Collaborative
enlightenment delivers better client service.
Experience the power of a multidisciplinary
perspective
Key Takeaways:
- Multidisciplinary study groups can
substantially boost your perspective
and problem-solving capabilities so
you can serve your clients better.
- Members of high-performing study
groups are committed to each other,
willing to share knowledge and willing
to be vulnerable, honest and objective.
- Study groups can be especially beneficial
for small-firm practitioners by helping
you see how your personal experiences
shape your view of your clients’
cases.
Traditionally, study groups are formed
so high school or college students can
work together to review and prepare for
class subjects more effectively. But study
groups can also be a tremendous resource
for business practitioners. For any small
or independent office—accounting,
legal, insurance, estate and financial
planning, and even family counseling—a
study group composed of members from diverse
disciplines can offer tremendous benefits
and rewards. I should know, because I
was invited to join a fledgling family
business study group back in 1988, and
we are still active and continue to meet
after all these years!
At the time, I was a business-family
therapist. I kept running into situations
that needed more than my psychological
expertise to solve. My clients revealed
problems with their finances, their
businesses, their legal issues and their
addictions. I was sometimes out of my
element but wanted to do more for them.
These clients depended on me.
So I joined the group expecting to
learn more about family businesses from
a multidisciplinary approach. All six
individuals in our study group were
in the prime of their careers. Their
backgrounds represented a wealth of
experience across the range of family
and business issues
1. A psychiatrist at Menninger Management
Institute
2. A law school professor teaching trust
and estate law
3. An academic who taught family therapy
4. An organizational development consultant
5. An MBA with an accounting and finance
background
6. A family therapist with training
in organizational development (me)
Each of us was actively consulting
with our family business clients. I’m
sure we all expected to gain information
from the group, maybe some informal
education and, hopefully, some motivation.
I know I did. But what I received was
infinitely more than I expected. In
retrospect, we shared an “enlightened”
engagement. We cared, opened up and
held each other accountable to each
other and to our clients. This enlightenment
revealed itself in several group attributes.
1. Commitment. We made the commitment
to never miss our sessions, which eventually
grew into two-day meetings occurring
three times a year. All six members
continue to take this commitment seriously
and rarely miss a meeting (rare exceptions
are due to circumstances such as an
illness or death in the family). Right
from the start, this commitment launched
a culture of respect for one another
and for the time we individually expend—time
away from our families, our businesses
and our “billable hours.”
2. Vulnerability. Even in the
early years, members were willing to
be vulnerable. We not only shared our
successes, but we also revealed some
of our failures. This nurtured an environment
of mutual trust and, over time, amazing
camaraderie.
3. Knowledge sharing. We have
a routine in which each of us takes
turns presenting anonymous client cases
at our meetings. I coined the term “profession
of origin” to signify the individual’s
professional discipline, such as law,
psychology, accounting, insurance, and
so on. For example, I would prepare
and present a troubling or even gratifying
case from my profession of origin—family
therapy in business organizations. Others
would see it from their own discipline
as we deconstructed client situations
using each other’s perspectives.
This rich diversity made it inevitable
that I would find I had missed critical
issues or questions related to the presentation.
For example, “the MBA” would
often raise questions about business
issues that needed further consideration.
Conversely, the MBA benefited from the
psychosocial issues raised while considering
his cases.
4. Honesty and objectivity of our
group. All consultants have blind
spots, not only in their incomplete
knowledge across disciplines, but also
those created by their families of origin—the
circumstances and culture in which they
grew up. Without getting into the “psychological
weeds,” the way each of us grew
up produced subconscious attachments
that can affect how we might perceive
specific issues our clients face.
For me, this issue came up when I was
working with a family business in which
alcohol misuse was present. Both of
my parents suffered from alcoholism.
It only made sense that it had an effect
on my approach with these clients. My
study group’s objective questions
and comments helped me step away from
my client’s emotional force field.
When we examined some of the group’s
anonymous cases, we discussed this cultural
affinity that could have led to an unconscious
collusion with clients—times when
important topics might not be raised
and resolved with them. It is rare to
have a business study group composed
of individuals who openly discuss their
own families of origin and who discuss
how their personal experiences affect
their consulting practices. It allowed
us to dig deeper and become better providers
for our clients.
Conclusion
In part
Two of this article, we move from
the general benefits of study group
participation to the impact it has had
on me personally and on my professional
consulting career.
