In fact, as Dan Pink makes clear in his book To Sell Is Human, “moving” others may be
the one core foundational skill that underlies all others in our business and personal
lives. And in the modern day and age, it’s not “moving” them in the sense of
being a dictatorial leader, a pushy salesperson, or a rap-on-the-knuckles
teacher. It even goes beyond getting their “buy-in” to your predetermined
solution. Yes, you
probably have a solution in mind for them (an initiative, a product, a learning
point, a health program), but it’s not about “pushing” that solution on them.
It’s about truly listening to them, seeing the world through
their eyes, being attuned to their ideas, and being open to their influence on
you – even if that means adjusting your solution to meet their needs.
If this sounds like approaching leadership, sales, education,
etc., as a partnership – being a consultant
rather than a solution-pusher – you’re right! And that, I think, is the key
insight in Pink’s excellent book. In fact, one of the frequently cited themes
of the book – “We’re all in sales now!”
– could just as easily be expressed as “We’re
all consultants now!”
The type of “consultancy” to which I’m referring here echoes a
distinction that Peter Block makes in his book Flawless Consulting about two different types of consultants, an
Expert and a Collaborator.
An Expert Consultant determines
the problem, decides on actions, and implements decisions to solve the problem.
As Block notes, “Two-way communication between the Expert and the client is limited.
The consultant initiates and the client responds.”
By contrast, a Collaborative
Consultant’s interaction with the client is characterized by Block in the
following way:
·
The consultant and the
client work to become interdependent. They share responsibility for action
planning, implementation, and results.
·
Decision making between
consultant and client is bilateral. It is characterized by mutual exchange and
respect for the responsibilities and expertise of both parties.
·
Collaboration is
considered essential.
·
Communication is two-way.
·
The consultant’s goal is
to solve problems so they stay solved. That is, the consultant establishes a
helping relationship designed to broaden the competence level of the client to
develop and implement action plans. Next time the client will have the skills
to solve the problem.
I think that the Collaborative Consultant role described by
Block tracks precisely with the roles and skills that Pink describes in his
book as essential for “moving others.” In the sales context, for
example, the “client” (the prospective buyer) no longer looks at the seller as “the
expert,” since (as Pink points out) the internet makes available the type of
information about products and services that used to be exclusively held by
sellers. (Consider how easy it is to find online the invoice price of new
vehicles and the maintenance history of used vehicles.)
And in all of the contexts I mentioned above – leadership,
education, medicine – and any other context involving the use of influence,
people are much more tuned into (and resistant to) efforts to manipulate or
coerce them to “move” in a certain direction. The classic quote “People
like to buy but they don’t like to be sold to” comes into play here. Instead of
being pushed into a sale, people want to lead themselves to the buying decision out of their own informed choice,
with the seller playing the role of the guide. Similarly, class participants
want to partner with the facilitator in order to self-discover learning,
patients want to partner with the doctor in order to self-create a health
program – and employees want to partner with their leaders in order to self-determine
their work and career goals. All of these partnerships involve the seller / facilitator / doctor / leader playing the role of a Collaborative Consultant.
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