Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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Situation Overview
The Preliminary Events
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Beyond Substance
You always operate at two levels. One level is the
substance – the cognitive, problem-
solving, rational, or explicit level.
At another level, both you and the client are
generating and sensing your feeling about each
other.
Acceptance or resistance.
High or low tension.
Support or confrontation.
The second level is the affective side – a second
level of data that needs attention.
Peter Block, Flawless Consulting
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Affective Elements
Responsibility.
In most cases the client comes to you with the expectation
that once you are told what the problem is, you provide the
solution.
Your goal is to act out the fact that it’s a 50-50 proposition.
Feelings
Feelings are diagnostic data.
Is the client owning feelings – or just observing.
Pay attention to your own feelings too.
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Affective Elements
Trust.
The prevailing image is the consultant as expert and
someone to watch out for.
Ask the client whether they trust your confidentiality, if they
trust you not to put them down or take things over.
The more distrust is put into words, the more likely you are
to build trust.
Your Own Needs.
Consultants have a right to their own needs from a
relationship.
It’s easy to fall into a service mentality.
Peter Block, Flawless Consulting
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Assumptions
Problem solving requires valid data.
Objective data
Personal data.
Effective decision making requires free and open
choice.
Effective implementation requires internal
commitment.
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Consultant’s Goals
1. To establish a collaborative relationship.
2. To solve problems so they stay solved.
3. To ensure attention is given to both the technical
business problem and the relationships.
4. To develop client commitment.
We may cling to the fantasy that if our thinking is clear and
logical, our wording is eloquent, and our convictions are
solid, the strengths of our arguments will carry the day.
The client and his or her colleagues will experience doubt
and dilemmas that block commitment.
Confront the doubts at every stage.
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The core transaction of any consulting contract is
the transfer of expertise from the consultant to the
client. Whatever the expertise, it’s
the basis for the consultant’s being in business.
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Roles
Expert Role (what can happen)
The manager elects to play an inactive role.
Decisions on how to proceed are made by the consultant.
Information needed is gathered by the consultant.
Technical control rests with the consultant.
Collaboration is not required.
Two-way communication is limited.
The consultant plans and implements the main events.
The manager’s role is to judge and evaluate after the fact.
The consultant’s goal is to solve the immediate problem.
Big problem – “Between the lines” data
Peter Block, Flawless Consulting
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Roles
Pair-of-Hands (what can happen).
The consultant takes a passive role.
Decisions on how to proceed are made by the manager.
The manager selects methods for analysis.
Control rests with the manager, and
Collaboration is not really necessary.
Two-way communication is limited.
The manager specifies procedures for the consultant to implement.
The manager’s role is to judge and evaluate from a close distance.
The consultant’s goal is to make the system more effective by
the application of specialized knowledge.
Big problem – Diagnostic phase
Peter Block, Flawless Consulting
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Roles
Collaborative Role (what can happen).
The consultant and manager work to become interdependent.
Decision making is bilateral – mutual exchange.
Data collection and analysis are joint efforts.
Control issues become matters for discussion and negotiation.
Collaboration is considered essential.
Communication is two-way.
Implementation responsibilities are determined by discussion
and agreement.
The consultant’s goal is to solve problems so they stay solved.
Big problem – Perception of foot dragging or
insubordination.
Peter Block, Flawless Consulting
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Situation Overview
The Preliminary Events
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The Stages
The stages leading up to implementation of a change
(the preliminary events) can be divided into 12
specific action steps.
Each step provides an opportunity for you to involve
the client in the process without unnaturally
downplaying your specific expertise.
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The Steps (Shared Involvement)
1. Defining the initial problem. 1. Ask the client to state what
the problem is. Add what
you think.
2. Deciding to proceed. 2. You also have some choice.
If you think it won’t succeed
in the way it is set up,
negotiate.
3. Selecting the dimensions to 3. You may know best, but the
be studied. client has operating
experience with the problem
and the people. Ask what to
look for.
Peter Block, Flawless Consulting
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The Steps (Shared Involvement)
4. Who will be involved? 4. The client often expects the
consultant to do the whole
job. Involve a consultant-
client team.
5. Selecting the method. 5. The client has ideas about
how the data should be
collected. Ask.
6. Data collection. 6. Have the client do it with
you.
7. - 9. Urge the client to be
7. Funneling the data. with you at certain points.
8. Data summary. Involve the client in
9. Data analysis. analysis.
Peter Block, Flawless Consulting
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The Steps (Shared Involvement)
10.Feedback of Results. 10.More of the same. Have the
client share in presenting
the data analysis in the
feedback meeting.
11.Making recommendations. 11. Developing workable
recommendations requires
the integration of your
knowledge and the client’s.
12.Decision on actions. 12.When someone in the
organization has made an
important contribution to a
project, they should be
included in the decision-
making meeting.
Peter Block, Flawless Consulting
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Being Authentic
Authentic behavior with a client means you put into
words what you are experiencing with the client as
you work.
This is the most powerful thing you can do to have
the leverage you are looking for, and to build
client commitment.
Whenever you are with a client, ask yourself two
questions:
1. Am I being authentic with this person now?
2. Am I completing the business of the consulting phase I am
in?
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Completing the Requirements
Contracting Phase:
Negotiating wants.
Coping with mixed motivation.
Surfacing concern about exposure and loss of control.
Triangular and rectangular contracting.
Diagnosis Phase:
Layers of analysis.
Political climate.
Resistance to sharing information.
Interview as intervention.
Peter Block, Flawless Consulting
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Completing the Requirements
Feedback and Decision Phases:
Funneling Data. Feedback should be actionable.
Presenting personal and organizational data.
Managing the feedback meeting.
Focusing on the here and now.
Don’t take it personally.
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Flawless Consulting
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Contracting Skills
To contract flawlessly is to:
1. Behave authentically, and
2. Complete the business of the contracting phase.
The business of this phase is to negotiate wants,
cope with mixed motivation, surface concerns
about exposure and loss of control, and clarify all
parties to the contract.
The contract is a social contract – simply an explicit
agreement of what the consultant and client expect
from each other, and how they are going to work
together.
Peter Block, Flawless Consulting
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Consulting Competencies
Ask direct questions about who the client is and who
the less visible parties to the contract are.
Elicit the client’s expectations of you.
Clearly/simply state what you want from the client.
Say no or postpone a project that in your judgment
has less than a 50/50 chance of success.
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Consulting Competencies
Probe directly for the client’s concerns about
exposure, losing control, and vulnerability.
Give direct verbal support to the client.
When the contracting meeting is not going
well, discuss directly with the client why this
contracting meeting is not going well.
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Accountability
The key to increasing the chances of success is to
keep focusing on how you work with clients.
All we can really control is our own way of
working, our own behavior, our own strategies of
involving clients and reducing their reluctance.
We are not accountable for what clients do in
managing or mismanaging their own operations.
Try to have power with your clients rather than have
power over them.
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Consideration
Consideration is the exchange of something of value
between the consultant and the client.
The consultant needs something of value in return.
The consulting contract should include:
Operational partnership in the venture – influence.
Access to people and information in the line organization.
Time of people in the line organization.
The opportunity to be innovative.
You undermine your own leverage if you underplay
your own needs and wants at the beginning.
Peter Block, Flawless Consulting
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Contract Elements
1. The boundaries of your analysis.
2. Objectives of the project.
3. The kind of information you seek.
4. Your role in the project.
5. The product you will deliver.
6. What support and involvement you will need.
7. Time schedule.
8. Confidentiality.
9. Feedback to you, later.
Peter Block, Flawless Consulting
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Contract Elements
1. The boundaries of your analysis.
2. Objectives of the project.
To solve a particular business problem.
To teach the client how to solve the problem for
themselves next time.
To improve how the organization manages its
resources, uses its systems, and works
internally.
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Ground Rules (Gestalt)
1. The responsibility for every relationship is 50/50.
2. The contract should be freely entered.
3. You can’t get something for nothing. There must be
consideration from both sides.
4. All wants are legitimate. To want is a birthright.
You can’t say, “You shouldn’t want that.”
5. You can say no to what others want from you. Even
clients.
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Ground Rules (Gestalt)
6. You don’t always get what you want. And you’ll
keep breathing. You will survive, you will still have
more clients in the future.
7. You can contract for behavior, you can’t contract for
the other person to change their feelings.
8. You can’t ask for something the other person
doesn’t have.
9. You can’t promise something you don’t have to
deliver.
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Ground Rules (Gestalt)
10.You can’t contract with someone who is not in the
room, such as client’s bosses and subordinates. You
have to meet with them directly to know you have
an agreement with them.
11.Write down contracts when you can. Most are
broken out of neglect, not intent.
12.Social contracts are always renegotiable. Be grateful
if they are telling you and not just doing it.
13.Contracts require specific time deadlines or duration.
14.Good contracts require good faith and often
accidental good fortune.
Peter Block, Flawless Consulting
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The Contracting Meeting
The personal interaction between the consultant and
the client during the initial contracting meetings is an
accurate predictor of how the project will proceed.
The critical skill in contracting is to be able to identify
and discuss process issues between the consultant
and the client as they occur.
Try to have at least one meeting with each person
who is part of initiating your project.
The meeting should be a model of how you work.
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Personal
acknowledgement
Navigating the
Communicate understanding
of the problem
Contracting Meeting
Client wants
and offers Stuck on wants and offers
Personal
acknowledgement
Communicate understanding
of the problem
Client wants
and offers
Consultant wants
and offers
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Selling Your Services
Don’t be any different when you are selling than
when you’re not selling.
Don’t try to overcome the resistance with more
explanations and pleas for the good of the
organization.
Do help the client express the reservations about you
and your products.
Do admit you are there to sell and want them to buy.
Do be authentic and follow the contracting sequence.
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Selling Your Services
Charisma and Presence are overrated.
Selling is removing obstacles more than lighting fires.
Have you identified a real need and whether you are
offering the right service?
The meeting is a model of how you work.
No contracting meeting should end without your
asking for feedback about how the manager feels
about the project, the meeting, and you.
Leave 20 minutes to discuss these questions.
Peter Block, Flawless Consulting
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Constraints?
You have two weeks to do a four week job
The client says you shouldn’t talk to any other client
people.
Nobody knows the real reason for this job and you
shouldn’t tell them.
You shouldn’t upset anybody or open Pandora’s box.
The project has a budget of $1.85.
After this meeting the client won’t have any more
time to spend with you.
What do you think?
Peter Block, Flawless Consulting
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Low Motivation?
1. Assume the client is feeling coerced.
2. Suggest the client renegotiate the specs, the
problem, the need to do the project.
3. Contract with the client for a small-step project.
4. Contract for a way of doing the project that
minimizes the client’s exposure/loss of control.
5. Hope for the best.
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Other Agonies
Ceaseless Negotiation.
Sustaining/renegotiating the agreement is ceaseless.
If you let it slide…. Do it now, as soon as you sense the
client is treating you differently.
The longer you wait, the more difficult it is.
The Flirtatious Client.
Be direct.
Credentials.
Don’t get into defending your credentials.
“You are concerned about whether I can really help you?”
Peter Block, Flawless Consulting
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Other Agonies
Go-Betweens.
Get to the manager.
Defining the Problem to Death.
35% of the meeting time, maximum.
“Let’s stop talking about the problem for a moment.”
Look at the client and start making statements.
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Contracting Checklist
1. How would you rate: Client Consultant
Balance of participation? 100%_____50/50_____100%
Who initiated? 100%_____50/50_____100%
Who had control? 100%_____50/50_____100%
2. What resistance or reservations did the client express?
Which did you explore directly?
Which did you not really explore?
3. What reservations do you have about the contract?
Which did you put into words?
Which did you express indirectly or not at all?
4. How did you give support to the client?
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Contracting Checklist
5. How did the client’s concerns get expressed:
____ Silence? ____ Compliance? ____ Attack?
____ Questions? ____ Giving Answers? ____ Directly?
6. What facial and body language did you observe?
7. How would you rate the client’s motivation to proceed?
8. How would you rate your own motivation to proceed?
9. What didn’t you express to the client?
10. Review “Navigating the Contracting Meeting.”
Did you skip any steps?
Which ones?
11. What would you do differently next time?
Peter Block, Flawless Consulting
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Understanding Resistance
The hardest part of consulting is coping successfully
with resistance from the client.
You get it no matter how reasonable and rational you
are.
The key to understanding it is to realize that it is a
reaction to an emotional process taking place within
the client.
It is not the reflection of the conversation you
are having with the client on an
objective, logical, rational level.
Peter Block, Flawless Consulting
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Understanding Resistance
Resistance is a predictable, natural, emotional
reaction against the process of being helped, and
against the process of having to face up to difficult
organizational problems.
Resistance is a necessary part of the learning
process, and wishing it to go away or not appear
actually poses an obstacle.
For the client to learn something important, the
feelings of resistance need to be expressed directly
before they are genuinely ready to accept something
new.
Peter Block, Flawless Consulting
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Dealing with Resistance
Be able to identify when resistance is taking place.
View it as a natural process and a sign that you are
on target.
Support the client in expressing the resistance
directly.
Don’t take the expression of the resistance personally
or as an attack on your competence.
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The Faces of Resistance
“Give me more detail,” (or flood you with detail).
They ask for finer and finer bits of information.
“Well it all started ten years ago on a Thursday…”
Time
“The timing is off,” or “We’re just too busy right now…”
Impracticality
“We live in the Realworld and have Realworld problems…”
Attack
Don’t withdraw or respond in kind.
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The Faces of Resistance
Silence
Silence never means consent. It means the reaction is being
blocked.
“I’m not surprised…”
No matter what.
Intellectualizing
Theory after theory about why things are as they are.
Moralizing
“Those people…” “They need to understand…”
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The Faces of Resistance
Compliance
Complete compliance means something is missing.
Methodology
10 minutes is okay, but no more.
Flight into health.
The client no longer has “a problem.”
Pressing for solutions.
Does the client really want to know what the problem is?
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Resisting What?
Clients look straight at you when they’re being
defensive. You are the one who has to answer the
questions and weather the storm.
It’s natural to feel that the resistance is aimed at you.
The resistance is not aimed at you.
The fact is they are going to have to
(a) make a difficult choice or decision,
(b) take an unpopular action, or
(c) confront some reality that they have emotionally been
trying to avoid.
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Resisting What?
Underlying concerns of the client are usually about
either control or vulnerability.
Control Vulnerability
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Resisting What?
Sometimes it is not resistance.
“Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.” (Freud)
We can all become paranoid by interpreting every
line manager’s objections as resistance covering
some underlying anxieties.
Sometimes the manager is just taking responsibility
as has the right to choose.
If we think it’s the wrong choice, well that’s life.
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Fears
Client Fears Consultant Fears
Helplessness. Futility. I have
I can have no impact. No
no power to change the
reward for the effort.
situation. I am a victim.
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Wishes
Client Potential Consultant Potential
Has choices and the power to
High impact. Clear payoff for
act on the situation. Is an
effort expended.
actor, not a victim.
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Being Dependent
Asking for help can be seen (or felt) as a sign of
weakness.
There is also the related feeling that “nothing can be
done to help – the problem is unsolvable.”
When you encounter resistance, this should be
explored.
When clients ask for help, they want both solutions
and confirmation that everything they have done has
been perfect.
People entering therapy want confirmation, not
change.
Peter Block, Flawless Consulting
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Being Dependent
In the world of emotions, two opposite feelings can
exist at the same time. Clients may want to learn
and solve problems, but…
At the same time they also want support and to be
told that they are handling that problem better
than anyone else in the country.
Approach – Avoidance. The resistance is the
avoidance.
Right behind the avoidance you will find the
approach.
Peter Block, Flawless Consulting
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Being Dependent
When we help the resistance get expressed, it
diminishes.
We are then working with a client who is ready and
willing to learn and be influenced.
Flawlessly dealing with resistance is understanding
the two-headed nature of being in the client position
– and accepting it as okay.
Ogres don’t exist, angels are one-sided images, and
heroic consultants lead to bad contracts.
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Dealing with Resistance
Encourage full expression of the concerns so that
they pass.
Fighting resistance doesn’t work as well.
Three Steps:
1. Identify in your own mind what form the resistance is
taking. What you see happening.
2. State in a neutral, nonpunishing way, the form the
resistance is taking. This is called “naming the resistance.”
3. Be quiet. Let the line manager respond to your statement.
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Communication “Trust What You See.”
Words 7%
Voice, Tone,
38%
Rate, Inflection
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Flawless Consulting
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Diagnosis Concepts
The concern of the consultant is how to get the client
to accept the diagnosis, more than how to develop
the diagnosis in the first place.
To wait until the feedback meeting to worry about
client acceptance of recommendations is too late.
The skill for the consultant is to address the
organizational element of each problem as rationally
as we address the technical part of each problem.
The purpose of a diagnosis is to mobilize action on a
problem.
Peter Block, Flawless Consulting
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Research Approach Action Approach
Interested in all factors that impact the Interested in factors which are under the
problem at hand. control of the client and affect the problem.
You can do research on your own. The The client’s involvement in the study is
organization doesn’t have to be involved as important at each stage.
part of the research team.
You try to eliminate bias and intuition of the Use all the feelings and perceptions you have,
researcher. Heavy emphasis on objectivity in addition to hard data. You are getting paid
and hard data. for bias and intuition.
Essentially neutral toward whether the Deeply concerned about the attitude of the
organization approves of the outcomes of the client toward the outcome of the study.
study.
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The Diagnosis Model Client gives you a…
Presenting problem
You begin the…
Redefinition of
Your goal is to develop a…
problem
Recommendations
Peter Block, Flawless Consulting
Which leads to…
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The Presenting Problem
Each discipline or function is faced with both
technical and organizational problems.
The presenting problem is almost always about
the technical/business problem.
Organizational problems include how the
technical/business problem is being managed.
The choice is whether you want to address how the
problem is being managed directly or indirectly.
To consult flawlessly you need to begin to address
the organizational side of the problem as a regular
part of your consultation.
Peter Block, Flawless Consulting
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Layers of Analysis Questions
Top Layer
What is the technical or business problem that you
are experiencing?
Second Layer
What are other individuals or groups in the
organization doing to either cause or maintain
this problem?
Third Layer
What is your role in the problem? What is there in
your approach or way of managing the situation
that might be contributing to the problem?
Peter Block, Flawless Consulting
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Interview Responses
1. Restatement – Put what is said into other words
and check understanding.
2. Statement of Your Experience – Give support
through identifying with the dilemma. Keep it short.
3. Open-ended Questions – Ask a question in a way
that does not program a certain answer, or allow a
yes or no answer.
4. Hypothesis about the Next Layer – Make
tentative guesses about how the person is feeling
about others involved, or their own role in the
problem.
Peter Block, Flawless Consulting
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Beware “Leadership Style”
Pinning too much responsibility on the leader can be
a defense. “If it weren’t for so-and-so….”
The group always has a part in the melodrama.
View the group as a self-maintaining system, sharing
the blame and the credit.
It is important to view all problems as organizational
problems.
What you’re really trying to do is change the norms
and methods the organization use to do business.
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Flawless Consulting
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Preparing for Feedback
Resist being carried away by the struggle to develop
perfect recommendations.
The consultant’s primary task is to present the
picture – this is 70% of the contribution you make.
Trust it.
Trust yourself to focus on what you feel is important.
Focus on items that:
The client has control over changing.
Are clearly important to the organization
There is some commitment to work on, somewhere.
Peter Block, Flawless Consulting
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Do’s and Don’ts
Don’t collude:
By developing explanations that leave the solution outside of
the client’s control.
By playing down the impact difficult relationships have on
the problem.
Don’t project:
By placing your own feelings onto another person.
Don’t assume – the client has a right to all the information.
Make statements and then ask how the client feels.
Do confirm:
If you have confirming data, report it to the client.
Give support even if it is not requested.
Peter Block, Flawless Consulting
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Do’s and Don’ts
Do confront:
The data will indicate areas where the client should improve.
Report them, even if they are painful, in as straight
and supportive way as possible.
Do be assertive:
Assertive behavior is stating directly what you want and how
you see things without putting down or infringing on the
rights of others.
Don’t be aggressive:
Don’t put down or negate the other person.
If you can mentally add “you dummy,” it was aggressive.
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The Feedback Meeting
To flawlessly manage a feedback meeting, you need
to attend to the business of this stage.
1. Funnel the data.
2. Present personal and organizational data.
3. Manage the Feedback Meeting.
4. Focus on the here and now of the meeting. Watch the
process of the meeting and deal directly with the resistance
as it occurs.
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The Feedback Meeting
To flawlessly manage a feedback meeting, you need
to attend to the business of this stage.
5. Don’t take it personally. After 6pm you can take anything
personally, but during the day, no matter how many guns
are aimed at you, your task is to stay focused on the
client’s internal struggle to confront the reality that is being
resisted.
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The Feedback Meeting (First Half)
Percent of time Restate Minutes
the Original Contract
5% 3
State the Agenda/
Structure of the Meeting
Present Diagnosis
15% 9
Present Recommendations
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T ck Meeting
h
e
F
e
e
d
b
a
(First Half)
Percent of time What they wanted,
Restate
the Original Contract what you promised.
5%
You control the
State the Agenda/ meeting.
Structure of the Meeting
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The Feedback Meeting (Second Half)
Percent of time Minutes
In the Middle of the Meeting:
10% Ask the Client if They are 6
Getting What They Want
Give Support
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The Feedback Meeting (Second Half)
Percent of time
In the Middle of the Meeting: Power with enough
10% Ask the Client if They are time (and guts).
Getting What They Want
So you can
Decision to Proceed participate in the
30%
decision.
Give Support
The burden is on
your client.
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Group Feedback Issues
There is always going to be some segment that is
going to feel anxiety and resist.
They will ask the aggressive questions.
Do not over-invest in the resistant people.
Two good faith responses is enough.
Beware quick compliance.
Moderate tension is useful and good.
Resistance doesn’t die when the decision to proceed
is made.
Peter Block, Flawless Consulting
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The Benediction
Your real task as a consultant is to be constantly
noticing what you are experiencing and to behave as
authentically as possible.
We all want to have a feeling of control.
To gain this control is to give it up.
Being authentic is to reduce the amount you
control, and to censor your own experience.
To censor your own experience is to give other
people power over you – you are letting their
reactions determine how you function.
Peter Block, Flawless Consulting
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The Benediction
The way to have leverage is not to give it away.
The way to avoid giving leverage away is to reduce
the extent you restrain yourself from acting on your
own instincts and perceptions.
Acting without restraint is being authentic.
Being authentic and attending to the task
requirements of each phase is consulting flawlessly.
And that’s all there is to it.
Thank You!
Peter Block, Flawless Consulting
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