Consulting psychologists are well-suited to serve as trusted advisors to leaders by applying their expertise in areas like personal insight, motivation, emotional intelligence, decision-making, and managing relationships. As trusted advisors, psychologists focus on understanding clients and helping them make their own decisions, in contrast to merely providing answers or solving problems as experts might. The longest-lasting psychological consulting firm found success by combining transactional assessment services with relationship-building as trusted advisors.

1. What Psychologists Can Offer
Best As Trusted Advisors For
Leaders
David Brewer, Ph.D.
Leadership Consulting Group of San Francisco
Ph: (415) 382-6446 - Email: david@jdbrewer.com

2. Let’s have the kind of dialogue that
thought partners have with each other.
Posing questions that are important enough to one or both of us, or
x
to someone or something we care about, that those questions are
worth considering.
Thinking through the questions together
x
 Sort out the real issue
 Understand the options
 Evaluate the options
 Identify the option we believe has the greatest net benefit
This is similar to what trusted advisors do with their clients
x
Trusted advisors serve as confidants and thought partners, enabling
x
their clients to make better decisions (and avoid foolish decisions).
This can have great impact on the client’s success.

3. What can psychologists offer best as trusted
advisors for leaders?
How well does the trusted advisor role fit the consulting
x
psychologist's role with clients?
What special competencies of consulting psychologists might they
x
apply in the role of trusted advisor to yield exceptional benefits for
their clients?
How does the value consulting psychologists can add as a trusted
x
advisors contrast with the limitations of serving as quot;expertsquot; or
quot;vendors“?

4. How well does the trusted advisor role fit the
consulting psychologist's role with clients?

5. Common traits of trusted advisors
Seem to understand us, effortlessly, and like us
x
Help us think and separate our logic from our
x
emotion
Criticize and correct us gently, lovingly
x
Challenge our assumptions: help us uncover the
x
false assumptions we’ve been working under
Are always honorable: they don’t gossip about
x
others (we trust their values)
Source: David Maister
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6. Example: David Axelrod, Barack Obama’s
chief political strategist, is also Mr.
Obama’s trusted advisor.
Mr. Axelrod’s title of chief strategist only hints at the extensive role he
x
has played (as) friend, adviser and confidant, always at the elbow of
Mr. Obama. (Jeff Zeleny, NY Times, 2008.10.27)
Every politician has a guardian angel, and every presidential hopeful
x
has a right-hand dispenser of wisdom.
Mr. Axelrod, in this client-consultant relationship, appears to be
x
something different, with a personal investment in Mr. Obama's
success….
quot;You know, he and I share a basic worldview,quot; Mr. Obama said without
x
hesitation. quot;I trust his basic take on what the country should be and
where we need to move towards - not just on specific policy but how
politics should be able to draw on our best and not our worst.“
Mr. Axelrod: quot;He's not just a client, he's a very good friend of mine.”
x
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7. Competencies of consulting
psychologists
As our profession continues to evolve, there continues to be a
x
range of services offered by consulting psychologists that is
broad in terms of venues, tools, methods, and other
variations in practice
Yet there is a set of fundamental competencies, often
x
overlooked in the way we define our profession, that is unique
to consulting psychology.
However, two general competency areas, self-awareness/self-
x
management and relationship development, are prerequisites
for all areas of psychological practice. (Guidelines for
Education and Training in Consulting Psychology)
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8. There are 10 official competencies for
organizational consulting psychologists
Self-Awareness and Self- Multicultural and
x x
Management International Awareness,
Knowledge of Sociopolitical
Relationship Development
x
Background and Cultural
Values and Patterns
Assessment
x
Research Methods and
x
Process Consultation/Action
x
Statistics
Research
Business Operations, Legal,
x
Interventions
x
Industry Regulations,
Technological Advances
Knowledge of Theory, Case
x
Studies, Empirical Research,
Professional Ethics and
x
Applications, Evaluation
Standards.
Methods
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9. Current Areas of Competence for
I/O Psychologists
(10 of the 25 listed by SIOP are shown here)
Consulting and Business Individual Assessment
Skills (1985 Guidelines Judgment and Decision
purposely excluded quot;personal Making
skillsquot; such as facility at Leadership and
developing interpersonal Management
relationships)
Organization
Attitude Theory,
Development
Measurement, and
Organization Theory
Change
Small Group Theory and
Human Performance /
Team Processes
Human Factors
Work Motivation
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10. What do clients see as the
distinguishing competencies of
consulting psychologists?
What is exceptional about the value that a
x
consulting psychologist can add as an executive
coach, versus a coach without psychological
expertise?
What distinguishes the expertise of the
x
psychologist is seldom clearly defined, either
among colleagues within our profession, or among
our clientele, aside from the special expertise
psychologists have for assessment.
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11. Establishing a relationship as trusted
advisor to an executive is a sensitive
matter. (Maister, Green and Galford, 1977)
An advisor's role is to be an expert guide in the process of
x
reasoning through decisions and problems.
The diagnosis and solution of a client problem can never be
x
performed without considering the sensitivities, emotions and
politics of the client situation.
Think of the personal risks (reputation, promotion
x
opportunities, bonuses, perhaps even one’s career) that go
along with the responsibility for choosing (and working with)
any outside provider for a risky or expensive corporate matter.
No matter how technical one's field or discipline, the act of
x
giving advice is crucially dependent on a deep understanding
of the personalities involved, and on the ability to adapt the
advice-giving process to the specific individuals involved.
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12. Serving effectively as a trusted advisor
requires psychological sophistication.
When hiring an advisor, [an executive is] forced to place their
x
affairs for an uncertain period of time (and cost) into the hands
of a practitioner of an impenetrable art, who often uses
indecipherable jargon and engages in mysterious and
unexplained (but probably expensive) activities.
It is predictable that the average client experiences
x
unwelcome feelings of dependency or loss of control.
Yet …they are, above all, looking for someone who will
x
provide reassurance, calm their fears and inspire confidence.
Your ability to be accepted as a trustworthy guide can be
x
damaged if your client believes that you have already reached
your own inflexible conclusion. As a quick rule of thumb, it is
usually better to try to turn one's assertions into questions:
“Have we looked at all the options? What are the pros and
cons? How would action X be implemented?”
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13. How does hiring a trusted advisor feel to the
client?
Insecure. I’m not sure I know how to detect which of the finalists is the genius, and which is just good. I’ve exhausted my
x
abilities to make technical distinctions.
Threatened. This is my area of responsibility; even though intellectually I know I need outside expertise, emotionally its
x
not comfortable to put my affairs in the hands of others.
At personal risk. By putting my affairs in the hands of someone else, I risk losing control.
x
x Impatient. I didn’t call in someone at the first sign of symptoms (or opportunity). I’ve been thinking about this for a
while.
Worried. By the very fact of suggesting improvements or changes, these people going to be implying that I haven’t been
x
doing it right up till now. Are these people going to be on my side?
Exposed. Whoever I hire, I’m going to have to reveal some proprietary secrets, not all of which are flattering. I will have
x
to undress.
Ignorant.
x And don’t like the feeling. I don’t know if I’ve got a simple problem or a complex one. I’m not sure I can trust
them to be honest about that: it’s in their interest to convince me its complex.
Skeptical. I’ve been burned before by these kinds of people. You get a lot of promises: How do I know whose promise I
x
should buy?
Concerned that they either can’t or won’t take the time to understand what makes my situation special. They’ll try to sell
x
me what they’ve got rather than what I need.
Suspicious. Will they be those typical professionals who are hard to get hold of, who are patronizing, who leave you out
x
of the loop, who befuddle you with jargon, who don’t explain what they’re doing or why, who ..., who ...., who ...? In short, will
these people deal with me in the way I want to be dealt with?
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14. What special competencies of consulting
psychologists might we apply in the role of
trusted advisor to yield exceptional benefits
for our clients?
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15. Consulting psychologists have special
expertise in matters crucial to organizational
effectiveness and success.
 Personal and interpersonal  Developmental psychology
insight and personal growth
Motivation Behavior change and habit
 
development
Emotional intelligence

Leadership psychology

Social dynamics of teams and

work groups Persuasion, inspiration, and

influence
Rational vs. irrational decision

making Cooperation and conflict

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16. Billion Dollar Lessons
Paul Carroll and Chunka Mui enlisted a team of 20
x
researchers to pore over 750 major business failures and
identify the reasons behind them.
Carroll and Mui then derived from that comprehensive
x
analysis the most important methods that executives and
investors can use to avoid flawed strategies.
Their insights are presented in their bestselling book,
x
Billion-Dollar Lessons: What You Can Learn from the Most
Inexcusable Business Failures of the Last 25 Years.
Example: Kodak
x

17. The psychology of strategy formulation
must change to reliably avoid billion dollar
mistakes.
“Numerous psychological studies and extensive examples from the
x
research for the book show that just trying harder won’t prevent
failures. Something has to change about how strategy is set.” ~ Paul
Carroll and Chunka Mui
Executives underestimate the complexity that comes with scale.
x
They overestimate the power that comes with size.
x
They assume loyal customers.
x
They fail to considering all options.
x
They misunderstand or mishandle risk.
x
46% of failures stem from bad strategies — not from bad luck or poor
x
execution.

18. Personality does affect leadership
effectiveness
(Judge, Bono, Ilies & Gerhardt, 2002)
Correlations between leadership and each of the factors in the
x
five-factor model of personality:
 Neuroticism = −.24
 Extraversion =.31
 Openness to Experience =.24
 Agreeableness =.08
 Conscientiousness =.28
Meta-analysis of 222 correlations from 73 samples
x
Extraversion was the most consistent correlate of leadership.
x
Overall, the five-factor model had a multiple correlation of.48
x
with leadership.
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19. Motivation To Lead (MTL) may enable
leadership more than cognitive ability
or personality (Chan & Drasgow, 2001)
A large-scale study using 3 samples in different occupational
x
and cultural contexts shows 3 factors underlying MTL,
namely:
 affective–identity
 noncalculative MTL
 social-normative MTL.
MTL is shown to provide incremental validity over other
x
predictors such as general cognitive ability, values,
personality, and attitudes in the prediction of two behavioral
measures of leadership potential.
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20. Client politics are unavoidable in any
advisory situation.
Even powerful decision-makers tend to involve their CFO,
x
their General Counsel, or other corporate officers before a
final decision is reached.
Each represents a different corporate constituency and brings
x
a different perspective, agenda, and style to the deliberations.
Few professionals are fast enough on their feet to deal
x
impromptu with their diverse objections and concerns, i.e.,
without conferring with all of the key parties in advance.
It is tempting (and probably true) to think that conflicting
x
agendas, priorities and goals are the clients' fault, not yours.
But unless you develop the approaches and skills necessary
x
to deal with client politics, your advice will not be acted upon,
and you will not be seen as a helpful, useful advisor.
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21. How does the value that consulting
psychologists can add as a trusted advisors
contrast with the limitations of serving as
quot;expertsquot; or quot;vendors“?
21

22. What do trusted advisors do, versus
what “experts” do?
Goal is to be right Goal is to help
x x
Provides Answers Provides Understanding,
x x
Reasoning, Insight
Helps Clients Make Own
Solves Problem x
x
Decisions
An Aide to the Principal
In Charge / In Control x
x
Deals with Logic and Clients’
Deals with Logic x
x
Emotions and Psychology
Proposes
x
Decides
x
Teams with Client throughout
x
Works out of contact with
x
process
client (except at beginning and
end)
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23. How do relationships compare with
transactions?
Transaction Relationship
Goal: prevail Goal: preserve the relationship
x x
Them / Opposites Us / On the same side
x x
Short-term benefit Long-term benefit
x x
Suspicion Trust
x x
Focus: Make self attractive Focus: Understand the other
x x
Negotiate and bargain Give and be helpful
x x
Style can be impersonal, Style is personal, engaged,
x x
detached, defensive, protective intimate, open, inquisitive
Preparation, Rehearsal In the moment
x x
Listen to what they’re saying Listen to what they’re feeling,
x x
why they’re saying it
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24. How do the distinguishing competencies of
the consulting psychologist fit the trusted
advisor role?
Example: How do we avoid the risk that our use of
x
a proprietary assessment instrument results in a
transactional role with the client, as mere experts,
rather than in a broader relational role, as trusted
advisors?
We need a fundamental construct of how our
x
special expertise uniquely qualifies us to serve our
clients as trusted advisors, offering our special
knowledge, insights, methods, and tools as
thought partners, not mere vendors.
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25. Has the longest lasting large psychological
consulting firm in history built and sustained it’s
success by serving as trusted advisors?
Ostensibly Rohrer, Hibler, and Repogle, not long after World
x
War II, began offering transactional “expert” services:
psychological assessments for hiring, promotion, and
succession planning
Were they actually adding to the delivery of that core
x
transactional service their advice and counsel on broader
issues of importance to organizational effectiveness?
Was their firm’s strategy to use assessments as the entre into
x
a client relationship as “experts”, initially, then establish
themselves as trusted advisors?
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