For a little over two years, Engine-For-Change.com has been my labor of love. I write this blog because I enjoy it and I know through reading it you urge yourself forward in your own changes, one post at a time. Yet, lately I’ve been thinking there is more I could be doing to help you make your organization work the way you want. I want to branch out.
But which direction should I go?
As I looked at the sites and blog of others writing about change I noticed an almost uniform multitude of consultants, who happen to have a blog, peddling their services (e.g., coaching, speeches, strategic planning). I couldn’t see myself putting in the effort to expand Engine-For-Change only to become one of the millions trying to sell a set of products to you.
So, instead, I created a new page here at Engine-For-Change.com, Troubleshooter-For-Hire. The page contains my rough outline of what service I think I can offer to the market if I were to move Engine-For-Change past a hobby to a small business. You’ll have to let me know if the concept makes any sense outside of my own mind.
I see myself not as the consultant ready with a catalog of parts (speech, coaching session, assessment). Instead, I imagine myself getting involved upstream of the fix at the troubleshooting stage.
How’s that work?
It’s a very clear step in the engineering world When I interned at Cummins Engine Company in 1997, my job wasn’t to design the engine blocks. My job was to take the engine block that was cracking at low miles and figure out why it was failing. I hooked up my instruments, applied my knowledge, and found the flaw in the design (or manufacturing process) that was creating the cracks. I was neither designer, nor customer. I was the troubleshooter.
Today, I play the same role. I’m not the leader who selects what the organization should achieve. I’m not the workman ordered to carry out the process. I’m the in-between, helping both parties–who are often too close to the problem–see the big picture, notice the important details, and solve their own problem. I’m good at it, and I love doing it.
So, if you think you need a good troubleshooter to help you find the flaw, the short circuit, or the leaking system in your organization, then send me an e-mail at engineforchange@gmail.com.
Maybe I’m wrong and there is no market for this specialized kind of help. But, if you’ve been needing this service all along, but didn’ t know where to find it: Here I am.
I tell it to you all the time, now I’m repeating it to myself: Why not try?
p.s. All of you reading Linchpin will recognize that Seth Godin would be proud of me because I’ve pushed past the resistance and I’ve shipped. It is as tough as it seems, but it is also freeing. This is going to be fun. This is my way of being indispensable.
