By Dana Rae Goldstein
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Like everyone else around the world, I am rejoicing in the release of Queer Eye’s third season. I’ve been rewatching seasons one and two in preparation and as a new consultant learning the bread and butter of the field, I couldn’t help but notice the Fab Five’s serious consulting chops. In fact, there are so many commonalities between their work and what I do at Entegrit that it’s worth breaking it down in a series of articles. For now, let’s focus on their strategic planning.
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Just like change management consultants, the first thing the Fab Five do when they get to the client’s house is identify current state. I’ve learned that this is a necessary first step because it helps the consultant gain an understanding of what the apparent need is– or pain points, how other aspects of operations are impacted, the stakeholders involved in these processes, and so on. For every client, regardless of if they’re a brand-new nonprofit or multinational conglomerate, Entegrit has taught me to provide a current state assessment with every initial consultation document. Not only does this provide the foundation of understanding, but it helps clients feel heard.
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In the season two premiere with Miss Tammye and her son Myles, the Fab Five take on preparing their church’s community center for its annual homecoming service that Sunday. The boys identified that a lack of funds stalled progress after the structure went up and the drywall had been put in, and that Miss Tammye’s intention was to make “a place that we can feed people spiritually and naturally, where everyone that walks in the door can feel love.” They also did an emotional, internal assessment which I’ll discuss in another article.
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After the boys meet with the clients at hand and jump back in their four-door pick up, they always discuss their individual scope and ownership like a PMP would. While identifying scope and ownership helps the client develop an idea of what to expect from a consultant’s services, Entegrit has taught me to also use this opportunity to create a personal mission for the project at hand. This ties back to our tagline of “anticipate excellence.” With a goal in mind and a structure to follow I can quite literally anticipate excellence because I have prepared for it.
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For this episode, Bobby will focus only on the community center, not the mother and son’s house; Tan will dress Myles and help Miss Tammye access lovely clothes she already has; Antoni decides that his role this week will be helping Miss Tammye prepare food for homecoming, not teach her about cooking; Jonathan will help Miss Tammye with the look she adopted after her mother passed; Karamo will focus on Myles’ self-confidence, not on Miss Tammye.
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The Fab Five come up with both long-term and short-term goals for their client, just like Entegrit’s consultants. In addition to being a B-Corp, Entegrit’s mission in short is to empower its clients with balance and stability. Entegrit believes that the best way to do that is by synthesizing a vision and long-term goal with clients, and then together accomplishing short term goals that will give them the tools and momentum to achieve their long-term goal after the consultants leave.
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Because Miss Tammye spends her weeks coordinating for her church, the boys decide that they “want Sundays, and in particular this homecoming, for her to really shine.” The Fab Five plan to coax and embrace the diva inside of her this week so that when they leave, she is equipped to celebrate herself for the Sundays to come. Karamo’s long-term goal is “to encourage Myles to be comfortable with himself… that no matter where he is, he belongs,” and plans to set this into motion by making his focus for the week persuading Myles to attend homecoming.
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This episode is only one example of how Queer Eye and Entegrit use similar consulting strategies to plan for success, and allows me to confidently anticipate excellence.
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