Confidence Leads to Progress

Building Block Two in this series [meant to outline the Four Building Blocks to Move to Advisory Services] is Confidence. 

How do we move our organizations towards advisory services? How do we seize our future by being relevant starting now? I think there are four foundational building blocks. Last week, we discussed the first block: MINDSET SHIFT.

I say this to combat our natural tendency to be fearful of doing things we haven’t done before. I often share with our team that we take for granted some of the things that come easy to us due to our natural gifts and talents. These things do not come easy to others, and they value us more when we share them in ways that help them understand and feel comfortable collaborating.  

Our traditional services have allowed us to wear what I call the technical badge into the room with the clients. We centered our confidence around technical competence. Seldom did we find ourselves thinking we were going into a discussion where we did not already know the answers or direction. If we even thought we might not know, we researched it to death before the meeting. HaHa. 

I know that triggers a few memories if we are honest. When we have to take that technical badge off and put on the strategy badge, we get fearful. We do not know what direction this collaboration or meeting might go, we know we do not have concrete answers, and no one knows for sure if the direction or decisions are right.

One of the best books for insights into how we can be more confident and successful is Patrick Lencioni’s Getting Naked. In it, he talks about three key fears:

• Fear of losing the business
• Fear of being inferior
• Fear of being embarrassed

This should be a required read. It’s a game-changer for mindset and confidence.

Small teams taking this book and then sharing about their fears and our natural procrastinations will move our organizations forward at a very fast pace. Early adopters lead the way and then share how they overcame their fears. 

You begin to hear stories about how the meeting went long and they want us back to collaborate some more. This newfound confidence breeds more confidence and is instrumental in helping the mindset shift from technical/compliance to advisory/strategic.  

These fears are real, rampant and a huge barrier to our firms moving rapidly to respond to client needs. 

We hear so many excuses, such as my client is not interested in additional collaborations or services. Usually, behind this curtain, you will find that is an assumption or the request was so meek and mild that it really was “If you ever need anything else, please call me .” Does any of this sound familiar to you? It happens all the time.  

Today, if we have the right conversations with our clients, we will be experiencing double-digit growth. There’s too much need with all of the disruption and uncertainty. So if we are not seeing that on our existing client base, then we know we are failing at having the right collaborations.  

Our professionals are positioned with knowledge, skills, and relationships to step through this window of opportunity and make a real difference for our clients. Yes, we have some skill-building to do, but practice makes us better along the way. Getting past the fear of making a mistake is critical. We call it Learn Fast Learn Forward as we want team members stretching for their full potential.  

Let's start building confidence in our teams today! Most of the time, real progress starts with owning our fears. Read the book!