Treating your boss and your colleagues as if they are clients accomplishes two important things: i) it shows your team that you respect them — enough to treat them with the same level of care and handling you treat other VIPs; ii) as with Michael Phelps's swimming, it gives you great practice so you're uber-prepared for the real thing — when you are speaking to your client or customer. You know the drill, you've done this before.
In a former company I worked for, we lived on the idea that "clients are always right" - because "customers are always right", right?
That eventually (and I hope, unintentionally) evolved to "clients are gods - if not God!".
Through the course of my career, the clients that were easiest to work with and the most effective in delivering value to their organizations in the form of revenues and profits were those who treated their 'suppliers' (e.g., creative agencies, media companies, consultants, research providers) as partners, and who encouraged these 'suppliers' to treat them as 'partners'.
These clients I worked with who produced results, who treated us as partners, who encouraged us to treat them as partners shared a set of similar characteristics:
1. Respect for each other. In setting meetings, in respecting one another's time, in phone calls, in asking for favors, in setting deadlines, in negotiating for fees...
2. A sense of gratitude and appreciation. A box of chocolates, a bottle of white or red wine, a surprise delivery from a pizza chain, or free premiums from a promo that didn't take off, or a simple hand written note of thanks...
3. A sense of "we are equals". Puts others at ease specially in challenging times. Never elicits fear.
4. A willingness to hear the bad news if there are.
5. A willingness to own up to the bad results if there are - and the courage to move on and do better.
6. A willingness to share the glory in successes - and the courage to move on and do better.
7. A willingness to be told "I think you may have misunderstood it" (read: "You're wrong")
8. A willingness to say "I'm sorry" - and a willingness to accept apologies.
Bosses and colleagues ought to operate in the same manner. And no, a client-agent relationship is not the ideal kind of relationship that should exist in an organization.
PARTNERSHIP!
Absolutely, yes; your boss and your colleagues are not absolutely your clients, they are your partner. You must respect them, for you also to be respected. Everyone is to be treated properly and everyone must be respected. To enhance the understanding and better relation with your boss, try to communicate with him as often as you could.
Posted by: overseas calls | 14 February 2011 at 04:45
totally agree - and it just doesn't apply with bosses. it also applies with peers and team members. ":D cheers!
Posted by: Philip Tiongson | 19 February 2011 at 06:50