At agencies, we all try to do right by our clients, but, as I discussed in “Bending Over Backwards,” it often leads to doing wrong by us (and, eventually, our clients too). This goes for “internal clients” as well.
By internal clients, I’m referring to the established relationships and expectations inside the company that are delivery-centric. Like when the production team treats the account team like clients. Or the QA team treats the production team like clients. Or middle managers treat senior managers like clients, or maybe even the CEO.
Some companies think this is OK, and even make it a part of policy. By establishing “vendor/client” relationships between segments of the company, the people delivering are accountable, needs get met, and the ship sails ahead. Seems like a good paradigm.
But, if you stop to consider that most client relationships are not true team relationships, and are somewhat at risk for communication issues, stress and maybe even disgruntlement, wouldn’t the same hold true with an “internal client” framework? Can this be a good operational strategy?
I believe there’s a danger of fostering misunderstanding, missed opportunities and depreciated synergies when the people inside a company don’t treat each and every coworker like they’re part of the home team. After all, doesn’t everyone work for the same company? Aren’t the corporate goals set out for everyone? Isn’t everyone trying to achieve a common vision?
So save the client relationships for clients, and make sure everyone working under the same corporate name is reading — and operating — from the same playbook.
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