Proving Your Value to A Client
I was retained by a CEO to be his coach, and later to improve the effectiveness of his leadership team. As part of the process, I tested candidates and helped him select a new Chief Financial Officer. At one point I asked the CEO how I was doing. His neutral answer led me to believe he wasn't seeing my value. (Of course, he didn't see anyone else's value, either. That was a big part of the problem.)
I created this list of talking points, and then walked him through them face-to-face, item by item. At the end of the meeting he saw the value of my interventions, and I kept the assignment for several more months until I chose to resign it. I resigned because he wasn't "getting it," and I only work where I can be effective and make a measurable difference.
Accomplishments since 06.20.20—
- Bring an outside, 3rd party, big-company perspective to your business. Have your best interest at heart.
- Served as your coach. Managers report "seeing the results" and "great impact." Made organizational suggestions without violating confidentiality. Item: Your new CFO.
- As a catalyst, create the impetus for change. Serve as a symbol of change.
- Met with management team confidentially, and gained their trust to describe their view of themselves, the organization, and their peers. Used this information strategically to shape my work with managers, the manager's retreat, my address to all-hands meeting, and my work with you.
- Participated in planning of manager's retreat, facilitated the meeting, and delivered content (The 12 Success Skills, managers' role: to make you, the CEO, successful.). Began to establish managers' ownership and accountability with "Who/What/When" model. Participants described the offsite retreat as "The best meeting we've ever had."
- Planted the seeds of career development in the organization (More of, Less of, etc) to give employees a sense of owning their jobs and "going somewhere." Exerted positive pressure on managers to reshape their performance. Gave Sandy [the Vice President of Human Resources] extensive feedback from the comments of others.
- Addressed all-hands meeting. Quote from Director of Operations: "We were really glad to see who this Bill Frank is."
- Initiated conflict resolution between CEO and CTO and re-design of CTO's position.
- Retained key employee who was poised to resign.
- Spearheaded discussion of strategic plan, and created preliminary document. Strategic plan included organizational SWOT analysis [Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats] and facilitated identified critical issues. Facilitated SWOT analysis for every department.
- Raised significant issues that could be fatal to the company: i.e., one person controlling all of IT, and lack of a succession plan ("What happens if CEO is injured and can't function as CEO?").
- Am available on a regular basis-not so overscheduled that I can't return phone calls and see people in a timely way.