For almost an hour, I sat on the park bench and watched both my kids play in the sandbox with 2 new friends.
No kicking, crying, or snatching.
Instead, they shared a pale & shovel, made pretend food together, and I’m happy to report that nobody got sand in their eyes.
Proud papa moment.
A year ago there’s no way I could have taken such a back seat. I would have been right there in the sandbox, guiding their behavior, mainly leading by example.
I’ve come to realize that to be a successful parent, I must change gears constantly, and apply different strategies to new situations, sometimes at the drop of a hat.
Similarly, to be a successful Excel consultant, I must go through multiple stages for every project.
I start out holding the client’s hand very closely. Once I understand their requirements I enter the creative problem solving phase, and then slowly I start whittling down the solution to be more simple, clear, and efficient.
Eventually, I must completely let go and take a back seat while I let the end-user interact with the tool that I created.
Ideally they don’t just leverage the Excel tool in a singular, limited way either. If I’ve done my job well, I’ve built the tool to be dynamic and scalable, while also teaching the end-user how to expand the tool’s scope and functionality to suit their future needs.
It’s a truly beautiful progression that I feel privileged to experience regularly.
If you’re building an internal Excel tool for your team or department, or even a client-facing Excel tool, and would like some guidance on how to navigate and optimize the process, drop me a line and I’ll be happy to share my pale and shovel skills with you :).