How to give strategic counsel

Welcome back to Lead with Intention! I’m writing this whilst still high on my daughter’s extremely sugary and delicious birthday cake. She turned 12 today and let me tell you, we are not ready for the pre-teen era! Jokes, she is a wonderful kid and I often find myself wondering how on earth she puts up with her parents ;)

It’s also been a really busy and fulfilling week of coaching and I want to share something with you today that came out of a coaching session I ran this week, because I think it might land for a lot of you.

And it’s something I really grappled with in my own corporate career.

I was working with a senior leader. Brilliant. Experienced. Genuinely good at their job.

And they said something that I hear, in various forms, at least once a week:

“I keep being brought in too late. By the time I’m in the room, the decision is already made.”

AND

“I don’t feel as if the CEO really sees me as a strategic advisor. I know I’m helpful, but how can I go beyond that to be trusted counsel?”

Sound familiar?

It certainly rang a lot of bells for me. As a Director of Communications, this was often how I felt.

At its heart, this is about whether, when you do get into the room, you sound like an adviser or like someone who is there to take notes and take action based on what the CEO tells you to do.

If you want the former, let’s dig in. Starting with the million dollar question.

What do CEOs ACTUALLY need from us as advisors?