DISCUSSION 5.2

· PLEASE respond to THE post BELOW with meaningful and relevant responses that add value to the original post or the discussion.

· Your response should rely upon at least two sources from professional literature. 

PLEASE RESPOND TO CICELY POST BELOW

Feedback is sometimes viewed as a necessary evil. Not many people care to hear what they may be doing wrong. As a consultant, however, providing feedback is a critical part of the process. That feedback can be met with resistance. It is important that consultants work to identify resistance, understand its source, and develop strategies for overcoming it. 

According to Block (2011), leaders may be resistant to feedback because they have concerns about their personal control or vulnerability. Additionally, resistant clients are likely fighting against making difficult choices, taking on unpopular actions, confronting a reality that they have emotionally been trying to avoid. 

Clients can exhibit behaviors that are characteristic of resistance and consultants should be observant in an effort to quickly realize such actions. These behaviors can include a client’s avoidance of certain topics or not asking questions/making any commitments; steering the conversation to behaviors of others, criticizing the consultant’s methods, explaining away behavior or processes as being caused by external circumstances, and pretending to agree with no intention of supporting the recommended results. 

Strategies that may help a consultant to overcome resistance include not taking the client’s actions personally, building trust and credibility, responding to the client’s behavior with goodwill (treating their reactions as being legitimate), and using established strategies and tactics. (Chakraborty, 2015) 

Skills and traits that would be important for a consultant to use to help a client overcome resistance include being flexible, having great discipline, and being confident, persistent, studious and sociable. While many of these qualities are complementary for a consultant, in general, they are particularly useful when dealing with a resistant client. (Chakraborty, 2015)