help her prove a point. This activity required everyone to find a partner, stand facing each other, touch palms, and then push each other at the same time. This exercise showed that if both sides in a relationship try to force each other, then no one gets anywhere.
Probably the most helpful section of the meeting was the second half of the lecture. We watched as Saxe walked one of our members through a real-life scenario. Chapter president Debbie Wiles was chosen to think of a situation at her work where she wanted to convince one of her employees to switch to single sourcing. After Saxe explained the components needed to make an effective argument, Debbie improvised a dialogue she would use to convince her employee. Saxe critiqued Wiles' performance, then, using the feedback, Debbie perfected her dialogue and created a brief, convincing argument that would surely affect any employee.
Delighted with how well Debbie performed, the rest of the members divided into groups and used the same technique to coach each other to produce winning dialogues for various scenarios. Just when it looked like the meeting would get serious, Saxe pulled out a party noisemaker to signal the end of that session.
If you missed last month's meeting, then don't forget to mark your calendars for Wednesday, October 8. Don't miss another great meeting!
Editor's note: The URL for Suzanne's pre-course survey for The Consultative Approach Workshop and self assessment is available in her Letter to the Editor.