Why you should NEVER doubt your value as an executive coach or consultant

Here is a recent story, modified and amalgamated with a few examples to preserve confidentiality, that I hope will keep you strong whenever a prospective client questions you or causes you to doubt that you have the right stuff to bring value.

Recently a colleague asked me to work with the board of a small non-profit human services organization. He had helped the organization turn itself around and his work was complete. The board now needed to recruit a strong group of board members to keep up the momentum he had started. This new group needed to learn what it takes to run a board effectively, and organize itself accordingly. While my practice has moved beyond organizations of this size, I agreed to work with the new Chairman of the Board and Executive Committee as a favor to my friend.

Of course, the road to hell is paved with good intentions....

First, the new Chair wanted to put me through the ringer to make sure I was qualified enough to work with the organization. He told me all about the long history of the organization and how much prestige they had in the community, and that they wanted only the right professional to work with them. He let me know about how great the members of the board were, and how qualified they were to be on the board. He told me about the great work they were already doing, and wondered if they even needed outside help from someone like me. He wanted to have almost everyone on the board interview me individually, check references, get examples of my work, do some role play of my coaching, and have me sell them on why I should work with them. I politely declined to participate in this lengthy process, and offered instead to have a single meeting to confirm whether there was a fit before we went forward.

After not hearing from them for a number of months, the Board Chair got back in touch and wanted me to provide some training on board development as well as some strategic planning work. We agreed on terms.

At the first meeting, most members of the Executive Committee I was meeting with showed up late. They generally ignored my attempts to talk about the organization while waiting for other members to meander in, changing the topic to small talk about things like the news and what was on television that night. One member talked about which sports games were on the television right now, noting that he would rather watch one particular football game than my presentation -- RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME.

When the meeting began, I took them through a checklist of things they needed to have in place as a board of directors. Suddenly, this very arrogant group started to get uncomfortable.

I asked if they had a mission statement for their organization. That's kind of an important starting point for a board. After all, the board of directors of a non-profit is the steward of the mission. Nope. They didn't have one.

What about a vision statement? Nope. They didn't have one. One board member noted that they had just come out of a turnaround, and so their vision had been to live to see another day. Another countered that trying to survive is not an acceptable vision and now they need something more inspiring. But they didn't have anything tangible yet. Hmmm.

Set of core values? Nope.

What about a strategic plan? One board member noted that they kind of have a vague sense of the strategic plan. Another board member replied that "vague sense" is not the same thing as a specific strategic plan.

And on and on it went. If you listed all of the fundamental things that even a reasonably competent board does and has in place, this board had none of them. They didn't have enough people who understood how to make a budget, read financial statements, or raise funds. They didn't have a good way of orienting and on-boarding new board members. They didn't have a procedure to review leadership's performance and plan for succession. They didn't have clear expectations about the boundaries of the board visavis speaking with employees. It just kept going.

AND THEY QUESTIONED BRINGING SOMEONE WITH MY CREDENTIALS AND EXPERIENCE IN?

It happens quite often. Prospective clients present themselves as having their act together. So then why are they talking to you or me at all? The truth is that they really don't have their act together, but for a variety of reasons they can't or won't share that with you. They are too proud. They are in denial about how bad things are. They don't trust you enough. They don't know what they don't know -- until it is too late.

It's not only small organizations. I've worked with huge, well-respected organizations that seem to have amazing brands and in which the executives talk about their organization as if it were being featured in an upcoming version of Good to Great. However, once I got to look behind the curtain of marketing logos and smooth talk, it became clear how messy things really were.

For instance, in one supposedly world-class health care system, it was remarkable to watch how things worked. Physicians and administrators had almost no idea how to communicate effectively and make change happen. Patient care processes had lots of variability and were not as efficient as newer facilities run by entrepreneurs that were springing up nearby. Nurses in one in-patient unit were hiding supplies in the ceiling tiles of patient rooms because the supply process was so ineffective; not surprisingly, many of their supplies had passed their expiration dates. The CEO claimed to be all about modeling a culture of respect and yet routinely chewed out employees in public. Dozens of black belts in six sigma analyzed problems to death and yet couldn't make anything tangible happen.

Similarly, one of the leading financial services companies in the world turned out to have outdated computer systems, departments that didn't talk to each other, lack of accountability, and a culture that was so reactive that the executive team wondered how future leaders would ever emerge. You would never know this from the slick advertising campaigns and the way their executives spoke about their company to investors.

Don't even get me started on the few government organizations I've worked with. These are the most interesting, because the leaders are often super proud of how well they meet their legislated mandates, even if they really aren't doing much at all from the point of view of the real world outside of politics. Meanwhile, employees know to the day when they will earn just as much from their pension as they are from their paycheck. It is very hard to get anything to happen, or for anyone to show true leadership.

In all of these cases, the prospective decision makers initially put up a big front about how great they and their organizations were. Only after lots of questioning, patience, and time did we establish enough rapport and trust to get to the bottom of things. Then, with a small engagement to show that I could help, things changed. They realized that I could provide value, and opened up much more about the true situation.

In organizational development speak we call this getting past the beautiful lies and into the ugly truths.

The bottom line for you and me: Don't ever question your value. Prospective clients are not always going to be quick to admit that they need help. (Some are, and that's great, but many are not). There aren't many organizations that live up to the magic that their marketing departments have tried to give to their brands and outer image, or to their ability to talk pretty about things. Most need a lot of help -- whether with the whole culture, one or more teams, or a single executive struggling to succeed in a new role or just wanting to be a better leader.

Have confidence. Hold your ground. Know that you can bring value. If you can get your foot in the door, win a small engagement, and show what you can do, you will build enormous trust and gain the credibility you need to get the client to open up even more. From there, the sky is the limit.

Do not, never ever, let prospective clients get you thinking that you do not have what it takes to bring value. They need you more than you, and certainly they, know.