This a nice little meditation on service roles (i.e. consulting)

Have you ever been asked to help, and ended up feeling abused and misused? Why did it go that way?

Whether you’re part of a bunch of #consultants dealing with a #management issue, a coach, mentor, a friend, an HR or Finance Business Partner, or leading a radical #innovation process to help them to be fit for the #future — why does it end so disappointingly, so often?

There is a systemic pull for your good advice to… just be ignored.

The likelihood is that you’ll end up frustrated and disappointed: ‘if only they’d listened to me!’

The punchline:

…but actually, the answer is to embrace the vulnerability.

Clearly state the facts: ‘I have some expertise that might help here. And you know your context better than I do. Let’s learn about your situation and options together, and see if you can get somewhere better’.

Notice that this stance resists the urge to be of immediate value.

It prolongs the vulnerability, it accentuates it.