CREDIBILITY

Let’s now look at credibility, which we define as a client’s confidence in your ability to deliver results to the business. While access to your clients is tangible, credibility is intangible. The indicators of credibility are based on what you experience as you work with your clients over time. To what degree do your clients respond positively—or at least thoughtfully—to your suggestions and questions? How willingly do they provide information about operations within their group? How helpful are they in providing access to key people within their business units? How responsive are they to examining approaches you suggest when dealing with business problems or opportunities? You need to continually monitor these types of indicators to determine your level of credibility.

The reality is that credibility cannot be earned until you demonstrate knowledge of the organization’s business model as well as knowledge of the industry in which your organization operates. We are using the term business knowledge in an all-encompassing manner, referring to for-profit, not-for-profit, and public organizations. Whatever the mission of your organization, there is a business model under which it operates. As a performance consultant, you need to understand the fundamental concepts of your organization’s business model. You need to recognize external factors that affect that business in a positive or negative manner as well as the implications these factors hold for people’s performance. How to develop this business knowledge? An effective technique is to ask your client for suggestions as to how you might learn more about the business. This is the “turn-your-client-into-your-coach” technique.

John is someone who used this approach with positive results. He is a performance consultant supporting the procurement function within his organization. Early in his tenure in this role, John asked his client for guidance in how to learn more about the business of procurement. The client suggested that John join the professional organizations to which the client belonged. The client also encouraged him to read the literature these organizations provided and to attend some of their web-based seminars. After doing so, John forwarded information he thought others might find valuable to colleagues. By turning his client into a coach, John deepened his knowledge about the procurement industry and the challenges it faced. He made an impact on his client, who was impressed by John’s sincere interest in the business.

Here are other ways that as a performance consultant, you can build and deepen your knowledge of the organization and industry:

Identify individuals within the function who are key influencers. Take actions to get to know them and find out what issues are challenging them. In essence, ask, “What is it I need to know about this business so I can support you and others effectively?”

Locate websites that are the preferred sources of information for people in the organization you support. Put these sites on your favorites list and visit them frequently.

Find people who are in pivotal jobs in the business you support. Invite yourself to shadow one or more of them for several hours or a day. You will learn not just what they do, but how that job connects to others. You will also gain insight into the forces, factors, and opportunities of the specific job and the business as a whole.

Read annual reports and other organizational documents that provide information about the vision, mission, and strategic goals as well as about business and financial performance. Make it a routine practice to review business plans, marketing plans, research-and-development white papers, customer service reports, and operating statements. Much of this material is available on organizations’ websites; in fact, for public companies, it must be readily accessible to anyone, per federal law.

In some businesses, it is possible to actually work the job of people you are supporting. You can learn a great deal in the process. On a few occasions each year, the chief learning officer of a fast-food restaurant chain spends one day “working the line,” taking orders and serving customers. He finds this helpful for staying close to his organization’s customers as well as to more personally identify the evolving skill sets required of employees who work this role every day.

If your organization employs consulting firms, seek out these consultants and “pick their brains” regarding the trends and issues they see occurring within the industry.

Acquiring Business Knowledge as an External Consultant

For people who are external consultants, some of the suggestions just shared will be relevant, and for others they may not be relevant. What is important is to obtain as much information about an organization and its business before you have initial meetings to discuss possible work. Then use this information when asking powerful questions, such as the SHOULD-IS-CAUSE questions that we describe in this book. Often the organization’s website is a good source of information about the specific business. Search the Internet, beyond the website, to discover more information about the organization and the industry in which it operates.

External consultants who effectively gain, and use, knowledge of an organization and its business are highly valued in the marketplace. Vern and Jayne are external consultants who effectively used their knowledge of the business needs and challenges of a city government when discussing a proposed project. They had worked on several small projects and, through these projects, became aware of a goal to have all city employees interface effectively with citizens within this multicultural community. Vern and Jayne drew upon this knowledge when discussing a request to provide diversity training to city employees. While the request was for a training program, they responded with a persuasive proposal for linking the diversity activities to the city’s goals. This approach prompted discussions with city executives and resulted in a contract for assessment of the city government’s diversity needs. Findings from the assessment were used to form a set of coordinated actions to achieve the city’s goals. Vern and Jayne used knowledge they had about the city and its business goals to evolve their role from tactical to strategic; the work itself transitioned from a single solution (training) to a more comprehensive set of diversity initiatives.

Clearly, there are many ways to develop knowledge of the “business of the business.” Your credibility as a performance consultant, whether internal or external, is strongly correlated with the degree of business knowledge you evidence. This is not a “nice to have” but a prerequisite to building strong partnerships with clients. Gaining and deepening this knowledge must be a priority.

Demonstrating Your Professional Expertise

Credibility with a client requires that you have in-depth knowledge of the business; you also need in-depth knowledge of the subject matter and tools that are your professional area of expertise. The goal is to integrate your business knowledge with these processes and tools so you can suggest optimal solutions for a client’s specific situation.

What professional expertise should you have? The foundational need is a working knowledge of multiple HR, learning, OD, and talent management solutions such as recruitment, selection, talent development, career management, succession planning, and compensation, to name a few. Increasingly it is also becoming critical for performance consultants, who operate strategically, to have knowledge regarding talent analytics.

By “working knowledge of solutions,” we refer to having competence to identify strategic needs and to propose appropriate solutions to address specific needs. It is also important to know when a solution would be ineffective. Included in this knowledge is the capability to determine, at a macro-level, the requirements for the design of the solution as well as any issues to address when implementing it. While you may have expertise in implementing some solutions, it is not possible for any single individual to be an expert in developing and delivering all the solutions a business requires when closing performance gaps to ensure business success. Remember: when the goal is to enhance performance and positively impact business results, multiple solutions will be needed. What you need is sufficient knowledge to identify and locate appropriate resources; personally designing and delivering the solutions is not the requirement.

View your professional expertise as “foundational competence”—it gets you in the door. Many other areas of expertise are required at a working level, including some or all of the following:

Change management. Change, with increasing velocity, is here to stay. You can provide clients with valuable guidance regarding the introduction and execution of change.

Consulting model. As a performance consultant, you do not gain acceptance of ideas and suggestions through position power; rather, you gain acceptance of ideas by influencing and guiding others. This requires that you work from a mental model that is proven to be effective, such as the one we describe in this book.

Critical thinking. This competency focuses on the need to conceptualize, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate information gathered from multiple sources and methods.

E-systems. A working knowledge of electronic systems, software, and technology that support performance and solutions designed to enhance that performance is also important.

Human performance technology (HPT). HPT is a body of knowledge based on substantive research and the work of numerous and renowned individuals, such as Thomas Gilbert and Geary Rummler, that focus on how to design systems so that people and organizations can perform successfully.

Organization development. It is important to understand how to systemically change an entire enterprise, not just a single unit or employee group within it. OD competence provides the knowledge needed to define and align the many elements of an organization—its mission, goals, systems, processes, and structures.

The next question is how to develop this knowledge and skill. One obvious answer is to take courses at a college or university, ultimately to obtain a degree. However, a degree, by itself, is insufficient. Professional fields are dynamic and changing; learning must be ongoing and continuous. Certainly, networking with respected colleagues is important, as is reading books published by noted authors and researchers in the field. Finally, we would be remiss not to mention the need to seek on-the-job experiences that provide an opportunity to stretch and grow within the field as a way to enhance and deepen your skills.

Applying Your Business and HR/Learning Knowledge

Thus far in this chapter, we have focused on what you need to know. Credibility, however, is gained because of what you do with what you know. Here is a list of practices that successful performance consultants use on the job to enhance credibility:

Present proposed solutions with a clear financial business case, for both the investment to be made and anticipated return from that solution.

“Connect the dots” within and across business units. Talk about initiatives occurring in another part of the business, and raise questions about their implications for the business.

Ask questions to expand the thinking of clients.

In business meetings, offer suggestions that go beyond the typical practices of the organization.

Demonstrate belief that you share accountability for business and performance results, not just for the quality of the solutions.

Be objective in discussions with clients; present your point of view factually and by acknowledging the multiple points of view on which your perspective is based.

Push back when the client’s preferred action is inappropriate for the situation. Indicate your concern when the client’s desired results and the suggested solutions are not aligned.

When just beginning to support a client, seek to work on a small project where you can get results quickly. This way, the client will see you as a person who takes action and gets results.

Bottom line: you need to make development of credibility a goal. Don’t wait for it to happen. Make it happen!