Client management is always a challenge; there’s an implicit, ongoing challenge to forming mutual and clear expectations. I recall my early training in project management as an architect and later as a freelance consultant, learning how the leadership of oneself and others includes client management. At Torti Gallas and Partners, Inc., we examined the impact of strong leadership on the performance of others.

Leadership of the client meant active listening (listen for meaning & dialogue bridging) first and foremost, then understanding the values each party brings, building strategic partnerships, and leveraging our company’s negotiation skills as a leadership asset. Leading by example–consistently—was something I learned at an early age. Inspiring, motivating, weaving a culture of communication and developing a coaching mindset were central principles I learned in my first years in the workforce. “Learning to say NO with love”, was a mantra of my first boss as well as ‘follow up, follow through, and lead’. Unique to my experience, I was taught at a young age to be a leader, so having my first boss encourage this was quite fitting.

Below is a list of qualities that I try to embody while on site with the client, whether in the private sector or the public sector. In the past, Drucker’s principles also motivated me to approach management and problem solving with the client in a true partnership.

"My greatest strength as a consultant is to be ignorant and ask a few questions." Peter Drucker

Let me know if you would add to this list. What do you think good client relations entails?

QUALITIES FOR GOOD CLIENT RELATIONS

• Develop relationships early
• Anticipates needs
• Articulates visions passionately
• Is always “present”
• Confident
• Consensus builder
• Diplomatic
• Does not accept less
• Educator
• Empathetic
• Experienced / has track record
• Flexible
• Forward looking
• Negotiator
• Listener
• Good partner
• Inspired
• Knowledgeable / a step ahead
• Knows client’s business
• Knows how/when to say NO
• Knows our ideology
• Manages expectations
• Negotiator
• Balances assertiveness with discretion
• Persuasive
• Problem solver
• Respected
• Respectful / command respect
• Salesmanship
• Sells vision
• Strategic
• Teacher / learns
• Team builder
• Thick skinned
• Understands our value
• Understands client needs and expectations
• Visionary
• Willing to admit to mistakes
• Composed

“Company cultures are like country cultures. Never try to change one. Try, instead, to work with what you’ve got.” – Peter Drucker

1. The purpose of problem solving answers the human need to move from a given state to a desired state. Different types of problems exist, ranging from simple to complex problems. Change agents use different tools, methods and systems of thinking for different stages of the problem solving process. For purposes of this blog, we look at the toughest of all problems: systemic, institutional problems and wicked problems.
2. Balancing convergent and divergent thinking via design thinking.

Example? See this video that briefly clarifies how design thinking transforms organizations and inspires innovation:

1. Problem-solving processes differ across knowledge domains and across levels of expertise. Yet, principles, methods and techniques can be used adaptively across various contexts. Listing some one can imagine different trade-offs or limitations for each: reading, writing, calculation, political decision-making, managerial problem solving, lawyers’ reasoning, mechanical problem solving (engineering), programming, game playing, personal problem solving, mathematical problem solving, social problem solving, and problem solving for innovations and inventions.
2. Characteristics of difficult problems: lack of clarity of the problem; multiple goals; large numbers of interrelations, variables, and decisions; time constraints, phased considerations, unpredictability. The resolutions of these characteristics determines the nature of the outcomes or results.

• Techniques (mental) of problem solving I use in cyclical (iterative) sequence, on individual basis:
  • Define problem
  • Break down problem in constituent parts
  • Establish diverse team
  • Root cause analysis
  • Imagination (solving problem in model testing)
  • Synthesis of various base research
  • Test analogies(slippery: applying previous solution to analogous current problem)
  • Brainstorming
  • Hypothesis testing
  • Lateral thinking (exploring solutions creatively)
  • Choosing tactics at each step that prove worthy from testing and prototyping
  • Assessing output and interactions of existing system
  • Reduction (slippery: transferring problem into another for which solutions exist)
  • Trial-and-error
  • Synthesis of tactics or smaller solutions under matrix of bigger, integrated solutions sets, comprises a comprehensive solution
• Techniques (mental and group process) of problem solving I use in cyclical (iterative) sequence in group problem solving:
  • Design process approach
  • Integrating techniques from other disciplines such as communication, group dynamics, and facilitation.
  • Identifying conflicts
  • Weigh trade-offs
  • Participatory decision-making processes
  • Deliberation
  • Creative problem solving
  • Synthesis of tactics or smaller solutions under matrix of bigger, integrated solutions sets, comprises a comprehensive solution

“Problems cannot be solved at the same level of awareness that created them.” – Albert Einstein

Certainties for Open Government are few. The current Open Government Initiative as spearheaded by the White House is an unfunded mandate, often perplexing in its ultimate goals, involving hundreds of dedicated public servants, consultants, technicians, academics, etc., and frequently obtuse instruction. If the lessons of open government are fascinating (and they are), they are also weighed with many caveats that federal managers can easily wonder if there is anything concrete to learn about open government at all.

The open-endedness of open government is largely unnecessary. Open government is, after all, a creative field, and it is understandably difficult for federal managers to apply lessons when most have little training or experience in making government more transparent, collaborative or participatory. The resulting open-endedness provides students of open government a path down many fascinating new avenues, but often with a feeling that open government is built on a haystack rather than on solid foundations.

This particular blog roll aims to strengthen the foundations of how to support and execute open government effectively by providing supporting points upon which the problem solving, strategic and organizational execution of open government may practice. The following lessons in people, places, processes and technologies have evolved since my days as an architect, solving complex, systemic problems, which included having a sensibility for the human interface. But in the years since I have spent time as a practitioner and educator of open government, they have persisted with ever greater insistence. And the questions they address have remained the central questions of effective democratic governance: my colleagues and clients show me again an again that the questions and confusions of open government are nearly universal.

I invite you to return to this blog once a month and to peruse randomly when in need of a quick catalyst in solving an open government problem, whether technological or organizational. You may also want to check in also at that time to our team’s current work in the Open Government Playbook Workshop Series, held recently at the USDA. Whatever you do with the playbook pointers (i.e. lessons, reflections, questions, ideas, etc.) that follow, know that your particular agency, consultancy or organizations may need to tweak their applications given the variety of contexts. Still, at least I am not around to continually stretch you 360 with all of the nuances surrounding them, leading you to a brain freeze.

Alexander Moll

April 2010