Day: September 16, 2018

I don’t mind an early morning drive to Canton Georgia to meet with one of my coaching clients. Actually, I’m happy to make the trek. So, I made my obligatory visit to have breakfast with Tom on Friday morning. Of all the consultants I coach, Tom seems to struggle the most. This is the sixth time I’ve met with him in the past year and I must say that I am frustrated too.

 

Prior to our meeting, I gave considerable thought to my strategy for this coaching session. I have known Tom for almost 15 years, and I consider him a friend.  I needed to find the proper mix of listening and inquiry to understand his problem and offer suggestions for possible solutions. I knew that active listening would occupy the bulk of our meeting.

 

Tom arrived and got right to get to the point. We hadn’t even ordered our breakfast when he told me that he needed to find a small group to ensure his success.  Although I didn’t react to his comment, I recognized the irony as he is part of a small group.  I pushed that thought into the back my mind for further consideration.

 

Naturally, given his opening salvo, I asked him for more clarification to better understand his thinking.  Having had a lot of coaching experience, I know that the initial problem statement is seldom ever the real issue. It is usually a conversation starter, otherwise, he would’ve been a position to solve his own issues.  To be fair, Tom’s opening statement was really one of the symptoms of the problem to be addressed.  I knew it would take me a while to get to the actual problem.

 

He went on to say that through his work with his primary client he met a commercial real estate developer who engaged him in a conversation about doing business development work on their behalf.   He also mentioned that he had received an inquiry about writing a training program for a restaurant company based in New York. That opportunity was as a referral from a friend.  He then mentioned the need to have other contacts who could take on some of his workload so that he could become more productive and solicit other projects.  It was at this point that Tom told me that his real strength and interest is project execution.  The significance of that revelation was better understood later in our conversation.

 

When Tom finished his opening statement, I asked him for an update on his primary contract. He said that his client is having a banner year, on track to generate three times the revenue of 2017. Their recovery is creating stress, however as they are having difficulty finding reliable subcontractors to perform their work. Some of what he spoke about relates to the principal’s lack of executive skills, which we had previously discussed. This is a recurring theme in our discussions as there is a clear opportunity to expand his engagement into more strategic issues. Naturally, I inquired about his ability to expand the conversation in that direction.

 

I learned that Tom’s role with this client is a lot more tactical than strategic. I thought he was a project manager, with multiple projects under his supervision. I was surprised to learn that he is a site manager, one of many, reporting to a project manager.  Reflecting on his earlier point about his strength in project execution, I began to gain clarity about the fundamental problem.  Finally, we were closing in on the real issue. Tom is stuck in a situation where he has little influence and is underpaid compared to his potential.  In some ways, this came as a surprise to me, but overall, not so much.  His frustration is understandable.

 

Tom’s consulting project has turned into a low-level supervisory job.  This is a bad place to be for an independent consultant.  The question is how to recover? Clearly, the client doesn’t have enough confidence in Tom to work with him at a strategic level.  We need to find a way to re-introduce Tom to the owners.

 

One possible solution is an indirect approach whereby he encourages the principal to engage in one of our networking groups.  This would give him an opportunity to meet other professionals, gain exposure for his business, and identify ways to develop his professional skills.  This might be a useful solution to help Tom develop greater strategic awareness as well.

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