Professional Problem Solving
This may sound obvious, but you can’t solve a problem until you know what the problem actually is.
Often, people (including professionals) offer advice before they fully understand either the problem or the objectives. In High Conflict, Amanda Ripley cites American research that concluded most doctors interrupt patients 11 seconds into the patient’s explanation for their visit. The uninterrupted patient wrapped up after 6 more seconds. Only 17 seconds were needed to explain, but many patients didn’t get the chance.
That example has stuck with me. For most us, examples of when we assumed, jumped to conclusions or didn’t really listen flow to us pretty easily.
That’s why it’s so important to take that time to listen and identify the real problem.
In the last few months, I’ve worked with a consulting client of mine. To avoid confusion, I’ll refer to my client as the Consultant from here on out.
The Consultant called me for help when they had conflict with a client. The Consultant works with businesses across the country, and those engagements vary in scope and size. None of the Consultant’s individual contracts amount to full-time work with any one business, and that is intentional on their part.
While the conflict was more layered than I’ll set out here, I’ll try keep it simple. One of the Consultant’s clients became very upset when they learned about the Consultant’s engagement with another Company, having thought the Consultant was fully engaged and committed to their particular project.
In our discovery call, the Consultant’s stated goal was to save the client relationship.
Some legal and non-legal issues seemed obvious to me, but I asked more questions before offering any advice.
Here are some of the questions I asked before giving advice and before even reading over the contract (YES! The Consultant had a contract!!!!!)
Why do you want to preserve this client relationship?
How long has the client relationship been ongoing?
What proportion of their consulting business is with this client (hours and revenue)?
How does the Consultant evaluate the potential impact of one client engagement on another? (example - capacity, conflicts of interest, confidentiality, non-disclosure, exclusivity)
What would a worst case scenario look like? (Spoiler: Worst case was getting sued followed by close second, having the Consultant’s name smeared in their industry)
Why is that your worst case scenario? (Spoiler #2: Scary, expensive, stressful)
What would a best case scenario look like?
From our discussion, it was apparent the Consultant had enjoyed working with this client. They’d really gotten to lean into their strengths and achieve some great results together. But having completed the agreed upon activities, the Consultant’s role had evolved. The hours dedicated to the client had not changed, which suggested the client continued to value their involvement, even if it wasn’t the Consultant’s particular area of expertise.
On reflection, the Consultant realized a best case scenario would entail a review of the current engagement and a reduced role going forward.
So it turned out the Consultant didn’t just want to mend the relationship, they actually wanted to end it, but gently and without burning any bridges.
Then we reviewed the paperwork together.
The contract was expired. A built in review of engagement had not occurred. The Consultant’s current tasks were definitely not what was outlined in the Agreement.
The client’s current needs could likely be done by an employee, which would also be more cost effective for the client.
Based on the nature of the conflict between the Consultant and client, it actually seemed like the client wanted a full-time employee too. But for various reasons, the Consultant wasn’t the person for that role.
From there, the Consultant and I worked together to develop an approach to propose a review of the consulting relationship. That approach was informed by some legal principles and reference to the contract, with focus on the results achieved to date combined with the mutually beneficial outcomes for future.
I was not front and centre, because that would have been an unnecessary escalation. And more importantly, this wasn’t about me. We worked together, rather than me taking charge.
It went well. The Consultant maintained an ongoing, albeit much smaller, role with the client. With increased capacity, the Consultant took on work with other clients that leaned more directly into their strengths and interests. Plus, they raised their rates in those new contracts.
From there, we reviewed the Consultant’s engagement agreements to add wording that would clarify the Consultant’s role and incorporated elements that were important to manage client expectations up front.
Most importantly, we did that in clear, plain language to align with the Consultant’s client-centric objective to keep it simple.
Listening uncovers the real problem.
In this case, the problem wasn’t how to maintain the status quo. The real problem was how to change it in a way that built bridges instead of burning them.