Daddy What do you Do?

Last night I'm sitting on the couch with my 7 year old daughter and I asked her, "Do you know what daddy does for work?" She pauses, then looks at me puzzled and says, "You go to your office right?" So, I'm thinking to myself, wow, my own kid doesn't really know what I do for a living.  I've posed this question before to my mother-in-law and she says:  "I just tell everybody that you work for some nonprofit."  Even my sister, in an attempt to explain what I do to a friend said, "You tell her what you do, since I'm not really sure what you do." Such is the life of a consultant in the public domain.  

I find myself having to tell stories about what I do, especially to those that work in the private sector.  Facilitation & Planning:  "Hmm.....its kinda like doing a business plan with nonprofits, foundations and government agencies.  You help guide them through the process of visualizing what the preferred destination looks like, provide a roadmap to get there and put in highway signs to see if they are on course to arriving at their destination.  You also put in benchmarks along the way so you can determine whether or not you are on the right track, with periodic check-ins to change course if necessary."

  

Public Policy:  "Once the plan is place, we have to determine what type of community/public support is necessary and what types of financing options are available (i.e. state, federal, municipal, local government support).  It's somewhat like going to a bank to fund your business plan, except its public money.  In some cases, there may not be money involved at all.  Rather, you might be looking at a state or federal law or a specific policy that needs to be put in place so you can open for business or ensure that your business runs smoothly.  In other cases you may just want to educate the public on the implications if action is not taken.  (i.e. global warming/carbon emissions)    

Research & Evaluation:  Now that you have your doors are open for business, you want to know how well your business is performing.  Using scientific research methods, you seek to determine how well you are meeting the targeted needs of your clients.  Is your plan working? Does it need to be modified? What types of success stories can you tell to inform others of your impact?  What are the hard numbers or percentages that articulate  levels of success?   

When I speak to other consultants in the field, we often talk about setting up a support group to talk about these and other issues in educating the public of our work.  For now, this explanation still may draw blank looks from my 7 year old, but hopefully for those of you not currently in 2nd grade this explanation will suffice.