Key members of the international finance department in a large London-based services group needed to adopt new ways of thinking & working. The group was seen as dysfunctional & coaching was the lever selected to address this. However, from a distance it looked like a remedial act, like coaching to an imposed set menu; the agenda was entirely the organisation’s, more ‘table d’hôte’ than ‘a la carte’.
The logic for cross-selling in professional services is compelling. Large clients and accounts that buy one service – say intellectual property advice or transactional support – frequently face challenges in a variety of areas in which the incumbent has real expertise, supported by the fact that they are generally seen as ‘trusted’ and will already have a good working knowledge of the issues the client faces, both internal and in their markets.
A short while ago we carried out a research project to identify the characteristics of truly effective business services professionals in the legal sector. It was initially focused on Human Resources delivering their services to internal clients but as the research continued it became clear that the lessons were equally applicable across the spectrum of business services functions – IT, secretarial, marketing, finance etc.