Be willing to do the work, not play the victim of circumstance
Working in Organizational Development (executive coaching and change management) is my passion. I love situational, character and behavioural development within an organizational environment. I personally study hard to build my programs and I take neuroscience, anthropology and psychology research into account for all jobs involving people. I have done this self-study for almost 20 years regardless of where I have worked – I am fascinated by people. What really charges me is when I am asked to come in and work with teams for greater collaboration and communication.
To determine if I am a good fit for the consulting contract, I ask the following two questions:
- How much action and change is the executive leadership willing to take on in order to make my efforts worthwhile for the company?
- What kind of support will be available from the top in order to make positive change happen?
The one statement that leads me to decline a consulting role with a company is this:
“I just want you to come in and fix ______________.” (This statement is rarely associated with actions of the executive leadership.)
First, your people don’t need fixing. Second, I am powerless to ‘fix this’ because as the consultant that is not my job, as the leader it is YOUR job. Third, I am hired to guide you and lead the way, the work involved belongs to each and every individual within the company STARTING with the top level leadership and supported through to the front lines.
When a problem exists, the first step is for the leadership to be able to admit there is a problem, but they cannot stop there. They must be willing to admit the actions they have been taking thus far are not working and something needs to change. It needs to change first at their level.
I have been known to decline any job whereby the hiring individual is unwilling to do what it takes to turn around the morale or working relationships within the company. I will also turn down coaching jobs with any manager who is not willing to take the action necessary to make change at their (leadership) level.
Coaching and consulting are about providing the assist, but we don’t come in and score the goals for our client, that is their job. They must be willing to do the work – not play the victim of circumstance.
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Patti Blackstaffe works with people and organizations to develop
Happy Workplaces world-wide guiding them toward mastery and leadership
through consulting, advising, coaching, speaking, and delivering training.You can reach Patti at 1-855-968-5323
Contact us here to book for Idea Sessions, Change Management, Executive Coaching or Team Development.
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