October
03,
2025
How to Get What You Want When You Don’t Know What You Want.
It’s the kickoff meeting with the change management consultant for your project. In an ideal world, you know what goals you want to hit, and you understand the consultant’s approach to getting you there. But what if neither is true?
Confusion. Awkwardness. Wasted time. Opportunity?
Yes, that last one. Because if you have a good consultant, this is the beginning of a beautiful partnership.
Why? Because think about the flipside – you both think you know exactly how to proceed. That’s a recipe for disappointment.
Too often, consultants and clients think they’re aligned.
They charge forth without setting a foundation for clarity and trust. Then they have to course-correct, sometimes with painful consequences.
Not knowing is a gift – it forces you to discover, align, and work together.
So, how should your consultant set this foundation?
Discover.
Your change consultant should get themself up to speed and ask for your help to do it. Instead of making you explain and show them everything, they should respect your time and do some homework. Here are some of the things they can do:
- Review organization documentation. The consultant should review the mission, vision, and values of your organization. They should also familiarize themselves with the org chart, key roles, and the geographic layout of the organization.
I once worked with a team that had a value around “community impact,” and it kept showing up in small decisions. Knowing that from the outset helped me frame every change in terms of how it affected their mission, not just their margins.
- Review project documentation. The consultant should study the business case, plans, project team org chart and roles, tools to be implemented, and any deliverables created to date. They should also review your organization’s approach to change management, if you have one.
- Observe. Is there a facility or plant tour that would give the consultant a sense of the work of the company and the work environment of stakeholders? Could they shadow key roles to capture a “day in the life” of employees? Can they sit in on meetings? They should ask you to set those observations up for them.
- Conduct interviews. The consultant should talk to key people about the change facing your organization. This will give them the mindset of key players and your company’s environment and culture. They should ask open-ended questions like, “How would you describe the change ahead?” “How do you and others feel about it?” “What are the biggest risks?” “What do you hope for once this change is implemented?”
I remember asking a stakeholder, “What does this change mean to you?” and she replied, “Honestly? I’m just scared it means more work with less clarity.” That moment shaped how we approached the communication plan—we made transparency one of our north stars.
Answer the big three.
What does success look like?
Your consultant needs a crystal clear view of what success looks like for this initiative. And so do you! Getting to a shared understanding of the goals of the change is essential, before you start. That’s what you’re both working toward.
- Quantitative Goals. Hopefully you have something to share with your consultant – a business case for the project, strategic goals for the near-term, KPIs this change will help you hit… This will give your consultant clear targets, so they can make sure the change management approach points toward the center.
- Qualitative and Broader Goals. Near-term quantitative goals always have a “so what?” attached. For example:
- Quantitative Goals: Adoption of the new system on Day One will save a certain amount of money (avoiding lost performance after go-live) and make a certain amount of money (selling a new product, etc.)
- Broader Goals: This will expand the customer base and allow the company to grow.
- Qualitative Goals: The new system and employees performing well on Day one will improve customer satisfaction, boost employee morale, and allow employees to develop faster through higher-level work.
- Personal Goals. You might have hopes and dreams attached to this change project, and that’s important information for your consultant.
Maybe opening a new facility is something you’ve imagined for years. Maybe you want to see the looks on your team’s faces when they love their jobs just a little bit more. Maybe this new project will help you hit your next career milestone.
Your consultant should be working to get your organization and you what you hope for.
I once worked on a project with a major retailer, and the client confided that if this system rollout went well, it would give her the credibility to throw her hat in the ring for a VP role she’d been eyeing. Knowing that gave us both extra motivation to make sure the project told a story of her leadership.
How will we get there?
- Your consultant should have a change management approach to get you to that success. They should walk you through it, step by step.
But if your organization has a change management model/approach/function you want your consultant to use, they should be able to do that and, importantly, describe to you how they will align with each step. Make sure your consultant has experience using their clients’ models.
- They might have a change diagnostic. This will show you your organization’s readiness for the change ahead in a number of key areas. This will do three things:
- Identify where you need to focus. The diagnostic will identify gaps in your readiness, so you can channel your energy there.
- Align key people on the landscape – the assets and liabilities – that you’re starting with.
- Provide a dashboard to use throughout the project. You should come back to the dashboard periodically, to make sure you’re closing those gaps in time for your launch.
The diagnostic I use with Emerson clients rates readiness of 17 elements that map to our change model. We do the diagnostic in a working session with key clients, to surface all information, align on the current state, and agree to use the dashboard throughout the project.
One client described the diagnostic session as “like holding up a 360-degree mirror to the organization. Some of what we saw wasn’t pretty, but it was real, and we needed it.” That honesty helped set the tone for an open, focused partnership.
- Talk with your consultant about a culture assessment. It’s essential to understand what works (and what doesn’t) in your organization.
The consultant might do a “quick and dirty” culture assessment through interviews or conduct a more formal assessment. Then they should tailor the approach to the culture. Bottom line: if you want the change management approach to work and your change to stick, you need to go with the culture, not against it.
How will we work together?
Your consultant should want to know how to work with you best. Beware of consultants who simply inform you how they plan to communicate and collaborate. And don’t insist on a working approach that fits only you. This should be a conversation, ending in a working agreement that serves both of your styles and needs.
At a minimum, talk about:
- What checkpoints and decisions you need.
- Who needs to be involved in each decision or deliverable. Consider a RACI chart for the key people in your organization, so the consultant understands exactly whom to loop in, and how.
- How you like to communicate, and how often. What platforms do you like: email, messaging, texting, face-to-face, phone calls, shared documents? How often od you want to talk or collaborate? How much information do you want? What situations should trigger immediate communication?
Pro tip: Create a one-page working agreement. I once had a client who preferred Microsoft Teams messages over emails and wanted short audio recordings instead of reports so they could get caught up during their commute. That little note saved us countless misunderstandings.
- How you’ll handle roadblocks or resistance. What should your consultant do if they get push-back, inefficiency, or silence?
Your consultant should document your working agreements – nothing fancy, just a one-page outline of what you’ve agreed to. It might seem unnecessary, but it will prevent confusion when the project heats up.
Formalize it.
For each question, type it up and say it out loud – together. There’s no skipping this step. Have the consultant restate your wishes and agreements to make sure you’re on the same page. Think about it – what did you miss? When you’re both satisfied, share the documented approach, goals, and working agreement.
I once worked with a nonprofit that had just gone through a leadership change. We created a framing document outlining what success looked like and how we’d get there. A few months in, I noticed they were subtly shifting direction. I brought the document to a check-in, and sure enough—the new leadership had moved the goalposts. We updated the plan together, and from then on, reviewed it monthly. That simple document became our lighthouse.
Work the plan.
The plan – everything you’ve documented – is a living thing. Your consultant should revisit those key documents regularly (especially in the first few weeks) to document progress and make sure those plans still serve you based on emerging information. If not, revise them and make a new agreement.
When things get messy (as they often do) this work you did up-front will become your anchor and your way through the fog.
You didn’t engage a change management consultant to type up documentation. And you certainly didn’t hire them to tell you and your organization what you need. Neither of you has all the answers. It’s a partnership – you bring the organizational and industry expertise, and they bring the change management experience, informed by decades of big changes across many organizations. The synergy is what will get you to your goals, once you figure out what they are.
