ACE
Dana Morris-Jones
Updated: January 24, 2023
How to build a client-consultant relationship
By Dana Morris-Jones
As is true for all relationships, both personal or professional, mutual trust and respect are the foundation for success.
This is no less true for the relationship between the client and consultant. What makes this relationship special is that while it is transactional — services are being exchanged and paid for — it also requires a client to accept that help from the consultant may come in many forms, some of which may not be clearly defined or understood at the beginning of the engagement. That is why the trust-and-respect foundation is even more essential.
So how does one build mutual trust and respect with a client? Here are 10 ideas:
- Be truly interested in learning all you can about the client, their interests, concerns, wants and needs. Spend time up front, asking questions, listening and feeding back what you've learned, without judgment; ask more questions to make sure you've got it right, generate initial assumptions and hypotheses and test these out to make sure you're on the same page.
- Be clear and transparent about who you are, what you know and what you don't know. It serves neither you nor your client for there to be ill-founded expectations about what you can and can't provide.
- Clearly define what the outcomes and deliverables will be, along with the timeline; be realistic about what can and is likely to be accomplished and what effort it will require. Establish guidelines for how you both will monitor progress on the project.
- Establish a written agreement about what your respective roles and how you will work together. If you plan for the relationship to be collaborative, spell out what this means. What will you expect the client to do, such as making time available, allowing access to staff and office space, etc. Discuss how you will communicate and keep each other informed.
- Make sure that the project is about their needs, solving the problem(s) they are concerned with, rather than showing off your skills and expertise. In some cases, the client may think that you will be able to quickly "fix" the problem, like going to the doctor and getting a pill. Be honest about the reality that it is likely to be more complicated than that (as is usually also the case with the doctor).
- Maintain your perspective as a consultant to the organization as a whole; being able to stay "on the balcony" or "above the cornfield," and not getting sucked into any one person or group's interest or perspective. Organizations are always systems in which all the parts are interrelated. Be clear about who the client is and who the work will benefit. Will success be measured by the outcome for the company, for the individual you are contracting with, or some other part of the organization?
- Be able to refine your original hypotheses and assumptions as you learn more. Be willing to change direction if indicated by what you are learning. Be able to explain why and be transparent about how your thinking has evolved as you've learned more about the organization and the people in it.
- Listen, listen, listen. It may be tempting to wax eloquent about all the things you know and all the things you've done. While it is important to demonstrate your competence, it will be much more appreciated if can do that in the context of what is important to your client. And you will only know that by actively listening and taking in what is being said, without trying to make it fit into your own assumptions and expectations. Approach each project as unique.
- Model the behaviors you wish to instill: Genuine interest and concern, respect, openness, honesty. Doing so is part of the value you bring to your client, as they may improve their own way of interacting with others
- Always deliver on your promises. If you live by this ethic, you will be careful about what you promise. Your reputation as a person of your word will serve you well.
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