Lessons in IT Transformation: Technology Expert to Business Leader

Partnering with Your Clients

Nothing is more divisive than having a confrontational relationship with your clients. Can you imagine running a business where you are embroiled in constant combat with your customers? How long do you think you would survive? I've often stated that while the customers might not always be right, they are always the customers. We work in a service-related industry. Our goal is to help our key stakeholders succeed. Is that how we go about working with people?

I have two pet peeves for which I fine the members of my team. All fines come along with a dollar penalty, which I collect, match, and donate at the end of the year to Autism Speaks (a great organization that does wonderful work with developmentally disabled people; www.autismspeaks.org). The first finable offense is arriving late for a meeting. We have grown up to be a culture where people's personal time is not respected. Although money can be replaced, time cannot. We only have some many hours on this planet, so we should respect our time and the time of the people we work with. The second finable offense is to use what my team has scathingly come to refer to as the “U” word. We refer to the people to whom we provide service as our clients, not our users. User is a pejorative term that carries negative connotations and emotional baggage. If you think about it, the only other area of endeavor besides IT that refers to the people they service as users is the world of illicit drugs! Language is a ...