Advising clients in uncertain times

In June 2017 I had the pleasure to return to one of the many conferences for lawyers in the Twin Cities. Grateful for being invited as the closing keynote speaker at the Health Law Institute, I'll share a few practical suggestions from my talk “Advising clients in uncertain times.”

There is no shortage or uncertainty, unpredictability, and complexity these days. Regardless of your field of expertise and your specific role, following tips may help you deal with uncertainty when advising your clients:

1.    Know your own relationship with and responses to uncertainty and unpredictability:

a.     How does it affect your own moods, behavior, patience etc.

b.     How do you show your discomfort, in obvious and less obvious ways.

2.    Understand possible client feelings of confusion, dependence, anxiety, stress, frustration, and anger as ‘normal’, self-preserving responses to an ‘abnormal’ situation.

3. Know that one of the brain’s main functions is prediction and that it dislikes uncertainty. Our brain registers uncertainty as some kind of pain and danger that needs to be avoided, either by denying or fighting it. This triggers a threat and alert response in the amygdalae in our limbic system. The more resources are used by the limbic system, the fewer are left for the prefrontal cortex to do it’s work, which includes logical thinking, analyzing, problem-solving and the like. 

4. Focus even more on being trustworthy and dependable. This minimizes unnecessary uncertainty and stress and it increases the client's trust in you.

5. Assure that the content of your written and spoken communication is absolutely structured, consistent, logical, and repeated.

6. Own any mistakes you may make and amend them immediately to restore credibility. If you apologize while presenting the cure and displaying humble confidence, it does not make you look weak unless you keep making (the same) mistakes.

7. Anticipate individual variability in responses to uncertainty. Your client may stall necessary action, seek excessive reassurance, hear what they want to hear, and want to double check disproportionately where they wouldn’t in more certain times.

8. Find predictable elements of the situation, help focus on what matters most and on what can be controlled. 

9. Help the client create different scenarios and contingencies.

10. Provide certainty and clarity of process.

11. Focus even more on “extreme trust”. For that I refer to Stephen Covey’s 13 trust building behaviors (book The Speed of Trust): Talk straight - Demonstrate respect - Create transparency - Right wrongs - Show loyalty - Deliver results - Get better - Confront reality - Clarify expectations - Practice accountability - Extend trust - Keep commitments - Listen first!

Lastly, when dealing with complicated matter, remember to apply:

Metacognition: Think about your own thinking. Is it sound, diverse, critical?

Reflection: Which cognitive biases and thinking errors may be at play here?

Consultation with contrarians: True teamwork depends on appreciating, seeking, and fully utilizing a wide variety of thinking styles and approaches.

Avoidance of tendencies such as emotional reasoning, allowing personal likes and dislikes to cloud your thinking, and over- or under-simplification.

When Facing Difficulty

Most of us tend to see difficulties as problems that need to be solved and many times we’re right in doing so. We often perceive difficulties to be problems that have good and bad solutions, that have right and wrong answers, that are either-or situations. We have learned to perceive and think this way during much of our education and upbringing. In quite a few cases this serves us well and we solve real problems. And in other cases it serves us very poorly since what we perceive to be a problem is really a polarity. Barry Johnson explains the difference between problems and polarities: “Polarities are ongoing, chronic issues that are unavoidable and unsolvable. Attempting to address them with traditional problem solving skills only makes things worse. There is significant competitive advantage for those leaders, teams, or organizations that can distinguish between a problem to solve and a polarity to manage and are effective with both”.

So we tend to see difficulties that are really polarities as problems that can and must be solved. This is a limited and counter-productive perspective and approach, knowing that quite a few difficult and challenging situations in life and business aren’t problems to be solved with an either-or solution, but polarities to be managed with the help of integrative thinking, through creating third alternatives, with ‘and also’ or ‘at the same time’ thinking. Some examples that you might find appealing:

-       Effectively manage your many work commitments while at the same time dedicating yourself to prioritizing home commitments.

-       Continuously seek to reduce costs while at the same time focus on improving the quality your products and services.

-       Embrace and initiate change and new opportunities while at the same time respect the value of stability, predictability, and tradition.

I therefore urge you, when faced with difficulty at work and at home, with colleagues and with family and friends, to ask yourself some fundamental questions:

1.    Am I dealing with a problem to be solved or a polarity to be managed?

2.    Do all involved agree on this assessment?

3.    How have I possibly contributed to this situation?

4.    To what extent do beliefs, perception, and awareness influence my assessment of this situation?

5.    What could be two totally different perspectives in addition to mine?

6.    Is this difficulty a problem that I can solve or an ongoing polarity that I'll have to manage?

7.    What role do my values and my fears and those of others play?

8.    What am I avoiding while dealing with this difficulty?

9.    How can the complexity of the situation be simplified without being simplistic?

10  How can we convert resistance to change and improvements into a resource for ongoing willingness and ability to growth and change?

11  What can I initiate to move from 'either-or' thinking to integrative 'both-and' thinking?

Wishing you insightful reflections and creative and integrative approaches when facing difficulty.