Let’s be honest: how many times have we professionals had that client from Hell? You know: the one who tells you he doesn’t want the job done today – or even tomorrow – he wants it done yesterday!
He couldn’t care less about the red tape and is not interested in any of the details. He just wants to get the job done. So we tell him what he wants to hear and get on with it. Then – oh dear! – there’s a problem.
Now we could tell the client about it, but we don’t want to disappoint him. So we try every possible way of getting round the problem – but we can’t. So, what do we do? Do we carry on regardless, cross our fingers and hope for the best? Or do we face the client and give him the bad news?
There are consequences either way, but as professionals we are trained to give accurate and correct advice. This means giving the client the bad news.
If you don’t, you face potential disciplinary proceedings from your professional body and/or your insurance company either withdrawing cover or putting your premium up. And, when he finds out, you’ll probably lose your client as well – however much you told him what he wanted to hear.
Not only do you advise the client, but you put your advice into writing - to make sure you’re covered.
So, what about the client? Is he the bad guy? He’s probably a very determined, resourceful and driven individual who is doing his best for his business in a highly competitive and pressurised environment pursuing valuable projects where time is of the essence. We all know of people like this – some of them very successful.
They attract envy from some and admiration from others. He may be very rich. So, we want his custom, but our relationship with him is never going to be easy. Impatient for action, he’s not going to be pleased when he’s given negative advice
Once he’s heard the bad news, it is his decision how he acts on it. Is he going to drop your firm because you’ve told him what he doesn’t want to hear?
My guess is that, after he’s overcome his fury and come down from the ceiling, he’s more likely to end up thanking you for your candour, particularly if your advice turns out to have saved his business substantial loss of profits or reputation.
This is the real world. It seems far removed from the comfort of our unelected Westminster mandarins. These mandarins knew what our elected government wanted. They knew they wanted Mandelson’s appointment to go through rapidly before Trump officially took office. They knew the government wanted to remove all obstacles in their haste to get Mandelson’s appointment through in time. Dear me! There was all this pressure – and the mandarins couldn’t stand it.
So, what did they do? They deliberately withheld a critical piece of information and advice. And then, to cap it all, Parliament is told they can’t accept they had done anything wrong.
It wasn’t their fault they failed to give proper advice – it was Sir Keir’s fault for putting them under all this pressure! What?!!! It’s astonishing!
And then the opposition. Do they share our Prime Minister’s anger? Oh no! They take the side of the unelected mandarins. Never put the national interest ahead of party or personal advancement – that’s the way politics goes these days.
So, they duly queued up to denounce our Prime Minister and seek his resignation and defend the unelected mandarins.
Are they above moral reproach – Nigel Farage and his Brexit bus lies; Kemi Badenoch whose colleagues cut all public services to the bone (including the police and armed services) and wants more cuts; Polanski who would have us legalise hard drugs; and Ed Davey with his bag full of gimmicks?
Have they thought what a precedent this might set If they succeed in ousting Sir Keir? If unelected mandarins’ judgement or actions cannot be questioned, why not say goodbye to democracy and hand all political power over to them?
In the USA, the civil service knows its place. The top ranks change with the government. We think this is wrong as our civil service is supposed to be politically impartial.
But many senior civil servants have been appointed by the outgoing government, and can their political impartiality be guaranteed when we have just seen a senior mandarin play both sides of the House of Commons against each other and deliberately put our elected Prime Minister’s position at risk?
Kemi Badenoch accuses Sir Keir of “throwing officials under the bus” for his mistakes. If the general calibre of the civil service has fallen as low as it has in this case, perhaps the rest of the senior mandarins should be thrown under the same bus and we should use the American system.
w
wemandarins.