Don’t call it a Mistake, call it a Learning Opportunity
Don’t call it a mistake, call it a learning opportunity delves into the realm of what mistakes mean in the consulting industry and discusses the upsides as well as downsides of making mistakes in this business sector. Taking a sneak peak at the insurance consultancy, this article depicts on the view of an experienced consultant and offers practical advice on how to learn from mistakes and avoid these in future.
1 Preface
“As a society we dread mistakes - and as a whole, our mistakes tend to get punished.”1
We are programmed at an early age to think that making mistakes is wrong and are infatuated with avoiding mistakes, particularly within the work environment. Organizations that depend on well-functioning client relationships like consulting agencies, often perceive missteps as weakness, and failures are usually associated with negative consequences. Yet, the wisdom of learning from failure is incontrovertible and this not only boosts innovation but also helps in gaining competitive edge by process refinement. These contradicting views raise the question of how experiencing mistakes influences people in their working life and if these mistakes can be seen positively as a learning opportunity.
In order to further elaborate this question, I interviewed Thomas Zwack, a consultant for seventeen years. He helped shed some light on this issue by presenting his view on mistakes in the insurance consulting industry, where they most likely occur and how to deal with them.
2 The power of Specialisation
I meet Mr Zwack in his office and we directly get to the point. I learn that he worked several years for one of the top five consultancies before opening his own agency, the Jakoby Zwack GmbH, Unternehmensberatung für die Versicherungswirtschaft, together with his former colleague, Dr. Gabriele Jakoby.
We first touch on the subject of mistakes when he introduces his view on the over-diversification at large consultancies. “In my opinion, you simply cannot be specialised for example in the pharmaceutical industry and then move on to the insurance sector and be an expert from scratch. Therefore, specialisation in one business sector or product offers you a crucial competitive advantage.” With this issue in mind, it is not hard to guess why his company is highly specialised, “the good thing about opening up your own business is that you can learn from mistakes you have encountered previously.”
As we move on, the interview becomes more of a conversation and Mr. Zwack piques my interest with his view on international projects in the insurance industry: “I always liked working on international projects. But what I encountered during that time was that consulting requires a greater emphasis on local knowledge, at least in the insurance industry. While I was assigned to a U.S.-based insurance company, colleagues there asked, “Okay, so what is a German consultant doing here exactly? What can he do better than our local experts?” That was a question worth asking as the American insurance market at that time was more progressive than the German equivalent, which was only deregulated in 1994. So how could I possibly consult to this company when my know-how of their insurance market was not as up-to-date as theirs?” This experience was the trigger for Mr. Zwack to learn from his former employer’s actions and focus deliberately on assignments within the German market, where he could profit from already gained expertise.
As we delve deeper into the subject of a consultant’s work, I am keen to know if my opinion of consulting is realistic and I am surprised by the answer. According to Mr. Zwack, “the times when you boarded airplanes to different countries to work on short term assignments, give advice, present it to the executives and then leave the implementation in your client’s hands are long gone - I would even call it a myth. It might have been that way in the 1980s and 90s - the boom years of consulting - but nowadays, consulting typically involves continuous work and long term client relationships.” Mr. Zwack continues to explain, “seen from the perspective of the insurance industry, companies today often know in advance what has to be done and consultants are hired either to work with single experts on one designated question or to implement the desired changes and strengthen the position of the company’s change agents. I would describe consulting rather as “body-shopping for highly qualified people” - you buy in the people who will implement your predefined changes.” He further outlines that not only the duration of projects changed but also the competition to gain those projects became more fierce.
I continue, “So, we have identified that the market has changed for consultants and the competition is tougher. Taking this into account, it seems your pitch presentation is going to be crucial in gaining a competitive advantage. But how can you ensure that the client decides you’re the right person for the job?” Mr. Zwack looks at me, smiles and starts explaining, “Having your own agency has its positives, as I’ve mentioned, so here are some of the negatives. Mistakes can happen right from the beginning. When acquiring new projects, for instance, you identify target companies, schedule meetings with the managers, present your ideas, and at the end you may be told ‘that sounds great, thanks for the idea, we’ll try and implement that ourselves’. Or you contact the wrong people who would support a change process, but are not actually in the position to hire you. Hence, it all really relies on a thorough preparation. You must know the right people to convince within a company, have an attractive idea for them and establish contact at the right time.”
3 Knowing your field matters
The conversation leads us to the topic of project contracts. During negotiations, the company, together with the consulting agency defines the scope of the project: What the problems are, possible solutions for them, the time and budget constraints, the consultant-client-ratio, as well as payment details. I am intrigued to hear what possible problems could await a consultant when he starts off with his designated project. Zwack points out that there are different sources of mistakes. “Let’s imagine you arrive at the project site, enthusiastic to implement the proposed changes, but the employees show resistance. Maybe you are already the fifth consulting agency trying to implement change. First of all, you should have known that prior to starting. Therefore, always make sure you have the relevant information. Secondly, it is fundamental to build a relationship with the people you cooperate with - foster their trust in you. A wise colleague once said ‘people buy from people whom they like!’” Mr. Zwack further refers to resistance to change by underlining that the involvement of the company’s employees is crucial to the success of a project. “If you do not involve people and instead apply changes over their heads you will leave the project and be surprised how, step by step, it reverts to the way it once was.”
Then we come to the main point of this interview - I am curious what Thomas Zwack’s biggest mistake was during his career - and again I am surprised, this time by his honesty. He first jokes that he never made any mistakes, but then continues, “Of course I make mistakes - everyone does. I think my biggest mistake was that I expected too much of the client’s employees, or actually as much as I would have expected from myself or from my own employees. However, other’s employees are not obligated to work over-time, and usually have fixed contractual working hours. In a way, I get really sucked in by the project and along with the time pressure involved, I tend to create unrealistic expectations.”
4 ‘Flawlessness is not what matters, rather the road you take to get there’
Hearing all of that, I start wondering “But shouldn’t a consultant’s work be flawless in order to not harm the client relationship?” Mr. Zwack nods his head in agreement, “Sure we should avoid mistakes, and certainly try not to repeat them. However, you have to understand that projects are never quite the same. The situations and problems change and so do the people you work with. Especially when you are under time pressure to reach a target, mistakes will eventually occur.” This is the reason why the Jakoby Zwack GmbH has always counted on expertise and specialisation. “Our consultants have a broad knowledge of the industry, and in our project teams we will always include one highly experienced consultant to help avoid mistakes by sharing his or her experience with the team. In my opinion, however, it is important that young consultants get the chance to learn and develop. We encourage them to create their own way of problem solving, by letting them make their own mistakes - in the right places, at the right times.” Zwack continues that his company also uses a specific method of knowledge management. For instance, pitfalls experienced by consultants are discussed on a regular basis, and method papers and checklists are written and documented. However, “a guideline or method paper will be of limited help to a consultant who has not yet gained the necessary project experience. I often like to compare consulting to building a house. Before you build a house, you make all the preparations you can think of. Nevertheless, mistakes will inevitably be made. Even though you can profit from this experience when building your second house, new obstacles and problems will arise. Despite this, in time you will perfect the technique.”
Having outlined the importance of being able to detect, assess and learn from mistakes he finally adds “As I mentioned, projects always differ from one another: The main way to avoid mistakes is by learning from your own and those of your colleagues’. Flawlessness is not what matters, rather the road you take to get there.”
5 Conclusion
As outlined by Mr. Zwack, it is not always possible to avoid making mistakes but still mistakes are often accompanied by negative resonance within our society. In line with the interviewee, there is however a noticeable value in shifting the focus from the negative effects of making mistakes towards ways on how to learn from these instead. Only by loosening up the negativity that is still attached to making mistakes, employees can actually open and communicate made mistakes with their peers and managers in order to have a shared learning opportunity as the positive impact of such synergy can be immense. Just as Mr. Zwack mentions, companies therefore should seek the chances to leverage the knowledge from made mistakes instead of focusing on possible negative consequences for such mistakes.