Client Love: Change work isn't easy

Early in my career in local church ministry, a denominational leader offered advice for success: love your people. It turns out that the same advice is also very true for change management consulting: love your clients.

 Our clients are on the front lines of addressing challenges in their communities and the world. They grapple with “wicked problems” and work to help people flourish and thrive in many different ways. And so, when we get to work with a client to help them navigate change, there is genuine care and concern for them and their work.

It feels trite to say, “We love our clients,” but hear me out. Last week I was working on a report for one of our clients, and I was trying to explain to someone about the report and how we create it, and it dawned on me: this is not merely some transactional or aloof-observer report – telling their story. For sure, our reports focus on data we have gathered about our client and their work. It’s a culmination of listening to our client's hopes, dreams, fears, and pains, and also talking with people who know them, know the sector, and will name the reality of their context and dream on their behalf. We get to do this for each of our clients - to learn about them and walk with them through their ups and downs and help them chart a path forward that is driven by their passion and desire to make the world better.

 The work we do is highly relational and not transactional, which is the fun of what we do. We get to be a part of people’s stories and trajectories. We get to walk alongside them where they are and dream with them about where they want and get to go with their mission and their impact.

 Change work with clients is not always easy.

Our clients are not perfect (nor are we) and projects can be messy sometimes, because the work our clients do is messy, because our world is messy. And at the same time, it’s an honor to join our clients in the mess and help them bring order into the midst of the mess, just as they seek to do that in their field or sector.

 And so, yes, we love our clients for who they are, and where they want to go. And we feel honored to get to be a part of that story.