As professionals, one of our duties to an organization is to provide professional input, tender opinions and advice in our areas of expertise. The expectation is that the duty will be exercised with diligence and professional independence.

I would like to discuss this matter from the perspective of the conduct of actors who receive and consider the advice for the purposes of providing corporate guidance and/or decisions. Of particular focus is a situation where the advice is either indicting on the recipient or enimical to the wishes or plans of the recipient . In other words, when it has “an unfamiliar or unpleasant taste in one’s mouth” or “is not gentle to the eardrums”, for one reason or the other.

I have heard phrases such as “Don’t shoot the messenger “, “I thought that I was the expert in this room“ and other phrases from professional advisors who find themselves having to defend themselves from a backlash from unhappy recipients of advice. Sometimes, recipients may view advice as an attack on their integrity and disrespect.

Have you ever been confronted with; “ Your job is not to lecture to us. You are subordinate and must behave accordingly”. ? How do we reach a point of congruence in matters of this nature? My humble view on such matters is two tier. The first tier is the structure and the second is system (or process).

First of all, there should be a clear structure within which professional advice is given in an organisation. For example, whereas an officer may be junior to the other, the nature of their role may entail that they render professional advice to the higher echelons in the organization, which advice should be received and responded to in a manner expected by best practice and standards.

Regarding system/process, it is important that actors are mindful that advice can be tested by decision makers while respecting the professional independence of the advisor. There should be mechanisms that assure the protection of professionally and ethically tendered opinions and responses.

I have spoken before about the critical importance of actors to not only understand their roles but practice them accordingly. I believe that this way, a healthy partnership of common purpose can be fostered for the success of the organization.

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