So, you think you can't change? Think again.

This one goes to all professionals avoiding and struggling with change.

Let me let you in on a secret – things are not going back the way they used to be! It's time to accept it. I'd recommend that you own it and even embrace it because change as you see it will not stop today or tomorrow. Driven by factors outside of our control, the unprecedented volume and velocity of change we've been experiencing will only continue at an accelerated pace. Your employees are not going back to the office – you need to learn how to manage, grow and develop them in a new setting. Your clients will no longer settle for the legacy approach of transactional services exchange. They are looking for a trustworthy advisor who will proactively offer ideas, advocate for them, and look for ways to create value even when the client doesn't think there are ways to create value. Waiting for things to return to "normal" is no longer an option, so please do yourself a favor and move on. 

For the past 20 + years, I've been working with professional services firms to design and implement a culture of growth, which has meant driving change at all levels. My kindle is stacked with books like "Change or Die," "The Catalyst," "Flying without a net," and many others authored by some of the best and brightest minds. They offer a ton of tested frameworks. I love Alan Deutschman's three step process of a "relate, reframe and repeat," and I have used it successfully many times, for example. I live change. My eight-year-old reminds me that things will not pause for me to prepare for change. The proverbial train keeps going, with or without me. And, same for everyone else, so why not get on it?! 

I also know how difficult change can be for people. And I don't blame them. In his book Alan Deutschman's references how extremely challenging change can be and offers an example that often even when people have the option to change and prevent death, they still struggle. We are talking about change or die – it’s that difficult. Talk about professionals with multiple advanced degrees, especially if they've been successful in the past. Why would they consider change? I can see that, can you? Past success, however, is in no way an indicator of future one, specifically when facts and circumstances change. The universal law of survival is more prevalent today than ever – the human who can adapt, evolve, upskill the fastest are the ones who will grow and succeed. 

So, what do you do about it? To get unstuck, I'd think of it as a long-distance run, not a sprint, and approach it accordingly. Start with your responsibility. Accept that things are going to change and what's today will be different tomorrow, and you need to reframe your thinking. Please acknowledge that you may need help managing this process. Like I suggest above, there’s a ton of great thought leadership to challenge and support you. Carol Dweck’s “Mindset” is a great way to start the process. Other help may come in different shapes and sizes: a team to discuss and support one another, a mentor that's there to listen and provide feedback – find what works for you. All of this calls for reskilling. Some may be technical skills, and some may be soft ones like communication, collaboration, etc. Set goals, and work on them, taking small steps. Focus on learning. Don't get discouraged. There will be a time you fall back on the "old ways of thinking." Recognize that, and consider how else you can approach things. Challenge your assumptions constantly. Celebrate wins and the confidence that comes with them. Bring your team along. Model it for them and work through it together. Change is fun when we drive it as a team. If I can do it, you can too. As we launch into 2022, in place of new resolutions, invest in the one thing that will make you successful in both the short and long-term – develop capacity to change. 

In the next post of this series, I’ll talk about how organizations can support this endeavor.

When the trust is nearly gone, it’s time to change the game

Running a few months behind I finally had a chance to catch up on the 2017 Edelman annual Trust report. Given the current geo-political environment, it’s not a surprise that the 2017 Edelman Trust Barometer reports the lowest trust levels in all four market segments: Business, Government, NGO and Media, since the survey’s inception. This time I paid more attention to the trust earning prescriptions provided by Edelman, because like I said, the results are to be expected. Here are a couple of them.

- Put people in the core of everything. “Adopt inside out approach” and focus on the relationships with employees and clients.

- “Peers are now as credible as experts.” Keep that in mind when selecting spokesmen to relate messages to employees, clients and stakeholders.

- Listen, communicate with context and engage.

I encourage you to read the full report (click here) and consider what the results mean to you and your organization.

SHARE | 2016 EDELMAN TRUST BAROMETER

Edelman has done it again...

The 2016 report is chalk full of valuable insights, as always, especially when it comes to selecting the most trusted spokesmen and communication channels to deliver key messages, and earn the trust of clients, shareholders and employees.

CLICK HERE for details

Who Do You Trust When the Trust Is Gone | Edelman Trust Barometer 2015

What does it mean to your organization and what you should do about it?

Trust is at the core of any interpersonal relationship. Politicians campaign to capture their constituents’ trust and voting power. Consumer brands strive to earn their consumers’ trust and become the product / brand of choice. Service firms work hard to establish themselves and their professionals as “trusted advisers” and “partners.” Trust can be very fragile, and once earned can be easily lost no matter how much time and money were spent earning it.

As has become my custom, here’s a brief overview of the recently released 2015 edition of the Edelman Trust Barometer and my interpretation of the findings.

The bottom line of the 2015 Trust Barometer: trust is on the decline, yet again. Studying four main segments: NGO’s, business, media and government, government is the only institution with a slight uptick in trust (hard to believe, right?).

Overall trust in the media is on the decline. Search engines are the most trusted and the first choice of locating general information. Content is more trusted if it is created by the subject matter experts, as opposed to journalists. Not surprisingly, business references coming from family members or friends are the most trusted. Marketing professionals take note: revisit and potentially increase your spending on SEO’s, raise authentic authorship content and review testimonials to include some of trusted referral sources.

Businesses are losing trust for the first time after the Great Depression – perhaps an indicator that the recovery we’ve been seeing is slowing down. The survey outlines four factors that impact trust in business: industry, enterprise type, country of origin and leadership.

Technology remains the most trusted industry, yet with the numerous security breaches, hacking stories, etc. trust is decreasing both for the technology products and the industry overall. Don’t take it for granted: continue to ensure your clients and shareholders of the security of their information, reinforce the value of your products / services and their positive benefit to society (see more on that below).

BRICs are still among the most distrusted countries of business origin, while Sweden, Canada, Germany and Swiss are the most trusted (well, at least until the most recent Swiss HSBC banking scandal). Family-owned businesses in the developed countries are the most trusted ones, while big businesses are trust leaders in developing countries. The reputational risk closely tied to where you and your clients do business is still very much alive. Think of the healthy longevity of LuxLeaks, SwissLeaks and other tax related headlines in the international media. I hope that these finding will encourage you to review your current geographic development strategy and adjust it accordingly.

Academics, industry experts and technical experts remain the most credible spokespeople. In most cases, CEOs are not viewed as credible spokespeople, though that again varies between developed and developing countries. Another question to marketers: who is addressing your clients? Consider raising the profiles of technical experts, and partnering with academic institutions to validate your thought leadership.

One of the most interesting findings of this year’s study is that rapid implementation of technology seems to depress trust and directly influences trust in innovation overall. The continuous stream of newly minted technology millionaires presents innovation as being driven by greed and not necessarily good for society. Then again, trust in innovation is far higher in the developing world than in the developed one, as the "developing markets are more open to change." Organizations that see innovation as critical to their competitiveness need to recognize that consumers fear the unknown and should emphasize education during the sales process. Transparence and third-party validation, perhaps by academic institutions and NGO’s, are essential for earning credibility and trust.

“Knowledge and understanding beget trust”. Edelman has identified integrity, engagement, products and services, purpose and operations as the key ingredients in building trust. Integrity is the leading criterion, closely followed by engagement, both of which encompass activities such as “ethical business practice, taking responsibility to address issues, having transparent and open business practices, listening to clients’ needs and feedback, treating employees well, placing clients ahead of profit, and communicating frequently on the state of the business.” So what does this mean to you? Be transparent. Communicate with your stakeholders and clients often and with purpose. Connect with academic institutions. Get involved in solving the problems of the community. Work to earn and keep the trust of your key constituents.

Trust matters. Clients purchase products/services from companies they trust. Keep in mind that now, more than ever, clients/consumers are vocal. They will recommend organizations they trust and equally, share criticism of the ones they distrust.

For a copy of the 2015 Edelman Trust Barometer visit: http://www.edelman.com/insights/intellectual-property/2015-edelman-trust-barometer/trust-and-innovation-edelman-trust-barometer/executive-summary/

© 2010-2015 Copyright Mira Ilieva Leonard / iStile All rights reserved

By Mira Ilieva-Leonard | Mira.ilieva-leonard@istile.com

"BUSINESSES LEADING THE DEBATE FOR CHANGE" | 2014 EDELMAN TRUST BAROMETER

It is this time of the year when Edelman publishes its renowned annual study of the state of global consumer trust. Trust is the basis of building relationships with consumers and clients, and thus is the core of all meaningful business relationships. I’ve been genuinely interested in the findings of the survey and followed it for the past several years. For a third year, I will share key points of the survey below and direct the attention of my friends and colleagues to this insightful tool. Hopefully, you also find the subject of building and retaining trust as intriguing as I do. Please consider how the lessons from this survey might affect you and your clients’ organizations directly.

General Findings

While there’s an overall decline in trust over the past year, there are significant variations on a regional basis. There was a decline in trust in the USA, France, Mexico, and an increase in trust in the UAE, Argentina, and Indonesia, to name a few. Similarly to 2013, NGO’s and businesses are leading the way in terms of keeping the public’s trust, while governments and media continue to lose it. The trust gap between the informed and the general public is staggering, underlining the importance of constant communication and education when earning and retaining trust.

Technology remains the most trusted industry sector. The banking and finance sectors are yet again at the low end of consumer trust barometer, with those selling financial advisory/asset management services at the very bottom.

Size and location matter

While general trust in business is leveling in comparison to the past, businesses in the West have to work harder than their colleagues in the developing markets to maintain that level, reflecting the overall growth market expectations.

Diving deeper into geographical segments, it is interesting to note that Germany is on the bottom of the list of financial sector trust level, alongside Spain and Ireland. Again, I found it surprising to see Germany, Sweden and the UK on the bottom of that list in the energy sector.

A note for multinationals: HQ location matters. BRICs nations suffer trust deficit compared to Western-based companies. One might argue that governance and compliance are attributable to those results. Size also matters. Family-owned, as well as small and medium sized businesses, show a near-global advantage (except in Asia) when it comes to trust, which seems related to the overall perceptions of the companies. Family owned, small- and mid-sized companies are perceived to be more responsive to customers’ needs, more entrepreneurial and innovative.

What and who do you trust most?

Trust in media is on the decline, which should prompt us to question the communication channels used to deliver key messages. On-line search however leads as a source to turn to for general business information, breaking news, and confirmation of news about business; assess how much importance is put into SEO and adjust it accordingly.

CEO’s/business leaders are still not the most trusted source. Peers/regular employees have gained significant ground in being perceived as trusted sources, which may be attributable to the dominance of social networks and the increasing importance of "friends’" recommendations.

How do we build trust?

Following last year’s introduction of five key trust building segments: engagement, integrity, product & services, purpose and operations, this year the study underlines engagement and integrity as high-priority segments with significant opportunity for improvement. It also draws a direct correlation between certain positive behaviors, such as “pays appropriate level of tax,” “ensures quality control,” etc. with increased trust, and negative indicators, such as “unethical business practices” and “misrepresents the company,” with decreased trust levels – these are key segments of trust building.

This short article provides only a snapshot of this report’s many insights. I highly recommend that you make time to review the study and take into consideration its results in your 2014 strategic development planning.

For copies of Edelman’s 2014 Trust reports, visit the following website: http://www.slideshare.net/EdelmanInsights/2014-edelman-trust-barometer

For past articles and reports, click here: http://mirailievaleonard.blogspot.com/2013/01/where-is-trust.html

© 2010-2014 Copyright Mira Ilieva Leonard / iStile All rights reserved

GROWING PAINS: HOW TO IDENTIFY AND ELIMINATE THEM

Focus business growth resources and attention where it counts

I often ask leaders of professional services firms “What is holding back their business growth?” Rarely do I get a clear answer. Why is it that most professional services firms do not have a grasp of their business growth process? How can they know how to solve their business growth issues, and where to focus resources and attention, if they don’t recognize the problems at hand? I often hear the excuses like “it’s the economy”, “the competitors,” and “it’s the people” but, I rarely ever hear plainly articulated points such us: “it’s converting leads into proposals,” “it is the win/loss rate”. In my experience, a leader can troubleshoot those growth pains and address them properly only when he or she has a full picture of the business growth pipeline and can clearly identify bottlenecks. Here are a few questions to help you, leaders of professional services firms, identify where you might have business growth leakage. Start by examining your business growth pipeline. Where’s the bottleneck? Lead generation, conversion, client retention rate, etc…

How are you loading your pipeline? Are you measuring the quality and quantity of your leads? If you are not, consider launching a process to help you do so. Knowing the sources of business so that you best spend your limited money and time is significant to the business growth process. Calculating ROI on marketing and BD spent is a sound, but unfortunately uncommon practice.

How often are you connecting with leads to build awareness and how? Traditional marketing dictates that in order for a message to come across it needs to reach its audience three times (3x). This conventional wisdom is challenged, as recently demonstrated by the Edelman’s Trust Study (see "Edelman Trust Barometer: Where is the Trust?”) and today, it takes a minimum of 5x for a message to resonate. It’s double the work for marketing and communication specialists. The good news is that social media is providing a cost efficient way to communicate and engage with audiences. The bad news is that social media has also created a massive clutter of data and communication apathy. Staying consistent, on point, focused on quality content and respectful is the key to cut through the information mess and connect with your audiences in a meaningful way.

What is your conversion rate? How many of your leads become actual prospects? If the number is too low, consider changing and/or increasing the marketing and BD tactics (thought leadership initiatives at this level work best for professional service firms) to better and more frequently position you in front of prospects, allowing you to demonstrate your technical capabilities, engage in dialogue and identify opportunities. What’s the velocity of your pipeline? Do you have a massive number of proposals that are not moving forward? Why are they not moving forward? Have you rushed into a proposal without fully understanding the situation: the need, the stakeholders, and the purchasing decision making process? If so, work on your advisory and problem solving skills to learn to better scope the problem, and in the process to better help the prospect and move to the next stage of the business growth process.

What is your proposal win/loss rate? What can you do to improve it? If your rate is low, question the reasons: is it pricing or is it the solution? If the latter, take a look at the pipeline velocity questions above and work on improving the problem solving skills (are we solving the right problem?) and solutions offerings (do we have the proper solution?). Professional services firms often bypass an important stage in the business growth process: education, and jump immediately from awareness to sale - this is frequently seen when a firm participates in an RFP or beauty contest. It is likely your pipeline is filled with these opportunities and therefore, whether you know it or not, you are competing mainly on pricing. This is a good place to stop and re-examine your current (and aspirational) position in the market: are you a low cost provider, or a high-end, value-adding adviser? You cannot be both successfully. There are only a select few organizations that can afford to be both and flourish in the long term. If you choose to be a low cost provider, RFP’s are a viable channel to fill your pipeline. In this case, if the win/loss rate is low then I would suggest you revisit your pricing strategies, analyze your efficiencies, and examine how your relationships are managed. You see, even with RFP’s where pricing is usually the lead selection criterion, relationships do matter. Thus, the education stage can mean relationship development.

What is the retention rate of clients? How many of your clients’ needs are you satisfying? How many of your clients are willing to try other of your service offerings and are recommending you to peers? Businesses exist because of a need or love for their services, products, etc. If you can master to win on both counts, you’ve reached the holy grail of business. Thus far, professional service providers have relied on the need of their services and have completely ignored the second, building loyalty. To sustain, if not even grow business, that approach is no longer an option. A couple of months ago I referred to the latest Financial Times survey on Efficient Client Adviser relationships and the importance of the clients’ recommendations it highlights: commercial awareness, added value services, contribution of management and people support. All of these call attention to building trust and loyalty between clients and their professional service providers. If you are having troubles expanding your client relationships or your client retention rate is deteriorating, take a closer look at those points, and better yet, talk to your clients.

Now that you have a few key questions to help you identify the bottlenecks in your business growth process, I urge you to assess your business growth tactics. Hopefully (and most importantly), your firm has a system in place to address the answers to those questions. Look for more on that and how to best leverage your assets in the next segment of this blog.

© 2010-2013 Copyright Mira Ilieva Leonard / iStile All rights reserved

EDELMAN TRUST BAROMETER: WHERE IS THE TRUST

How to go about building and sustaining it?

For over a decade Edelman, one of the largest and independent public relations firms, has been researching and publishing an annual study of the state of global consumer trust. The results have customarily been revealed during an event, called “Edelman’s Trust Breakfast.” Four years ago, while witnessing one of the most disastrous global financial crises, I had the opportunity to attend the event and hear the discoveries of the study first hand. Now, at the dawn of a very public act of distrust - the confession of one of the most celebrated athletes of our time, Lance Armstrong - I am glad to review the recently published study, titled “Crisis of Leadership,” compare it to the study from four years back, and report a few positive trends.

GENERAL FINDINGS
2009: US consumers have generally lost trust in the business sector and especially when it comes to certain industries like banking and automotive. Biotech and technology are the least affected areas due to the idea of innovation and hope that consumers attribute to both of these fields. What that meant to professional services firms (“PSFs”): biotech and technology will most probably experience the highest growth in the upcoming years and we should position our practices / industry groups for that.

2013: Trust free-fall has finally come to a halt; more than that, it is stabilizing and even improving for some countries (Germany, France, UK, France, etc.) While trust is on a rise for institutions – after dips in 2009 and 2012 – the gap in trust between businesses and governments is still significant, with NGO’s and businesses leading the way. Technology remains the most trusted industry sector. While the Automotive industry has been able to regain consumers’ trust since 2009, understandably the Banking and Finance sectors are yet again at the low end of consumer trust barometer. What that means to PSFs: True to my 2009 forecast, organizations should continue to invest in their Technology-focused strategies. Even with the low trust ratings, firms with strong Banking and Finance capabilities should stay close to their Finance clients, many of whom will need help rebuilding their images.

SIZE & LOCATION MATTER
2009: While consumers have lost trust in corporate America, they will be most willing to trust small size and entrepreneurial organizations, because they can get to know the leaders, especially those who are hands-on with the organizations and have direct control over them, and they are overall more transparent. What that meant to PSFs: look for opportunities with emerging small and entrepreneurial organizations.

2013: Small businesses are still trusted more in the West while the big businesses have the upper hand in the emerging markets. Businesses headquartered in the Southern European States and the BRICS are lagging in acquiring consumer trust in comparison to the ones based out the developed countries such as Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, US, and others. What that means to PSFs: Consider how this affects your and clients global development strategy and make the necessary adjustments. Continue to look for opportunities with small and mid-cap clients in the developed economies and align yourself with the leading brands in the emerging ones. Keep in mind that the geographic location where you and your clients conduct business has become even more important.

WHAT INFORMATION SOURCES WOULD CONSUMERS TRUST?
2009: Surprisingly, internet-based information doesn’t appear to be considered as a reliable source as one might believe, even with the younger generation. Market analysts and business articles seem to be some of the most credible sources, though friends and employees follow very closely. What that meant to PSFs: Company websites providing their own information and statements are no longer enough. Include client testimonials and quotes from current and alumni employees in your materials. Give your advocates venues like websites, public events and annual reports to underwrite you.

2013: Trust in media has gone up since 2009, “as a result of diversification of options and strong coverage of scandals.” The older generation (aka decision makers) prefers traditional media in the developed markets; in the emerging ones, trust is evenly spread out across the communication spectrum – from traditional to social media. While trust in CEO’s has increased, consumers continue to consider academics, technical experts and people like themselves as the most credible sources. What that means to PSFs: These are important findings for marketing and communication experts. They should keep them in mind when selecting media delivery channels and spokespeople.

HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO MAKE A MESSAGE VISIBLE AND BELIEVABLE?
2009: The marketing communication norm that it takes 3x to communicate a message for it to register is no longer valid. Given the current consumer cynicism it appears it takes closer to 5x for a message to make an impact and to become believable. What that meant to PSFs: increase the frequency and consistency of your messaging. Keep in mind your statements will be questioned, so be clear, precise and consistent.

2013: Consumer skepticism carries on; majority of consumers still need to hear a message between 3-5 times to find it believable. What that means to PSFs: My 2009 prescription is still valid. Pump up the volume. Keep your messaging simple, short and to the point, articulating the value to your clients opposed to solely boasting accomplishments.

HOW DO WE BUILD AND SUSTAIN TRUST AND RELATIONSHIPS?
2009: Trust is fragile and hard to come by today. Reframe your thinking and hone in on the following trust building elements:

Diplomacy - demonstrate your corporate responsibility; take a stand on global issues like regulatory ones; get your leaders out in the community and make sure they are actively involved and offering solutions.

Social responsibility - clients and their customers will be looking for what your organization stands for and how you go about demonstrating that. If being “green” is important to your organization make sure your clients know about it, not only by telling them but also by showing them.

Shared sacrifices – “walk the talk;” communicate to your clients and prospects what your organization is doing to share their burden (i.e. instead of spending on a large client Holiday party make a donation on their behalf, etc.)

Continuous conversation – open two way communication lines with your clients via blogs, intranets, client interviews, etc. More than ever clients would like to share with you their experience, both good and bad, and in order to keep their trust you should be willing to listen and take notes.

The bottom line: service and leadership as well as authenticity and transparency will matter the most in sustaining and building relationships.

2013: The need for organizations to go above and beyond operations to build trust is clear. While this year Edelman has expanded and segmented the trust building attributes into five main components: engagement, integrity, product & services, purpose and operations, my 2009 recommendations listed above remain important and valid. Engage your clients and employees and increase the two way communication. Be transparent and take responsibility for actions. Consistently deliver quality services and exceed clients’ expectations. Shift behavior from “license to operate to license to lead” and embrace a model of inclusive management.

For copies of Edelman’s Trust reports, visit the following website:
http://www.edelman.com/trust-downloads/global-results-2/
http://www.edelman.com/trust/2009/

Portions adapted from the Series "Oldies but Goodies": The Lost Trust (first version published Wednesday March 4, 2009 by Mira Ilieva Leonard, Partner, Creative Growth Group)

© 2010-2013 Copyright Mira Ilieva Leonard / iStile All rights reserved

ONE FOR ALL: ALL FOR ONE

Collaboration: a key ingredient for successful development of professional services organizations?

Earlier in the year, after writing an article about narcissistic behavior in professional services firms (PSF’s), “For the Greater Good or Eat What You Kill”, I promised a piece on the importance of collaboration and the impact it has on the overall development of PSF’s. The subject has been on my mind ever since. Recently though, I experienced a few events which have reinforced my strong belief in the idea. One of them is a meeting with the managing partner of a mid-sized PSF who, much to my pleasant surprise, not only understood the value of collaboration, but was also able to demonstrate the direct and impressive business progress as a result of it. You see, most of the PSF’s I’ve worked with employ the “eat what you kill” mentality. If you’ve read my previous pieces you’d know I believe this mentality has mostly counterproductive effects on the development of PSF’s. My conversation with that managing partner was one of the most positive experiences I’ve had in a while. I can’t help but ask myself what’s different about that firm, its culture and its leadership team that allows them to embrace collaboration and sets them apart from the rest and, in my opinion, makes them “progressive.” That, however, is a different question I’ll leave for another time and perhaps an interview with that managing partner.

Before I move on to the other event that pushed me to write this piece, let me take time to articulate the importance of building a collaborative environment in PSF’s. It encourages learning and development, critical for knowledge-based organizations such as PSF’s, turns knowledge into action, which closes “knowing-doing” gaps, and increases the chances to grow business and succeed in the market place. To elaborate on the latter, PSF’s collaboration provides confidence to existing clients that the firm will provide the necessary resources to support them along with richer ideas and solutions; for new clients, collaboration means a stronger and deeper team and higher chances for both the client and the advisor to identify someone to connect with and build trust, and this builds stronger, better relationships between clients and advisors…after all, people like to work with people who they like and trust. When it comes to client development, collaboration helps alleviate the burdensome stigma of sales. Working as a part of a team makes that experience less onerous, and promotes best practice sharing, while keeping everyone accountable. Those are all significant factors for successful and sustainable business growth.

The merits of collaboration within PSF’s are countless. The real question is how to build and nurture such collaborative spirit. I discovered an answer that supports my hypothesis in the most unusual place. I recently stumbled upon an article in the Scientific American, from July 2012, titled “Why we help,” and this article provided the final push I needed to write this piece. The author, Martin Nowak, a professor of biology and mathematics at Harvard University, argues that contrary to what the majority of us might think of evolution and the “dog-eat-dog” concept of survival as its underpinning, cooperation is the driving force for evolution. Using the game theory paradox called the “Prisoner’s Dilemma,” the scientist runs a number of simulations to identify five mechanisms for the evolution of cooperators: direct reciprocity (the “tit for tat” concept), special selection (neighbors or friends in social network tend to help each other and develop a snowball effect), kin selection (think “The Godfather”), indirect reciprocity (based on reputation and “pay it forward” principle) and lastly, group selection (for the greater good). Nowak draws on a number of examples from the animal kingdom and makes a surprising conclusion that humankind is the most cooperative species, mainly driven by the principle of indirect reciprocity, or reputation and the ability to tout achievements. So, would that mean a bit of narcissistic thinking, boasting and peer pressure is not only healthy, but necessary for evolution and collaboration? Yes and no. The professor employs game theory again, this time a series of games called “Public Goods Games” designed for multiple players, to demonstrate that when in a group environment, even when starting with good intentions, collaboration often fails. Individuals will often act in a manner where self-benefit, rather than group benefit, becomes the individual’s preferred option, ultimately resulting in a loss for everyone. With further experiments, and to save my faith in the goodness of humanity, the author offers a solution to fostering collaboration: people need to be convinced that there’s a real problem threatening them in order to adopt “for the greater good” behavior and also be publicly praised and pressured in line with the reputation principle. One could see this sort of framework helping in many different kinds of situations – from officials trying to solve the European debt crisis or U.S. fiscal cliff negotiations, to any kind of business organization including PSF’s.

In my previous writing I suggested making the system / organization the star to build and foster collaborative environments instead of promoting and rewarding individual performance. Applying the principles articulated in Nowak’s work, I can now expand and prescribe that PSF’s constantly must demonstrate and communicate the importance of growing the organization and the danger of not doing so to the business; become vocal in celebrating client development accomplishments and equally so to learn from failures; and nurture an environment where experimenting with innovative ideas is welcomed.

© 2010-2013 Copyright Mira Ilieva Leonard / iStile All rights reserved

Effective Client-Adviser Relationships, an FT Survey Findings 2012

Finally the notion of client-adviser relationships and its importance for the professional services industry is gaining international press. For the second consecutive year, the Financial Times (“FT”) has performed a survey sampling executive-level clients and professional service providers including law, accounting, and consulting firms. Because of my hands-on organizational development experience with services firms and overall close observation of the industry, the results do not come as a surprise to me. In fact, they support my personal remarks and recommendations. Here are the four key points spelled out by FT in its 2012 report and my thoughts.

Contribution of management

FT: The impression of whether a firm is well managed is important to clients. Sharpening internal attitudes towards clients and developing C-suite level relationships through regular dialogue are key priorities for management.

Mira Ilieva Leonard (“MIL”): When your house is not in order even your friends stay away. The same applies for professional service firms and their clients. Clients recognize when firms are experiencing turbulent internal dynamics and will stay away in anticipation of the negative effects on the management of their projects. While having the shareholders involved in the firm on a daily basis provides many challenges such as reaching consensus, etc., professional service providers should learn to overcome them and manage their firms as true corporations. In addition to building their brands, firms should focus on defining their key expertise, growing client adviser relationships at executive level and developing a consistent and collaborative client-centric culture.

Knowledge and commercial awareness

FT: Advisers need to really get under the skin of their clients’ business. Clients want advisers to provide a more commercially-savvy view of future risks and external benchmarks.

MIL: Clients are no longer expecting only a technical conversation. They want to know that their advisers understand all aspects of their business and industry, and the challenges and opportunities presented. They anticipate that their advisers can share benchmarking data and industry best practices. Professional services firms should invest in expanding their client intelligence capabilities and knowledge. Firms should equip their professionals with the skills, tools and systems to build this into a continuous process.

Added-value services

FT: Account planning and client feedback are the added-value extras that clients find most beneficial. Clients actively encourage firms to invest further in these areas.

MIL: As I mentioned in my previous post, “What can Professional Services Firms learn from the on-line gaming industry when it comes to retaining and growing client relationships?”, professional services firms need to recognize and embrace the value of feedback mechanisms and insightful thought leadership materials. FT’s reaches the same conclusion supported by data from the clients themselves. Firms must work to overcome their fear of negative feedback and get in-front of clients. Developing insightful thought leadership materials takes time and the right resources, yet again this is what clients demand now.

Supporting people

FT: Although advisers are appraised on their client service and commerciality, fewer are given adequate training and support to deliver on these competencies. Further investment in project management tools and protocols is welcomed by advisers to help deliver more profitable client service.

MIL: Some progressive professional services firms are recognizing the skills gaps and are making efforts to fill them by bringing specialists either on board or as of counsel. Others are building advisory curriculums with emphasis equal to their in-house technical training programs. These are a select few. Most firms are still undervaluing the importance of such skills and tools and are taking a haphazard approach to the issue. They are the ones that are going to find themselves in trouble in the long run.

The FT report is a must read for Managing Partners of professional services firms. Please contact me if you think your firm would benefit from implementing some of these concepts into its business strategy and culture.

Download the full FT report here.

© 2010-2013 Copyright Mira Ilieva Leonard / iStile All rights reserved