If you are feeling the stress of more work and less time and support to do it, you are not alone. In today's warp-speed and tumultuous work environment, productivity expectations are extraordinarily high and climbing. Under such strain, it is easy to keep your head down and eyes on your work, instead of scanning the horizon for important shifts and changes.

For the long term, however, this can be dangerous. As a veteran consultant, I consistently see that organizations and the people within them don't put their heads' up to look outside of their narrow, pressing focus. As a result, companies are slow to recognize and react to changes. They think they know their clients, their competitors and the marketplace, and yet they are surprised when they are not achieving the results they expected.

Are you guilty of this? Ask yourself, in the last 90 days:

• What have I learned? What new business skills have I acquired? Does the market reward them?
• What feedback have I gotten from current and potential clients? How have I evaluated and responded to it?
• Do I understand my clients' current strategic initiatives, obstacles and competitors?
• What new offerings have I developed? Were clients involved in their creation? Will the market value them? How do I know?
• When is the last time I studied a competitor?
• How do I keep my finger on the pulse of changes in the marketplace?
• When was I last surprised within a business context, and why?

Many can't answer these questions well. The danger of not making the investment in this knowledge, however, is that the goals you have set for your career and/or business are less likely to materialize because you are missing much of the shifting context for them. To look outside of yourself and business, consider the tips below.

1. Spend time understanding your client's perspective.
Discuss their issues and initiatives, and what you can do to help them be successful. Investigate what your client's marketplace and competitors are doing. Use this knowledge to create new offerings that can motivate your client to do more business with you. Investigate ways to move their perception of you from a vendor to a trusted advisor.

2. Build a strategic business education plan.
Take classes in sales, questioning and listening skills. Take a class that your target clients would go to. If you sell to Human Resource Managers, go to a class on HR management. You will learn about your clients' needs, and meet potential clients in a non-threatening manner.

3. Create a strategic networking plan.
This does not mean attending events and throwing your business cards at people. Instead, take a leadership role in an organization such as a professional association or board that is doing work you are passionate about and potential clients are involved in. Your passion will become evident, your visibility will rise, and trust and relationships will build.

4. Establish connection platforms.
Establish a customer council to create or review products, services and educational offerings. Develop a Strategic Advisory Board for business advice and development. Get your clients - current and potential - involved and caring, and give them an opportunity to network with their peers.

5. Develop proposals with your clients.
After a meeting, write down the client's issues and the potential solution you discussed. Include them in a thank you letter or email, and ask if you got it right. If the answer is yes, you have the beginning of your proposal and they agreed to it. If not, make the changes and go another round. In the proposal, review this and again ask if it is correct. Laser in on your client's needs in a 'discussion document', and get agreement before the final draft.

6. Regularly gather information about your competitors.
They may be ahead of you in finding a sweet spot or positioning for a change in the marketplace. Remember the Spanish proverb: "well stolen is half done."

7. Externalize your sales efforts through referral programs, strategic alliances and joint marketing.
Create an aggressive referral program. Develop a thorough Strategic Alliance plan that is more than logo swapping on websites. Include strategic alliances with thought leaders. For example, if you are in the Human Resources services field, is there an academic or author that is well known and respected? Approach them to design a business relationship that works for both of you. Can you partner with your clients to do joint marketing of any kind?

In light of what you are learning, review your strategy and tactics. Are they still appropriate? Where are your efforts best rewarded? Gathering this information is important. Acting on it is powerful.