Herald Sun, 15 September 1997

Consultant finds her calling

LESSONS learned in childhood - such as being seen but not heard, and speaking only when spoken to - could be damaging in a business environment.

The owner of the award-winning Barrett Consulting Group, Ms Susan Barrett, believes social conditioning of children often creates a fear of self- promotion when people reach adulthood.

"It is the people who make their competency visible that get the most reward," Ms Barrett said.

"People are often too scared to make that phone call that will pro- mote themselves and their business."

This concept of "call reluctance" has helped Barrett Consulting Group evolve from an idea backed by $3000 capital to one of Australia's leading consultancies.

This month, the business was named 1997 Telstra and Victorian Government Small Business of the Year for a firm with fewer than 10 employees.

Ms Barrett said the highlight of her work was seeing "dull stares of incomprehension change to enlightenment" as clients saw her philosophies in practice.

Ms Barrett, 36, said studying medical science taught her processed thinking and gave her a grounding for putting her ideas to work.

But it was working as a recruitment officer for a large company, in which she interviewed 6000 people, that she learned a lot about human behavior.

While in this job she was introduced to a United States-designed questionnaire used to pinpoint and diagnose a business's problems.

Clockwise from left: Jobst Schmalenbach, Danielle Jeffs, Alex Tiffen, Rebecca Vandersluys, Cathy Mulcahy and in the center Susan Barrett

Ms Barrett said her employer did not place enough emphasis on the survey, so she took "a leap of faith".

In January 1995 she opened Barrett Consulting Group with little more than a vision and $3000.

As a lecturer at the Australian Institute of Sport, Ms Barrett likes to use sport analogies to explain how she helps businesses improve.

"We do interval training for businesses, like you would for an athlete," she said.

"We build fitness among staff - cognitive, mental and skills fitness - and we do that over time.

"We shift and transform the business, asking them where they see themselves and their staff in the future. "

Ms Barrett said call reluctance was costing business an enormous amount in stress-related illnesses.

She said managers could not expect staff who had never been in a selling position to ease into a sales role.

"Businesses are trying to address the symptoms rather than the cause," she said. Ms Barrett said her greatest success was seeing a business improve its sales by 43 per cent in six months.

Barrett Consulting has about 100 clients, including Boral, ANZ, GIO, Pacific Waste Management, National Mutual Health Insurance, the Victorian Institute of Sport, and Foxtel.

Ms Barrett said most Australian firms looked overseas for business training programs, but they should realize foreign methods did not translate well to the local experience.

BY TANYA TAYLOR