About 5 years ago I returned to playing ice hockey after an almost 15 year hiatus. It was a struggle in the beginning but I’ve been able to improve enough to hold my own and contribute, I think. In learning old skills again and new ones, it quickly became apparent that the important skills are the ones you can’t see, the ones you’re rarely aware of. It’s the subtle minute shift in the angle of your blade, the slight twist of your wrist as you shoot. The overt skills on display are an amalgamation of all the tiny ones you don’t realize you’re doing.

Thinking about this had me reflecting back to consulting. Often times the first objection to change or suggestions of change is that “we already do that” or “we basically do that”. I’m often left feeling like a nitpicker in attempting to explain the subtle differences between what a company’s doing today and what they could be doing tomorrow.

Maybe our work environments are more analogous to sports than even I first thought. It isn’t enough to be able to skate, make a saucer pass, or shoot. At a certain level, every player has those ‘on display’ skills. The differentiators are the subtle things we barely see, hardly think about, and can rarely articulate.

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