Problem Clients

Consultants & Coaches: Don't Let Your Clients Deskill You!

By Dr. Gary S. Goodman

Do you remember that brave guy who jumped into the icy Potomac River to save some of the passengers from a plane that slid off the runway into the drink?

Without doubt, he was a hero, hurling himself into harm’s way as he did.

But the greatest threat he faced wasn’t the frigid water or the potential of the damaged jet to explode. It came from the very people he was endeavoring to save.

As is the unfortunate case so often, drowning people inadvertently drown their would-be saviors, because they’re panicking. So, we end up with a tragedy on top of a tragedy.

A similar, though less dramatic phenomenon occurs in consulting and coaching.

I teach the “Building Your Consulting & Coaching Business” class at UCLA Extension, and this is one of the odd but frequently occurring scenarios we discuss.

People hire advisors because they’re seeking dramatic change, and often they need a significant lift simply to survive in business or in their personal lives. Desperate, they reach out for help with one hand while trying to submerge their rescuers with the other.

One of the ways they do it is by DESKILLING consultants with their fears and doubts.

I was in the middle of an extensive program with a large financial company in the Midwest, and given the sorry state of its customer service unit my results were nothing less than phenomenal.

Specifically, my seminar ratings were incredibly high, especially in light of the fact that I was training overtly hostile people. They entered sessions with fears and concerns and deep misgivings, and left at least being open to, if not embracing the changes I was ushering in.

Their Director of Training couldn’t believe I was doing so well with folks she couldn’t handle, so at a meeting she said point blank:

“We don’t understand how your seminar scores can be so high.”

Effectively, she was implying that I was cheating somehow or that something was askew.

Her idea was to station observers in the sessions, which of course, would be very chilling to the learning process.

What could one say, “I’m a pro, and I know exactly how to get results from hostile trainees and you don’t, and that’s why my scores are high and yours are low”?

Her comments were aimed at deskilling me. There was no “winning” in this situation.

If I continued to score well, she looked bad; and if I scored poorly, I did.

It was a perfect bind.

Sometimes consultants are brought in precisely to fail, so managers can say after the program sinks: “See, even a pro couldn’t fix things, so don’t blame us!”

What they don’t say is how they undermined the program from the outset, whispering to associates, “Get what you can from him and blow-off the rest.”

In other words, don’t take him seriously.

But what happens when they do?

You’re succeeding with your content and methods, but you’re failing to win the hearts and minds of management, the ones who will pay or stiff you, and either recommend you to the next client or be mysteriously silent when you ask them for a testimonial.

When you sense your clients are deliberately or unintentionally deskilling you, tell them in clear terms.

If they won’t reform on the spot, withdrawing from the assignment may be the best way to save your integrity.

Best-selling author of 12 books and more than 1,000 articles, Dr. Gary S. Goodman is considered "The Gold Standard" in negotiation, sales development, customer service, and telephone effectiveness. Top-rated as a speaker, seminar leader, and consultant, his clients extend across the globe and the organizational spectrum, from the Fortune 1000 to small businesses. He can be reached at: gary@customersatisfaction.com.

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