How to Stay a Vital Leadership Partner

Ten Relationship Competencies the Trusted Strategic Advisor Must Master to Stay a Vital Leadership Partner

Over the years, through conversations, observation and coaching with trusted strategic advisors and their clients, a list of powerful competencies emerged that clearly help to build the effectiveness, reliability and trustworthiness of the trusted strategic advisor.? Early in my career as I observed these key advisors doing their jobs, it struck me that there was a pattern of competencies the trusted strategic advisors should strive to achieve.?

The purpose of the competency list is to establish successful patterns of achievement. To be more successful requires providing crucial strategic assistance to senior people, leaders and to up and coming employees.??

The Ten Ingredients of Operational Excellence for a trusted strategic advisor are really a series of questions that the TSA asks themselves as they go about giving advice, being helpful and providing other strategically important services. The question TSA’s are asking themselves are very simple, “Is what I’m doing right now and how I’m doing it going to address important issues and questions for my client and in the process improve my access to this particular individual, organization or business unit?”? “Or, is what I’m doing right now going to improve my acceptance going forward and helping me gain even more access to be helpful to other important people?”? So, the technique is to consciously apply usable questions to each of these ten very desirable attributes so they become second nature to the TSA’s daily activities.?

1.???? Access: success often depends on easy access to those you are serving.? Sounds simple, but we often feel that we are at risk working on especially difficult or challenging subjects.? Deal with it. What are the response options to each scenario encountered?

2.???? Acceptance: The key here is remembering that you do what you do to help these people achieve their objectives from their own perspectives.? Expect gratitude to come slowly at first.? Your acceptance and your value increase as these people you are helping begin to recognize that you are helpful, reliable and trustable.?

3.???? Engagement: often this is the toughest task because it requires that you speak up.? I often recommend “laggership.” Be the second person or more importantly the last person to speak, to enable the perspective that the person you are advising needs? as they leave the room.?

4.???? First call: people in trouble or in need will come to you sooner.? Train your clients to always call you sooner rather than later.??

5.???? Impact: impact is about being memorable.? We often are put in the position of routinely providing and reporting data and other information.? Your responsibility is to promptly report the information required, but do it in memorable ways, be a storyteller, find out some specific useful angle of what you are describing so you will know that they will leave the room with something fresh and useful in their brain.

6.???? Inclusion: you might find that occasionally you have to keep tabs on what the people you are supposed to be leading or guiding are doing.? Perhaps from time to time you need to invite yourself or see that you are invited.? Step up rather than wait (yes, this seems to be the opposite of laggership). Be flexible.? Look for opportunities to help leaders lead. Step up.

7.???? Influence: keep in mind the real value of your presence is as a source of important information, ideas, inspiration, interpretation, and feedback. My guiding principle here is to say less, make it more important, write less but make it essential, memorable reading, and as always make it interesting, useful or surprising.?

8.???? Interaction: the more familiar people become with you and the work you do the more places you will be invited to add to your itinerary of places to be or things to think about.? Time to be a little forward here and if there are places you think that need attention, mention it and ask to be assigned or permitted or invited.?

9.???? Last call: generally speaking the goal of the trusted strategic advisor is to be consulted early and to be perhaps the last person spoken to by your principle before he or she steps out into the limelight and puts their career on the line.?

10.? Respect: respect is earned predominantly through demonstrating with your every interaction that your advice shows that you are in it for them, for their goals and objectives. Remember, the successful ideas you provide will be attributed to your clients rather than to you. Get used to it, encourage it, and be comfortable with it.