Today, one of my coaching clients called with a tricky situation. A current project is in her sweet spot, both in terms of project scope and company. And yet, she has noticed that her client is not being honest, and also her client has asked her to do hourly tactical work. The client is desperate because she is so resource constrained. The consultant wants to help, but feels violated by the dishonesty and also doesn't generally do hourly tactical work, no matter how much a client is willing to pay. What should she do?
We teased out the two key issues:
1. She doesn't respect her client's behavior
2. She doesn't want to do the work the client offered
So what's a consultant to do?
With regard to the first issue, she could take a hardline and confront the client. In this case, the dishonesty was relating to how the client set expectations with her team about what the consultant was going to do, knowing full well that the project scope was much smaller than what she had promised to her team. This is dishonesty out of desperation. The consultant could say "you are dishonest and I am not comfortable in this environment" but that would burn bridges, in a tight knit community in which both the client and consultant are well known. Also, the client is in such a state of stress she probably wouldn't learn from this type of feedback.
So we went with a second option, which was to raise the root of the issue–the overwhelming workload–and make some suggestions.
With regard to saying no to the business, the most important thing is to explain it in a way that made sense to the client and to provide better options for her.
Here is a script for such a conversation. The important things to remember–you are there to improve the client's condition, you need to help the client find the right solution, and you don't have to do work that isn't a good fit for you.
Script: "I have been thinking about your request for me to do some tactical hourly work, at a very generous hourly rate. I think the root of the issue is that you have a need for staff augmentation–you need more hours of blocking and tackling. I see this because your team expects me to be doing it, and clearly they don't have time to do it. You are willing to pay me, but you are better off either hiring a contractor to do it under your guidance, or to hire an employee who support the workload"
By looking beneath the surface, you can often find a way to meet the needs of the client and your own business needs.
