TRUST

Trust can be the most fragile and elusive of the three factors that are essential for a positive and effective consulting relationship with a client. We define trust as your client’s confidence in your integrity and reliability to achieve results in support of the business.

There really is no single action that will develop trust. Trust is built over time by consistently exhibiting a number of behaviors and values. However, trust can be shattered by one action that seems to be self-serving versus client focused.

Let’s consider a common scenario. Have you ever retained the services of a consultant who, in your opinion, seemed more intent on obtaining a contract than on doing what would most benefit your organization? Clearly the consultant had competence and a great track record that caused you to retain the consultant in the first place. What you doubted was the motivation by which the consultant operated. Was the motivation to provide services that would benefit your organization, or was it to sell the consultant’s services in order to build a larger contract and generate more fees? Your uncertainty about the consultant’s motivation most likely resulted in diminished trust.

You will know you are trusted when clients seek out your advice. Another indicator of trust occurs when clients ask you to be present at key meetings. If they share personal anxieties or confidential information with you, you know you have earned a high level of trust.

You can build trust in many ways. One of the most obvious is to maintain confidences when they are shared. Divulging confidential information to others is a sure way to kill trust. Another important practice is to honor commitments you make to clients. Here are other actions that you can take:

Ensure your words and actions are congruent; avoid providing mixed messages.

Act in ways that support the values of your organization.

When having difficulty with a client, go directly to that individual to discuss the situation. Be a straight-shooter, discussing issues with that person rather than going to other people first.

Be a sounding board on sensitive issues; demonstrate strong listening capability. Acknowledge the other person’s point of view.

Share your own opinions and perspectives, even when they are different from the majority view; avoid being a yes person.

Keep your focus on the big picture and the shared goals; help elevate discussions to this level.

Accept accountability for your own actions and the results of those actions.

Avoid blaming others; instead, focus on what can be done to fix the situation.

FUN FACT ABOUT DICK HANDSHAW

Dick Handshaw was speaking to one of his client’s employee groups in 1995 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Dick’s presentation focused on instructional design and included a new topic that his client had encouraged him to discuss—performance consulting. During this presentation, Dick commented on the work of Dana and Jim Robinson, whose first book on the subject had just been released. Dana and Jim also happened to live in Pittsburgh at that time.

Dick’s client has a great sense of humor and loved to plan surprises for his consultants. While the client had encouraged Dick to reference Jim and Dana’s work, he neglected to inform Dick that Jim Robinson was in the audience. Following the presentation, the client took delight in introducing Dick to Jim. Naturally Dick was a little anxious and hoped he had made appropriate comments that Jim would support. Before returning to Charlotte, North Carolina, where Dick lived and worked, he was invited to the offices of Partners in Change. And thus began a professional relationship between Dick and the Robinsons.

In the ensuing years, Dick’s firm became one of the first consulting companies to retain the Robinsons for purposes of developing performance consulting capability within the staff. Dick attended many of the sessions that the Robinsons delivered at conferences and kept current with their writing. Over time the professional relationship between Dick and the Robinsons transitioned to a personal friendship as well.

Interesting, isn’t it, how one chance encounter can result in a partnership that influences the future direction of a career? In this case, it included the opportunity for Dick to be a coauthor on this book. It affirms one of the tenets of this book: that performance consulting is a relationship-driven process. You just never know which relationship may change your career.

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