7.2 Who Are Your Clients?

As you can surmise from the example and probably from your own personal experiences, you need a client in order for internal consultant-supported efforts to even be considered for implementation. Clients can vary from senior managers all the way down through the organization’s hierarchy. However, they have one key thing in common—the work that you do for them must have the ability to be implemented.  

Suppose a senior manager asks you to support a work redesign effort. It is highly likely with a client at this level that the work, when completed, will be implemented. This could also apply to a departmental manager or even someone at a lower level in the organization. I define a client as:  

Any person or group within the organization who has the ability to contract with the internal consultant for work which, at its conclusion, has associated with it the likelihood of implementation.  

Let’s dissect this definition into its component parts in order that we gain a better understanding of the concept of the internal consultantclient.

• Any person or group who has the ability to contract It is true that any person or group can contact the internal consultants requesting that they take on an internal consulting contract. But not everyone has the ability to finalize the contract. This is a good thing for both the internal consultants and the management team.

• Suppose that the internal consultants were asked to support an initiative that was conceived at the foreman or worker level. Although they could take on this work, there may be little support for the outcome. As a result, there could be hard feelings among those who asked that the work be conducted. In addition, the credibility of the internal consultants could be undermined since they took on an assignment that was not supported by the management team.

• On the other hand, suppose that the work was requested by the senior management team. In this case, the internal consultants would have support for the time and effort that they and others would have to put into the initiative. The important point here is that, while anyone can contact the internal consultants for work, only certain people within the organization have the authority to do so.

• At its conclusion has the likelihood to be implemented The second part of the definition is equally important. A client is not just someone who has the authority to request the services of the internal consultants. Atrue client is in an environment where there is a high likelihood that the work will be implemented. This does not imply that every initiative, once it is developed and reaches the “go – no go” stage. will be implemented. But someone who has the potential to be a client should at least be able to state that there is likelihood of implementation once finished. If this were not the case, why would senior management, the group who created the position of internal consultant, be willing to keep funding the efforts of the incumbent?

Clients, therefore, require two very important traits. First, they have to have the authority to assign the internal consultants to a specific initiative. Second, they have to have the ability to make certain that the work, once completed, is highly likely to be implemented.

7.3 Client Expectations from an Internal Consultant

When a clientcontracts with internal consultants, there are certain things that they have a right to expect as a product of the contract. Obviously the first and foremost is a successful work initiative supported by the internal consultants and owned by those on the site team. However, there is more that a client expects from the internal consultants on a more personal and professional level.

These include the following.

Skilled and Timely Workmanship Throughout the Work Effort.

The internal consultants are expected to have the skills needed for consultant-type work as well as being able to apply these skills to a timely delivery of the work product. After all, being able to conduct a skilled effort is worthless if it is delivered late.

Understanding of the Scope.

At the outset of the work effort, there is agreement on the scope between the client and the internal consultants. It is the internal consultants’ responsibility to make certain that the scope is fully understood so that what has been requested will be delivered. This may take some questioning; often the full scope is not always clear in the client’s mind. Nevertheless, the internal consultants must make certain that the scope is understood before the work begins. One good approach to this is to write out and then state back to the client what they have requested in the scope. The writing part forces the internal consultants to think about the work content. The restating of the scope back to the client gives them a chance to feel secure in the fact that the internal consultants understood the requirements.

Communication and Validation to Keep the Effort on Track.

At the outset, there is a scope of work developed which will be discussed in detail in Chapter 8. However, as the initiative evolves, there is a danger that it will get off track or that additional scope will be added. In either of these cases, the end result—even though it may have value—may not be what the client actually wanted. Therefore, it is incumbent upon the internal consultant to continually stay in communication with the client and periodically validate the direction.

Authentic and Honest Responses and Feedback.

One of the main reasons that the internal consultants were contracted was that the client has trust in their ability to deliver the work product. Not only that, but the client needs to believe that the internal consultants will be entirely honest in their communication and feedback. There is nothing worse or more damaging to the credibility (and longevity) of internal consultants than to provide feedback that is not authentic, honest, and complete. This means not only telling the client the good things, but also telling them the bad. Suppose an initiative which looked great on paper emerged as something that, if deployed, would cause more problems than benefits. Although providing advice that would terminate the effort may leave the internal consultants without an assignment, it is absolutely essential that they make this communication to the client.

Confidentiality.

Many of the initiatives on which internal consultants will work are confidential in nature. There are many reasons why the client may not to want the information leaked to those in the plant or even possibly those in the general public. The internal consultants must at all time maintain this level of client confidentiality if they wish to maintain the professional standing in the plant, their credibility with the current and future clients, and often their very jobs.

Balance.

The internal consultant works between two extremes. On the one hand, there are initiatives where they are expected to do all of the work. This is a poor expectation on the part of the client; by doing this, there is not ownership of the effort as it is developed or, more important, after it ends. On the other hand are the internal consultants who feel that they should not do any of the work. They believe that their role is strictly advisory in nature and that all of the work should be done by the team. This view is also poor because the consultants are brought into the effort to provide their skill and guidance—traits which those on the project team may not have. Therefore, the internal consultants need to work in a balanced manner—not doing too much of the work and not falling into the role of advisor only. The client expects the internal consultants to understand this and work in balanced manner.

Exit Ability with Ownership in the Customer.

The client expects that every effort has some point at which the internal consultants need to exit and leave the day-to-day work to the organization. This is an expectation which the internal consultants need to appreciate from the beginning of the job. The simple truth is that as the job starts, the internal consultants need to be preparing for the site personnel to take over and for them to exit.  

If this does not occur, then one of two things happens. First the internal consultants no longer are acting in an internal consultant role. Instead, by failing to exit, they have become part of the organization conducting the work. Second is the problem where the site personnel are so dependent on the internal consultants that when they finally do leave the work product completely fails because the internal consultants were the ones actually making it function.