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The first few minutes

The first few minutes when you meet someone as a consultant are vital. The person on the other side is evaluating you. Whether you are in a meeting or in a consulting discussion or in facilitation, those first few minutes are vital.

How this happens is the people on the other side ask a question and watch how you respond. Depending on how you respond, the conversation goes uphill or downhill.

It is important to handle this well. How does one do it? One, by listening fully, being curious, asking the right questions. But this alone wont work - neither will purely paraphrasing - at this stage, they are very likely looking for specific answers. If you dont give specific answers or vacillate - it will also put you in a slot - from where escaping may be difficult.

Take a cricket analogy for this. When you are new to the crease, the bowler tries you out by bowling a few interesting balls and sees how you react. Depending on how you react/stand up/perform the next steps happen. Take any sport for that matter or any interaction, the first few minutes are very important.

And no, you cant manage it by being extra 'good' in the first few minutes and attempt to wing it - but the first few minutes does give you an advantage if you do it well. Yes, important to survive the innings and/or win in the end, but this process of the initial laying of the chess pieces is an important one.

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