Month: January 2023

Everyone has been an ultimate or unwitting client. Remember that the unwitting client can be the peer, boss, or subordinate of the primary client. Describe a situation in which you were the unwitting client. Was the primary client satisfied with the consulting outcome?  Were you satisfied?

Very early in my career, in an entry level type role, I was often an unwitting client, unaware how I would be impacted by change and unaware of the change in my future. A strong change that comes to mind for me is a full CRM system transition. CRM is Client Relationship Management and the system we were currently using was comfortable, effective and I knew it very well.

My peers and I were suddenly introduced to a new CRM system and went through a basic training on the new platform, but the communication was not clear as to when we would be transitioning into the new system. Just a few short weeks later, suddenly, as clients began to come through on our system (and also on the phone to speak with us), they were either on the old or new platform, with no warning whatsoever. We immediately elevated that this was happening as we were not yet experienced enough on the new CRM and deeply struggled to help our clients. Nor were we told this would start happening.

Sadly, it was out of our control. On the backend, clients were being put on the new platform and there was no way for us to know as they called into to us. My team in particular, started to share best practices, tips and anything that could help us manage and learn this new system better.

Overall, this change was clunky, poorly communicated and the training was not strong enough. Nor did we have a support system in place prior to the change – we had to reactively create one. I and my team were not happy about it, definitely not satisfied. Our primary client never really owned its failings, but they did their best to supplement as we moved forward and heard our voices.

Many of that original team are now leaders and senior leaders across the organization and we keep that “feeling and frustration” in our memory as we lead change. That is a win in my opinion.

From your own experience, describe a situation in which you used active inquiry.

I use active inquiry non stop in my current role and even my prior roles. Currently, I am an executive coach assigned to a handful of senior leaders dedicated to our advice division. Active inquiry and thoughtful questions are critical in my role.

As I went into the new year, a question I posed to all my direct coachees was around their Big Rock for the year. As many can relate, we have way too many OKRs, priorities or goals for the year. Each division, department, team and even the entire enterprise has goals.  Too many, way too many and at the beginning of each year it is critical to evaluate what is the ONE thing that you must accomplish to have impact and be successful. It is a grueling task for many, myself as a coach as well. This question is a deep activity in the importance of ruthless prioritization.  I often have to make my folks pretend they are on an island and they can only take the resources to accomplish one goal – what would that one goal be. And that is how we get to our Big Rock – our most important accomplishment of the year. From there, our many other priorities, all still important, can be our Little Rocks.

Through this activity, I do intensive listening, especially for a person’s stress levels as they share their excitement, fear, anxiety, frustration, etc. for the year ahead. With strong active inquiry, this conversation can take turns about leadership support, psychological safety, imposter syndrome, confidence/lack of confidence, so it is critical for me to sit back and listen carefully. It is also an important time for me to remind them that they are human and that these prioritizes will be a juggle with life and continued flexibility. We hypothesize a bit too. What if scenarios to help them be ready should a fire erupt, a goal change, or a major org change finds its way to the division – these things happen all too regularly. Part of this inquiry is to prepare, remain calm, be confident in our skills and ready to pivot if necessary.

Active inquiry is difficult. I am a problem solver and I often want to jump in to help. I have to regularly remind myself that I am their coach – listening, providing direction, guidance and advice, but they are the doer…

From your own experience, describe an occasion of consulting in which you acted as an expert. Did you solve the problem?

I am currently in a role as an executive coach in my organization. Late last year, I was asked to facilitate and lead a working virtual session with multiple senior leaders on prioritization. I have over 16 years of experience at my organization and am often viewed as an individual with strong organizational and prioritization skills.

We began the two hour session with honest conversation. The group knew each other well and most knew me personally or at least by reputation so a strong foundational trust was present. We talked about what prioritization meant to each of us and how strong or weak we were with this skill.

We moved from a meaningful conversation into a Mural Board activity where each of the leaders listed their top OKRs within the board and then we used a Bulls Eye diagram to move in the top 3 for each leader and then the overall top 3 goals of the team – well at least that was the hope and goal of my session.

Each leader had no problem identifying their top 3 goals, but once we moved into the over top 3 for the team, deep difficulty of prioritization came strongly into play for many. Ultimately, the interesting dynamic of the team is that their overall leader was present for this activity and from what I witnessed, there was nervousness about picking the top three in her presence. She as well shared openly, that picking three was nearly impossible and that in her opinion there were at least six major focuses for the remainder of the year. The team was openly and visibly frustrated.

As a coach and facilitator, especially having strong trust with the team, I had to be candid and direct which I was. A quote that resonated with the team was “these are just words on a piece of paper if you do not have a clear picture of your top goals. Are six achievable? Can you pick three big rock goals and then three small rock goals to differentiate? You must in order to truly prioritize.” The overall team strongly agreed with me and was able to move forward thankfully, however, the senior leader of the team, still shook her head in some frustration. In that moment, I was able to help them better view their problem of prioritization and was able to return to them about six weeks later to see that they had stuck to our structure and goal.  AND thanks to a few technology setbacks, a few of those priorities took a back seat, helping them see more clearly their top goals : )  That helps!!

Hello all –